Publications

Miss A ordered a piece of furniture at a store. The next day, the store called and begged her to modify the order with the reason that, “the furniture ordered by Miss A is an old model which has been just sold out, there is a similar new model at the same price.” Miss A refused the store’s suggestion and planned to cancel the order. Coincidentally, Miss B also ordered a piece of furniture at the same store, and she even paid a prepayment. Later, Miss B wanted to cancel the order, but the store refused Miss B’s cancellation and…

There are 5 main circumstances that a company may claim for compensation against an employee. The circumstances are, (1) the employee brings damage to the company’s property; (2) the employee infringed a third party’s rights while working, and the company has compensated the third party; (3) the employee infringes the company’s trade secrets; (4) the employee embezzles the company’s property; and (5) the company has undertaken expenses which are not employer’s responsibilities, such as the company overpays for social security, or pays medical expenses first for the employee. If the company claims for compensation from the perspective of employment, the…

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…