The Judicial Jurisdiction of Network Infringement in China

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By Albert Chen

In the post Could Apple Use Objection to Jurisdiction to Prolong the Litigation Period?, we introduced the objection to jurisdiction Apple submitted to the Beijing Second Intermediate Court after it was sued by the China Writers Alliance over downloads in Apple’s App Store. In China, the infringement or tort cases shall be brought to the court of infringement place or the domicile of the defendant, and the infringement place may include the place where the infringement takes place or the place where the consequences of the infringement are felt. With regard to network infringement, could the place where the consequence of infringement is felt include any computer terminal? Today, we will introduce the relevant system.

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Different Judicial Opinions from Cases on Name Trademarks and Domain Name Conflicts in China

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By Albert Chen

In the first half of this year, our website posted an essay discussing the domain name dispute heard in the Shanghai No. 2 Intermediate People’s Court (“Shanghai Court”) concerning the renowned comedian Zhou Libo. Recently, the Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court (“Beijing Court”) decided a very similar case. Yet there were very different standards used to decide the different cases in Beijing and Shanghai. The most critical point is the determination of whether, after receiving the invitation to buy the domain name, the rights holder had bad faith during registration and use of the domain name.

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Introduction to Copyright Protect on Clothing Design in China

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By Luo Yanjie

The clothing has been long seen the most afflicted field of IPR infringement, and in addition to the common trademark infringement, the pass off on the design or model developed by others is also ubiquitous. To pass off the design of the clothing is of no way to be protected by trademark law, for which shall be covered by the copyright law. Considering the clothing itself is not the statutory protective object in law, how to protect the design of clothing is also among the long argued topics. In today’s post, we would discuss over the issue.

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How to Settle Trademark and Trade Name Conflict in China

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By Albert Chen

For the prior approval on the company name by the administration of industry and commerce as well as the preliminary examination by the trademark authority in China, no material checks on any conflict against first rights would be conducted. And that has resulted in the numerous conflicts between the trade name and trademark. In today’s post, you could see our opinions on the settlement of the conflict.

I. The administrative way

It is feasible to settle the trademark and trade name conflict through administrative way in China. By Opinions on Several Issues concerning the Settlement on the Conflict between Trademark and Trade Name (the “Opinions”) issued by the SAIC (the State Administration of Industry and Commerce), the conflict occurred within a province shall be settled as in charge of the provincial administration of industry and commerce, and those involves different provinces, shall be settled by SAIC.

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Is It Illegal to Unlock or Jailbreak iPhone and iPad in China?

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By You Yunting

A friend asked me a question: why by the latest USA legislature, to unlock iPhone shall be against the law, while it is permitted by law to do so for iPad? This question is complicated on essence, and it actually involves two restrictions designed by Apple on its devices.

On the initial launch of iPhone, the exclusive operating partner of Apple for its new device in USA was AT&T, and therefore it built the capability into the phone so as to ensure only the AT&T would be service network. Later on, as detained a slow internet speed, such a SIM lock was soon been unlocked, and from then on other operator could serve the users with iPhone.

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Supreme Court Loosened Procedural Standards of Evidences Collected Outside China

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By Luo Yanjie

The so-called overseas evidences refer to those evidences developed outside China. In IPR cases, for most right holders are admitted in foreign countries, we have seen a high chance of overseas evidences’ showing up. By Article 11 of Rules on Civil Evidences (the “Rules”):

“If the evidence submitted by the party is developed outside P. R. China, they shall be notarized by the authority where it is collected, and be witnessed by Chinese Embassy or Consulate there; or to be verified through the procedures agreed in the convention between the country and China”.

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Analysis on Copyright Risks of Duowan YY Music

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By Luo Yanjie

According to a recent news report (note: the link is in Chinese), the Huanju Inc (namely duowan.com), the holding company of YY.com submitted the prospectus to SEC of USA, applying for the IPO in NASDAQ for $ 100 million funding, and the code of it is YY. As indicated in the prospectus, the achievements of YY music have been the most bling-bling part. YY music is actually the music channel of YY instant messenger, introduced in March of 2011, and mainly broadcasting live shows of music performance. The performer could interact with the spectators by Karaoke, singing match or live videos. Furthermore, amounts of virtual products are available on YY music, which could be got on payment or as gifts. Yet to the statement of someone skilled in the art, the mode of YY music is facing the copyright risk. Today’s post would share our opinions on the issue.

