Legal Notebook

In the previous issue, we introduced how to prevent scams. However, if a company encountered a scam, it would be very difficult to claim damages from the fraudsters. Some companies have another thought, which is to claim damages from the relevant employees. Whether companies could claim damages from the relevant employees? If the answer is yes, then how much could be claimed? To choose an appropriate cause of action for civil cases is very important. Some companies claimed damages based on labor disputes. Unfortunately, Article 16 of the “Notice on Issuing the Tentative Provisions on Payment of Wages” prescribes that…

The employee of a clothing company smuggled a batch of clothing with a cost of RMB 1 million out of the company’s warehouse, and sold it to a third party at an extremely low price of RMB 200,000. Later then, the company reported to the police, and claimed that the employee should compensate a loss of RMB 1.5 million (including sales profit). How to determine the amount of occupation by taking advantage of duties? Shall the amount be equal to the cost, or sales price, or illegal gains? Because the nature of the occupation by taking advantage of duties is…

The FOCUS Company has obtained an exclusive information network transmission right of several works, which have been found to be spread by others by Baidu Pan. So The FOCUS Company sent a “Notification Letter” to the Baidu Company, and requested it to delete the relevant works. However, the Baidu Company did not delete the relevant works, and The FOCUS Company filed a lawsuit against the Baidu Company. In the litigation, the dispute focused on whether the “Notification Letter” is a valid notice. The court of the first instance held that it is a valid notice, however, the court of the…

When a financial staff received an email or a SMS from the said GM or the Purchasing Manager, and the staff was urged to remit money to a designated account. Normally, the staff would arrange the payment as soon as possible, since the staff took it as an order. Later then, the company found it was a scam, for example, the said GM’s email address was slightly different from the right one; or the fraudster had stolen the Purchasing Manager’s mobile phone number, by which the fraudster sent the fraud SMS, and so on. Such scams have two key characteristics,…

Article 17 of the “Anti-unfair Competition Law” provides that in the cases concerning the infringement of commercial secrets, where it is hard to ascertain the actual losses of the infringed party, the compensation could be determined in accordance with the gains made by the tortfeasor from the infringement (hereinafter referred to as the “GAINS”). In practice, it is very difficult to prove the actual loss of the infringed party in the majority cases concerning the infringement of commercial secrets. Therefore, it is not rare to determine the compensation in accordance with the GAINS. Regarding the calculation formula of the GAINS,…

After the outbreak of COVID-19, there are many articles concerning whether COVID-19 shall be deemed as a force majeure circumstance, how to defend the claim of the liability for breach of contract and so on. These articles have analyzed from the laws to the judicial decisions. However, for the majority enterprises, you may only want to know whether you can take advantage of force majeure; if yes, then how to use the relevant provisions and what are the results? Let’s make it simple, we will use the “Q & A & Example” method to explain this topic within 3 minutes.…

The COVID-19 pandemic has lasted nearly 2 months. In China, the State Council extended spring festive, local governments postponed the date of resumption of business. COVID-19 is under control in China, however, it spreads fast in Japan and Korean. Recently, some cases were founded in Europe and America. COVID-19 has started to behave a lot those days. March, the significant month for the majority enterprises to resume of business, we have prepared some management tips for reference. 1.Issues concerning individuals enter mainland China 1.1 Entry On 1st Mar., the Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism of the State Council of China…

When a company becomes famous, it attracts not only business opportunities, but also imitators. Taiwan “南 X” Plastic Industry Co., Ltd. has successively established several subsidiaries under the name “南X” in mainland China. One of those subsidiaries, “南X” Electronics (Kunshan) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Kunshan南X”) was established in August 2000. However, Shanghai ”南X” Copper Clad Foil Co., Ltd was established in June 2000, and changed its name as ”南X” New Material Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Shanghai 南 X”) in August 2017. In addition, the business scope of Shanghai 南 X is similar to Kunshan 南…

A Singapore company and Singaporean Bai signed a contract, in which the company hired Bai as the manager of Shanghai business development department. Soon, Bai signed a labor contract with the Shanghai branch of a Xiamen company invested by the company. The Shanghai branch applied the employment permit (hereinafter referred to as the “EP”) for Bai. Later, Bai and the Shanghai branch were in dispute; finally, the court determined that there was no labor relationship the two parties. The Shanghai branch signed the labor contract, and applied the EP, why the court still denied the labor relationship? Let’s analyze step…

Cao sued Company X on the ground of a dispute over a contract of house transaction, and required Company X to assist him to handle the property registration procedures. The court of the first instance carried out mediation, and Company X agreed to assist Cao to handle the property registration procedures within 3 days after the mediation document became effective. Then the court of the first instance made a mediation letter. Subsequently, Company X applied for a retrial of the mediation letter on the ground that the contract should be invalid, and provided relevant evidence. The court of the second…