How to Look at “Hideki Yukawa” (Physicist and Nobel Prize Winner) Trademarks on Toilet Covers from Chinese Law Perspective? Comments on Legality of “Hideki Yukawa” Trademarks

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(By Chen Danfeng)

On dang dang, JD and other platforms there are descriptions of the book “The Traveller” published by Shanghai Translation Publishing House and its author professor Hideki Yukawa, famous physicist and the first Japanese winner of the Nobel prize.

Translatation of the information of the Original Cover:

About the Author

Hideki Yukawa (1907-1981)

He is famous Japanese physicist who was born in 1907 and studied physics at the science school of Kyoto Imperial University (now named Kyoto University). He was awarded PHD of Science by Osaka Imperial University (now named Osaka University) in 1938, started to work as professor of Kyoto Imperial University in 1939 and was given the award of the Japan Academy in the following year. He served concurrently as professor of Tokyo Imperial University (now named Tokyo University) and was awarded the Order of Culture in the following year. He went to the US as guest professor of Princeton Institute for Advanced Study in 1948 and became guest professor and professor of Columbia University in July, 1949. He was awarded the Nobel Physics Prize for creation of the meson theory and became the first Japanese winner of the Nobel prize. He died of illness in Kyoto in 1981.

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China Laws and Regulations Update in January 2023

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1. Instructions on Improving Legal Protection of Intellectual Property Rights Relating to Traditional Chinese Medicines

Promulgated by Supreme People’s Court

Promulgation date: 22 December 2022

Document number: FF[2022]34

The Instructions consists of three parts and sixteen articles which are specific provisions relating to the role of judicial authorities in legal protection of intellectual property rights in traditional Chinese medicines and improvement of the ability to administer law to give legal protection of traditional Chinese medicine patents, business marks, trade and state secrets, copyrights and related rights, raw materials of traditional Chinese medicines, various products made from traditional Chinese medicines, etc. and more vigorously maintain the fair competition order on the traditional Chinese medicine market, protect legal interests of traditional Chinese medicine innovators and fight infringement of intellectual property rights in traditional Chinese medicines. The Instructions focuses on main areas and key issues relating to traditional Chinese medicines and is a guide for legal professionals to deal with cases arising from intellectual property rights in traditional Chinese medicines. To improve the protection of traditional Chinese medicine patents, the Instructions suggests following the development law of traditional Chinese medicines, understanding characteristics of traditional Chinese medicine innovation and improving rules on legal protection of patents in traditional Chinese medicine areas. (Source: SPC website)

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Legal Applications of “Clean Hands Rule” to Shareholder Brought Actions

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(By Bai Lituan)

What is “clean hands rule”?

The “clean hands rule” that came from the UK equity law deprives a person acting in an improper way of the right to seek remedies for their acts. A person acting in a way that violates the principles of “justice, conscientiousness, fairness, etc.” in equity law cannot seek remedies in a court under an equity law jurisdiction. The clean hands rule is generally accepted in international business arbitration and reflected by provisions of the Chinese Civil Code. For example, Article 591 provides that if a party violates the contract, the other party should take appropriate action to prevent loss increase or otherwise could not claim for the loss increase. Based on this provision, if a party does nothing to prevent the increase in damages caused by the other party breaching the contract, the non-breaching party will have no right to win the action for the loss increase with its hands not clean. In addition, articles 680 and 1125 of Civil Code implicitly follow the clean hands rule which for example is applied in Chinese cases of buying false products deliberately where the buyer will not be awarded a refund for and damages of three times the price of false products they bought because their hands are not clean and their acts are not protectable by law.