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A Recorded High Objection to Mao Tai’s Trademark Application

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By Albert Chen

According to the report, the renowned white liquor distillery Mao Tai’s application of the “Guo Jiu Mao Tai” trademark is facing a recorded huge amount of objections. Since the announcement of its preliminary examination on 20th July, it has seen totaled 95 objections to the applied 4 marks within the 3-months publication. And the objectors have been more than 40 units or individuals. For the case, we once posted an essay on its analysis: “Will Alcohol Trademarks Implying Them the State Liquor Be Registered in China?” For more details of the analysis, please check today’s post.

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Solutions to Labor Dispute on the Employment of Foreigners in China

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By Albert Chen

A subscriber of our website raised a question to us: what to do when countered a labor dispute for foreigners in China, who shall also be protected by local laws? To this question, you may find your answer in today’s post.

I. Are Chinese laws and regulations applying to labor disputes of foreigners?

The main existing laws regulating the employment of foreigners in China is RULES FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF EMPLOYMENT OF FOREIGNERS IN CHINA (Rules) issued by police, labor and other two departments. According to Article 26 of the Rules:

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Key Points to Foreign Company’s IPR Litigation Preparation in China

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By Luo Yanjie

With the development of economy, China pays more and more attention to the protection of intellectual property. But whether the patent, trademark or copyright, a lot of high value intellectual property rights belong to foreign companies. Facing the still serious infringing situation, the civil lawsuit is still the most common and reliable means to strike infringement. As for foreign investors, what deserves the attention when preparing lawsuit materials? Today we would like to share the topic with readers as follows:

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How to Respond Employees’ Compensation Claim for Office Relocation in China？

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By You Yunting

A subscriber of our website asked that what the company shall reply when the employee hand in his/her resignation for the inconvenience occurred from relocation of the office and as for the employee’s claim of compensation.

We reply as follows: Obviously, it could come to the employee’s consideration that the relocation of the office is the statutory situation of “A major change in the objective circumstances relied upon at the time of conclusion of the employment contract renders it unperformable”, and it is also resulted by the employer, and for this reason, they would claim an extra one month salary and compensation.

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Could Apple Use Objection to Jurisdiction to Prolong the Litigation Period?

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By Albert Chen

The most watched copyright battle between Chinese Writer Alliance (the “Alliance”) and Apple was heard in Beijing No.2 Intermediate People’s Court on the 11th of this month. You may have read our previous essay on the private hearing of the case, and in fact, Apple has also filed an objection to the jurisdiction in the case. Nonetheless, the application was refused by the intermediate court and upheld by the high court after appeal. The lawsuit has been delayed by procedure for nearly half a year, as favored by Apple. Today, we are going to introduce the regulation on the objection to civil jurisdiction in China.

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Legal Analysis on Apple’s Lose in APP Store Infringing Contents of Beijing Litigation

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By Luo Yanjie

Recently, a reporter of TechWeb interviewed You Yunting of our website about issues of Apple providing infringing content as follows:

1, Lots of China writers have sued Apple Inc because its App Store violated their copyright; Encyclopedia of China Publishing House (EPCH) win the case and get 520,000 as compensation. How do you see this kind of cases? Can it become the flag case of mobile Internet copyright?

Personally think it is more suitable to say that it is a flag case for APP Store of Apple, the main significance is as follows:

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Has Apple Lost Opportunity of In-Camera Hearing on Its Case?

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By Albert Chen

The most watched dispute between Baidu (NASDAQ: BIDU) and Chinese Writers Alliance (the “Alliance”) is heard on 11th of October in Beijing No.2 Intermediate People’s Court. That lawsuit is filed following the battle against Baidu by the Alliance. Before the hearing on 11th, Apple applied to the court for the hearing in camera with the claim that the case is with trade secret related. After the consideration by the court, such an application was refused by the judge, yet it still decided the procedure may switch into be in private when one the interrogation involves the business secret. In today’s post, you may see our analysis on the “lawsuit in camera” in China.

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Is It Infringing to Show Others’ Trademarks on Exhibitions?

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By Luo Yanjie

Previously, our website introduced issues of trademark and patent in China exhibition: Legal Issues concerning Trademark during the Exhibition in China, Patent Issues for Attention on the Exhibition in China. Recently, a customer told our attorneys that they found a company using their registered trademarks for the promotion on similar goods in an exhibition. The company learned a little Chinese law and they know only Chinese patent law provides that “offer to sell” is infringement. So they ask our advice about that if using other’s registered trademarks constitute trademark infringement?

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