Who owns the mould: exclusivity, custody and what happens when you stop ordering
The commercial terms around a case mould are usually vaguer than the technical ones. Five questions to settle before paying for tooling.
Short answer
- Paying a tool cost is not the same as owning the tool.
- Many case factories run a library of public tools that any customer may order into, sometimes with your logo added.
- Title and marking; where the tool is stored and who may inspect it; who bears maintenance and repair cost; the transfer terms if you move production, including whether cavitation plates and slides transfer together; and the survival period after the last order..
- A tool has a life.
Payment does not automatically transfer ownership
Paying a tool cost is not the same as owning the tool. The contract has to say who holds title, whether the tool is marked with your identifier, and whether the plant may use it for anyone else. Without that sentence, the physical object stays where it was built and practical ownership follows the object.
Public moulds versus your mould
Many case factories run a library of public tools that any customer may order into, sometimes with your logo added. That is cheaper and faster, and it means your exact shell may also be sold to competitors. If differentiation matters, you need a private tool and an exclusivity clause.
Five things to settle before paying
Title and marking; where the tool is stored and who may inspect it; who bears maintenance and repair cost; the transfer terms if you move production, including whether cavitation plates and slides transfer together; and the survival period after the last order.
Cavitation, wear and second-source risk
A tool has a life. Agree at what point the plant will tell you the tool is worn, and what the re-tooling quote looks like at that moment, so quality drift does not arrive disguised as a bad batch.
If you take the tool away
Expect a practical sequence: a written release, a last-article sample taken from the tool before it ships, the runner and gate drawings, and the resin specification. A tool moved without its process record costs weeks to requalify.
Questions buyers ask
Is an exclusivity clause enforceable in practice?
It is a commercial deterrent more than a litigation plan. Its real value is that it forces the plant to write down what it may do with your geometry.
Should tooling be paid separately from unit price?
Yes. Amortising tooling inside the unit price leaves you paying more than the tool costs at volume and gives you no ownership record.