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China Laws and Regulations Update in December 2022

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1. Instructions on Formulating Fundamental Data Policies to Take Good Advantage of Data Elements

Promulgated by the Central Committee of the Communist Party and the State Council

Promulgation date: 19 December 2022

The Instructions includes 20 policies relating to data property, trade, profit distribution and security governance in order to establish underlying data policies and systems in China, fully activate data elements, energize real economic development, vitalize market entities, help develop new growth perspective and promote sound development. The Instructions explicitly mentions exploration of data property structuring system and establishment of confirmation and authorization systems for classification and grading of public, corporate and individual data. It also puts forward establishment and improvement of personal information confirmation and authorization mechanisms in order to cause data processors to legally collect, possess, use and entrust others to manage data containing personal information within the individual’s authorized scope, regulate activities of processing personal information, prevent excessive collection of personal information by “package licensing”, forced approval, etc. and promote fair use of personal information. (Source: Chinese Government website)

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Six Key Points in Amendments to Company Law for Second Deliberation

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(By Huangfu Yuxuan) On 30 December 2022 the Company Law (Amendments for Second Deliberation) (“Amendments”) was published on the website of Chinese National Congress. The Amendments is to further modify and regulate shareholders’ responsibility to contribute capital, the company’s organizational structure, shareholders’ right to know, directors’ responsibilities, corporate governance of listed companies, company cancellation, etc. to address the problems of existing company laws that do not fit or match the market development. It is the third major amendment of the Company Law since its promulgation in 1993. Key points in the Amendments are as follows.

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China Laws and Regulations Update in November 2022

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1. Law on Protection of Women’s Interests

Promulgated by Standing Committee of National People’s Congress

Promulgation date: 30 October 2022

Implementation date: 1 January 2023

Document number: Chinese President Order No.122

The Law on Protection of Women’s Rights and Interests aims to fully implement fundamental state policies, including ones relating to the equality between men and women and continue improving rules on protection of women’s rights and interests. In terms of women’s personal and moral rights for which there is widespread concern in our society, based on bans on women trafficking and abduction, it sets out job duties of the government and departments concerned, villagers’ committee and residents’ committee to ascertain, report, rescue, settle, support and take care of women trafficked or abducted, improves women’s employment and social interests, eliminates and sets out circumstances of job and sex discrimination, includes job and sex discrimination in the scope of employment supervision, sets out employer’s responsibilities for protecting women’s interests and explicitly provides that employment (or appointment) contract or service agreement should include provisions relating to protection of women’s interests. (Source: NPC website)

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Legal Protection of Digital Derivatives of Drama (Part II)

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(By Lv Xuanxuan)

I. Civil right protection

As stated above, digital derivatives are virtual property because of its form and value. In Section 5 Civil Rights of Chapter I General Provisions of Civil Code include general provisions about digital and internet based virtual property, stating that digital and internet based virtual property should be protected according to relevant legal provisions, if any. Pursuant to Articles 240 and 241 of Civil Code, real property or property owner is legally entitled to possess, use, receive profits from, assign or create a right to use or security interest in the property, but the person with a right to use or security interest in the property cannot exercise their rights by harming the property owner’s rights. In Article 323 of Civil Code which sets out five rights relating to use of property, the person with a right to use other person’s real property or property can legally possess, use or receive profits from the property. In addition, Civil Code also includes security, pledge, lien and occupation related rules. Because of the legality of rights in property, ownership and the right to assign internet based virtual property is based on creditor’s right to ask for payment of debts owed to them, not directly coming from the property related provisions of Civil Code.

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Legal Protection of Digital Derivatives of Drama (Part I)

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(By Lv Xuanxuan)

Issues

Digital collectibles (artworks) that emerged over the past year or so are a hot topic in culture and art. As one example, an artist uploads a digital file of painting, audio, video or creative works in other forms onto a third party platform, creates a file copy on the digital book of a block chain as “NFT” and backs it up with encrypted currency. As another example, a performance organizer sells tickets with characters in a play (art images) on a third party platform.[1] Digital collectibles (artworks) come from “NFT” applications. “NFT” technology is used to record ownership of artworks or collectibles and other assets. “NFT” is the abbreviation of “Non-Fungible Tokens” which according to Collins English Dictionary[2] means a digital certificate registered in a block chain and is usually translated into Chinese as “non-homogenous tokens”.

