Legal Notebook

The reversion of “Company Law of PRC” (“New Company Law”) has been released on Dec. 28, 2013, which cancels the requirement of the minimum amount of registered capital for those limited liabilities companies, changes the paid-in capital into the capital subscribed by the shareholders, except those industries regulated by specified regulations, and eliminates the requirements of capital verification. New Company Law will come into force on Mar. 1. 2014. The amendments aforementioned arouse the concern and worry of enterprises on the security risk for the future transactions. Then, what are the impacts of New Company Law on the transaction security?…

Company A had made a contract named as “Research on Particular Conditions of Construction Contract 2009” (“2009 Contract”), and obtained “Copyright Registration Certificate” in 2010. 2011, Company B published its announcement of tender, together with Particular Conditions. Company A found that Particular Conditions is similar with 2009 Contract both in structure and content, and it sued Company B for copyright infringement. Upon investigation, it was found that 92.9% of the content of Particular Conditions is the same as 2009 Contract. Company A’s appeal was supported by the court of first instance, however, the court of second instance overrode the decision…

From Sep., many companies consult about investing in SFTZ, some foreign investors whom have invested companies in Shanghai, are also interested in the benefits of SFTZ. Actually, whether an investor shall invest in SFTZ, the special benefits of SFTZ and its own demand shall be both taken into consideration, which means the investor shall be acknowledged about whether its demand can be satisfied by taking advantage of the policy of SFTZ. Currently, the released special policies related to foreign investment in SFTZ are mainly focusing on the following aspects: 1.Opening up of investment sectors Firstly, for 6 sectors, including the…

Miss. Zhang bought a TV set, the seller gave her a soymilk maker and a fan as premiums. On the same day, Miss. Zhang found there was something wrong with the soymilk maker, she asked the seller to replace. The seller explained that the premium was free, which was not the object of “Three Guarantees” (“TG”), so it could not be replaced. 5 days later, there was something wrong with the TV set, Miss Zhang asked the seller to return. However, the seller refused, he said that replacement should be applied in case both goods and premiums were returned. But…

In the OEM system, how to make the enterprise’s name on OEM products? Shall we make the name of consignor or consignee, or both? This is a confusing problem in practice, even different local industry and commerce departments and quality supervision departments may make totally different decisions on such circumstance. We believe that the marks of products shall have the following functions: (1) to help consumers to claim on products liabilities; (2) to guarantee fair competition and the consumer’s right to know; (3) where the products have been marked with trademark, it can be used to identify products’ source and…

Mr. Huang had to purchase sportswear for the company. Because the company’s logo is light yellow color, he ordered 50 sets of yellow sportswear. After received the sportswear, he found that the color was earth yellow, which was totally different from the color shown on the website, and it was definitely not the ideal color. He negotiated with the retailer on revoking the deal, however, the retailer claimed that there was no quality problem and the website had made a statement, which said that due to the light and camera’s function, the actual color might be different from the color…

The main function of trademark is to identify the manufacturer or seller of goods, symbolize the commercial value and quality of goods, and etc., which requires the manufacturer or seller to use it. So “Trademark Law” has regulated those “Cease to be Used” trademarks. “Trademark Law” Article 49 has stipulated that without a reasonable reason, if the user has not used the registered trademark for an uninterrupted period of 3 years, any units or individual shall have the right to apply to the Trademark Officer for relocating this registered trademark. However, what dose “Use” mean for a trademark, how to…

From the beginning of 2013, several Vertical Monopoly (“VM”) cases have caught the attention of the public. After the National Development and Reform Commission (“NDRC”) investigated “Mao-tai” and “Wuliangye” on their fixed resale price at the beginning of this year, NDRC carried on another investigation on milk manufactures about the same issue in the middle of the year. Recently, Shanghai Higher People’s Court (“Shanghai Higher Court”) made a final judgment on the Rainbow v. Johnson & Johnson case, which evokes the attention of enterprises on VM, especially brings worries to those influential big enterprises on the risks of such articles…

A well-known trademark is registered as the enterprise name by the other party, which brings the conflict between trademark right and enterprise name right, this circumstance is not rare. For the relevant legal issues, the trademark owner shall pay attention to 2 main aspects: (a) the standard on identifying whether the enterprise name has infringed trademark right; (b) the remedies. “Trademark Law” amended in 2008 (“Original Trademark Law”) and the relevant regulations have not stipulated a clear and definite standard on identifying such issues, nor stated distinct remedies, which result in the difficulties for the trademark owner to protect its…

Recently, a criminal case has aroused widespread concern on the infringements of Trade Secret (“TS”), in which a former employee abused the former employer’s client list. 4 former employees obtained the client list of Company A(“A”) by improper means, established a new company, and sold the similar equipments amount to a huge gross income to the overseas clients by pretending to be the branch of A. Eventually, Zhuhai Intermediate People’s Court in the second instance judgment determines that the defendants’(2 companies and 4 individuals) acts have caused loss to A amount to 22,700,000 Yuan(in the first instance judgment, the loss…