Legal Notebook

Bei Ji Rong (“BJR”) Underwear had published a creative advertisement. The spokesperson Zhao Benshan wore the BJR thermal underwear. He was hijacked by aliens, and frozen in an ice brick. After unfrozen, he was uninjured, and he told the aliens: “Keep Warm, Wear BJR, everyone knows on the earth.” Chen brought a piece of BJR thermal underwear. Later then, he filed a lawsuit against the manufacturer and Zhao Benshan. He claimed that the advertisement was a false advertisement. Although there is controversy in practice, both the court of the first instance and the second instance had rejected Chen’s claim. The…

During the lunch break, Yang went home to get a work operation permit, and got injured in a traffic accident on his way to work. Yang filed an application for ascertainment of the work-related injury (“WRI”). However, the authority determined that this was not a WRI. Both the courts of the first instance, and second instance supported the authority’s decision [(2017) Hu 01 Xing Zhong No.11]. Coincidentally, Wu suffered from a sudden disease during the lunch break, and died within 48 hours due to ineffective rescue. The local authority determined that this was a WRI. The employer filed an objection…

Liu took a short video for his self-driving trip to skiing by driving a Brand A car, and shared such video on the online platform. Company A used this video in a client’s advertisement, which was released via WeChat official account and Weibo. Liu filed a lawsuit against Company A for the infringement of copyright. Recently, the court decided that Company A had infringed Liu’s copyright, and ordered Company A to apologize and compensate RMB500, 000 to Liu. This case is the first copyright infringement case by using a short video in an advertisement. And the compensation amount is the…

Zhou was dismissed by Company A, and the leaving reason stated in the Employment Separation Certificate (“ESC”) covered two aspects, (a) Zhou has seriously violated the company’s rules and procedures; and (b) Zhou is incompetent to his position. Zhou insisted that such words would affect his job search, and required Company A to delete such words. Company A refused, and Zhou filed to the labor arbitration committee. Finally, the court rejected Zhou’s claim. The main legal basis for issuing an ESC is Article 24 of the “Regulations for the Implementation of the Labor Contract Law” (the “Regulations”), which requires the…

In practice, many manufacturers would sell products to authorized distributors, and then the authorized distributors would sell to the end customers. Manufacturers focus on R&D and manufacturing, while distributors focus on market development. If both parties could cooperate well, then it is a win-win situation. However, due to many reasons, for example, the distribution contract has been expired and both parties have no willingness to renew; or both parties have disputes on the payments or quality and so on, which leads the termination of the contract. After then, if a manufacturer does business with its distributor’s clients directly, normally, the…

Tan left the post for a “double eyelid surgery”, and the company dissolved the labor contract because of her absenteeism. Several days later, Tan provided the sick leave certificate issued by hospital to the company. However, the company held that Tan asked for sick leave because of cosmetic surgery instead of illness, so Tan should ask for a personal leave instead of a sick leave. Since Tan failed to apply for a personal leave, the company had the right to dissolve the labor contract. Tan filed the dispute to the labor arbitration committee, finally, Tan failed in the arbitration proceeding.…

Some companies would entrust trading companies to sell products for various reasons, and both parties would sign contracts. In practice, those contracts have different titles, such as a distribution contract , or a consignment contract, and contents are various as well. Then, how to determine the right title and contents? The specific provisions in the “Contract Law” have listed many named contracts, however, the distribution contract and the consignment contract have not been listed in such provisions. According to Article 124 of the “Contract Law”, such unnamed contracts shall be governed by the general provisions of the “Contract Law”; and…

Company A sent Lee an offer, in which the company had stated the position, salary, the date of employment and so on. Lee replied to accept the offer, and applied for resignation to the current employer. Unexpectedly, a few days later, Company A informed Lee that the offer was withdrawn. Both parties have disputes on the withdrawal. Then whether an employer could withdraw the offer? First, the relationship between the two parties is the key for determining the applicable laws. Article 7 of the “Labor Contract Law” stipulates that the employer shall establish an employment relationship with the employee from…

In commercial activities, it is not rare that the parties would implement a transaction before signing a contract, due to the time requirements, or a party is too eager to obtain a transaction opportunity and so on. However, once there is any dispute, such as a disagreement over the terms of the transaction; or the seller has implemented its responsibilities, but the buyer refuses to pay, then it would be very difficult for the parties to claim their rights and interests. In fact, if both parties have implemented a transaction before signing a contract, it shall be deemed as a…

Company A found that HR manager Chen was the supervisor of Company B, and dissolved the labor contract for violating the “Employee Handbook”, in which it stipulates that an employee shall not take another part-time job. Chen insisted that Company B had not signed a labor contract with him, or given any salary to him, in addition, the supervisor role would not be involved in the daily business of Company B, so his behavior should not be deemed as a violation of the “Employee Handbook”. Finally, both the labor arbitration committee and the court decided that such behavior should be…