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China Laws and Regulations Update in October 2022

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1. Regulations on Several Issues Connected with People Freed on Bail Pending Trial

Promulgated by Supreme People’s Court, Supreme People’s Procuratorate, Ministry of Public Security and Ministry of National Security

Promulgation date: 21 September 2022

Implementation date: 21 September 2022

Document number: GTZ[2022]25

To better regulate people freed on bail pending trial and prevent failure to or negligence in the regulation, the Regulations mainly puts forward the following measures.

First, the scope of activities of people freed on bail is clarified. To meet the practical regulatory requirements, the Regulations further specifies the “specific places”, “specific people” and “specific activities” in Article 71 of the Criminal Procedural Law so that enforcement authorities can understand and put these provisions into practice and people freed on bail can clearly know the scope of their activities.

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If Blizzard Changes the Agent of The Legend of Mir II, Can Players’ User Data stored by Netease Be Totally Transferred?

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(By You Yunting) Blizzard, a US company recently announced[1] that the license agreement with Netease would expire on 23rd January 2023 and that the parties failed to reach a renewal agreement that conformed to Blizzard’s operational principles and commitments to players and staff members, so it would suspend most of Blizzard’s game services relating to the World of Warcraft, etc. in the Chinese mainland. Let’s discuss this incident and related issues below. Is it possible to renew the agreement? Will the game services be terminated if the agreement renewal failed? If Blizzard changed the Chinese agent, can players’ data be totally transferred?

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China Laws and Regulations Update in September 2022

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1. Law Against Telecommunication Fraud

Promulgated by the Standing Committee of National People’s Congress

Promulgation date: 2 September 2022

Implementation date: 1 December 2022

Document number: 119 President Order

The Law Against Telecommunication Fraud consists of seven chapters and fifty articles, including general principles, telecommunication, financial and internet governance, comprehensive measures, legal responsibilities, supplementary articles, etc. in order to give powerful legal support for fighting telecommunication fraud by adhering to the people centered philosophy, balancing development and safety, preventing and governing telecommunication fraud in all parts of the chain and working hard with accuracy. The Law further strengthens punishment for telecommunication fraud by including specialized provisions relating to administrative punishment and further clarifying the offender’s civil responsibilities and records on the credit report.

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China Laws and Regulations Update in August 2022

1. Decision to Abolish and Change a Number of Penalties

Promulgated by State Council

Promulgation date: 12 August 2022

Document number: SI[2022]15

The content of the Decision is comprised of three main parts.

First, abolition and modification of 53 penalties, including 29 ones abolished, 1 by the Ministry of Public Security, 12 by the Ministry of Transportation and 16 by the State Administration for Market Regulation, and 24 ones modified, 19 by the Ministry of Transportation and 5 by the State Administration for Market Regulation. The Decision sets forth names of, bases for creation of, decisions to deal with and regulatory measures that substitute such penalties.

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How to Send Data in Chinese Concept Share Audit Papers Abroad?

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(By You Yunting) China and the US recently signed the Audit Supervision Cooperation Agreement, allowing supervisors and inspectors of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) to review audit materials of Chinese companies listed in the US in Hong Kong, including complete audit papers containing all information. According to media reports, Alibaba, JD and Yum China are the first businesses to be audited.[1] Audit papers contain large amounts of data and personal information of domestic users (collectively “data”). I would like to discuss whether the audit paper review by the US parties is outbound data transfer and what procedures should be followed to transfer the data abroad according to Chinese laws.

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What is Disney’s Greatest Concern After Expiration of Copyright in Mickey Mouse

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(By You Yunting) The 94-year-old Mickey Mouse will reach the end of its copyright protection term in the US, Disney’s headquarters. Actually, its copyright protection terms in other countries almost all expired some time ago. Being well acquainted with Mickey Mouse IP, Disney has maximized profits by running its business skillfully and continuing making innovations. However, it has weaknesses as well. This article discusses the most destructive practices by its rivals to the commercial value of Mickey Mouse, potential damage to Mickey Mouse’s commercial value by making it a horror or pornographic movie, and its corresponding solutions.

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