Publications

The newly revised “Counterespionage Law” will come into effect on July 1, 2023. It has expanded the definition of espionage, adding espionage acts of “joining espionage organizations and their agents”, and “network attacks, intrusion, interference, control, destruction and other activities against state organs, secret related units or key Information infrastructure”. At the same time, the scope of protected objects has expanded from “national secrets and intelligence” to “other documents, data, materials, and items related to national security and interests”. Before the amendment of the “Counterespionage Law” was announced, reports of suspected espionage events had already been hot news, such as…

The newly revised “Counterespionage Law” will come into effect on July 1, 2023. It has expanded the definition of espionage, adding espionage acts of “joining espionage organizations and their agents”, and “network attacks, intrusion, interference, control, destruction and other activities against state organs, secret related units or key Information infrastructure”. At the same time, the scope of protected objects has expanded from “national secrets and intelligence” to “other documents, data, materials, and items related to national security and interests”. Before the amendment of the “Counterespionage Law” was announced, reports of suspected espionage events had already been hot news, such as…

An effective transfer of debt usually requires four factors: 1) there is a valid debt; 2) the debt has assignability; 3) there is an effective debt assignment agreement; and 4) the debtor is notified. Otherwise, the assignment of debt shall not have any effect on the debtor. Therefore, as long as the debt has assignability, and it is not prohibited to be assigned according to legal provisions, normally such debt could be assigned without the consent of the debtor. However, if both parties have agreed that the creditor’s rights cannot be assigned, whether such agreed non-assignable debt could be assigned?…

There are 3 categories of working hour system, which are the standard working hours, the flexible working hours arrangement, and the comprehensive calculation regarding working hours, among which, the latter two could be implemented upon the approval of the labor administrative department, and they are generally referred to as the special working hour systems. The “Notice on Issuing the Measures for the Examination and Approval of Flexible Working Hours Arrangement and Comprehensive Working Hours Scheme Adopted by Enterprises” has stipulated the objects of the two special working hour systems. However, there are some blind spots. Q: Whether an employer shall…

Company A sued Company B for a dispute over the sales contract and applied to add Company B’s shareholder, Company C, as a joint defendant. Company C defended that Company A had abused its right of prosecution, because the dispute between Company A and Company B had no business with Company C. Article 63 of the “Company Law” stipulates that, “A shareholder of a one-person limited liability company who is unable to prove that the company’s assets are independent of the shareholder’s personal assets shall bear joint and several liability for the company’s debt.” In addition, Article 20 of the…

In January 2023, ByteDance downsized the company for 10%. In March 2023, Google China initiated a layoff plan. … In 2023, various news of “layoffs” hit the hot search from time to time. From the perspective of enterprises, a layoff plan mainly focuses on two aspects, which are the purpose and objectives of “layoffs”, and the legal risks caused by “layoffs”. The former involves commercial issues, while the latter involves legal issues. The commercial issues mainly include two points: Firstly, the purpose of “layoffs” shall be very clear. Losing money is not the only reason for “layoffs”, because a company…

Regarding different objects of infringement, the infringement behaviors could be divided into various categories, such as the behaviors which have infringed the right holder’s property rights (such as unauthorized possession of another person’s real estate), trademark rights, or the right to life and health of individuals, and so on. Regarding the status of infringement, the infringement behaviors could be divided into an accomplished behavior, such as a car accident, and an on-going behavior, such as a party keeps manufacturing goods that infringe on the patent rights of others over the years. In view of the above, whether the common limitation of…

To use employees’ vehicles for business has gradually become a common phenomenon. There are various reasons, such as a company brings the proposal due to cost saving, or an employee brings the proposal for his own convenience regarding commute and cost. However, there are risks related to such arrangement. This article aims to analyze the main risks and countermeasures related to such arrangement. Risk 1: Infringement If an accident occurs, the employee’s vehicle is determined to bear liabilities, and such accident meets the conditions specified in Article 1191, Paragraph 1, of the “Civil Code”, that is, “Where an employee of an…

Before the revision of the “Trademark Law” in 2013, the well-known trademark was regarded as an honorary title, which became many enterprises’ selling point in marketing. However, the function as a selling point is not the original intention of establishing the well-known trademark system in the “Trademark Law”. Therefore, in 2013, the revision of the “Trademark Law” stipulates that well-known trademarks are expressly prohibited from advertising, which leads many enterprises to reconsider the value of well-known trademarks. Recently, the “Revised Draft of the Trademark Law (Draft for Comments)” has been released, and it involves provisions on strengthening the protection of…

In practice, some employees may delete personal information stored in computers, mobile phones and other devices provided by their employers when leaving their posts. Such deletions are understandable, because they are aimed to protect their personal information. However, some employees may delete the data or work email stored in the server, public disk, etc. without authorization due to anger or other reasons. Such behavior will undoubtedly bring different degrees of adverse effects and obstacles to the employer. If the data involves trade secrets, or any evidence which are useful in other lawsuits in the future, such deletion will bring huge direct…