Legal Problems on the Payment in RMB in Apple App Store

Highlight: Apple’s acceptation of payment in RMB in its App Store may be deemed as the intention to operate in China, which by local laws shall be administrative licensed of the value-added telecommunication service first and the entity shall be at least 50% owned by local companies. Furthermore, the applications sold in App Store are also demanded for administrative license and registration of Chinese government.

On the afternoon of 17th November, I was interviewed by Mr. Zeng Hang, the journalist from the 21st Century Business Herald, an influential Chinese financial newspaper, on the Apple’s plan to accept the payment in local currency for the purchase of applications of iPhone and iPad. Mr. You replied that it’s infeasible basing on the existing regulations, for any app purchases by Chinese clients is kind of shopping in U.S.A and shall be settled in dollar. And carrying out of the payment in RMB means App Store begins its operation in China which involves many administrative licenses.

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Could the Copyright Safe Replace the System of Copyright Registration?

—Comparison between Copyright safe and copyright registration system

Highlight: Bridge IP Law Commentary today will introduce you the newly adopted system of the Copyright Safe, and also we will analyze the difference between the new system and the copyright registration system.

Recently, the Beijing International Copyright Trade Center released the country’s first “copyright safe” (the Safe) for the soonest electronic notarization by internet on works. Meanwhile, the Asia’s largest music database of the Center is also established and put into operation.

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Introduction of China’s Legal System of Trademark Renewal

 Highlight: The first registered trademarks after the promulgation of the trademark law in 1982 will be in the renewal period soon, and most of such trademarks now are owned by foreign invested companies. In this essay, Bridge IP Law Commentary will give our advice and analysis on the trademark renewal.

The system of trademark application was first carried out in China in 1982 with the promulgation of the Trademark Law, by which the period of validity of a trademark registered in China is ten years from the day of approval and can be renewed, otherwise it will be cancelled. Therefore, most first registered trademarks are coming into the renewal period in 2012 or 2013, and among which the trademarks registered by foreign invested companies occupy a higher proportion due to the weak awareness of the trademark of Chinese enterprises then. For this reason, we would like to remind foreign clients to apply for trademark renewal timely during the renewal period and the grace period. Today, our website will introduce and analyze China’s legal system of trademark renewal.

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Legal Commentary on the case of Founder VS P&G and Chinese Character, II

—Analysis on the law Nature of the Works of Word Stock

Today’s essay follows “Legal Commentary on the case of Founder VS P&G and Chinese Character, I”

(2) The Founder Word Stock is the composite works

The Stock here refers to the Founder Word Stock composing all the individual words in it rather than the stock software. The new works come from the selection or arrangement of the existing works is called the composite works. In our opinion, it’s necessary for Founder to apply the copyright registration for the whole Stock since only focusing on the determination of the copyrighted works over the Stock Software or the individual words is not enough. And such registration could benefit the protection over the Stock against any other infringement, such as to print a book or magazine in the script in the Stock with no license.

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Legal Commentary on the copyright infringement case of Founder Electronics VS P&G, I

—Analysis on the law Nature of the Works of Chinese Character Word Stock

Highlight: Today and tomorrow, Bridge IP Law Commentary will introduce and analyze you the case of script copyright conflict between Founder and P&G, and also the system of word stock works behind the case. And the following is the first half—the introduction on the case and the part analysis on the nature of the works of word stock.

On the morning of 5th July, 2011, the appeal of the Founder Electronics (HKEX:0418, 0618) was rejected by the No.1 Intermediate People’s Court of Beijing in its case of the script copyright conflict against P&G (NYSE: PG), and the decision of the first hearing was supported. The final judgment maintains an ambiguous attitude towards the determination of “飘柔”, the localized name of the Rejoice brand of P&G , to be a fine art works, neither to support it or opposite it.

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Will Daily Deal Website Lashou Lost its domain name for trademark infringement?

Highlight: Lashou.com. a well-known daily deal website in China, says that the trademark of “拉手(Chinese pronunciation: lashou)”and“拉手团购(Chinese pronunciation: lashou tuangou)”have not be registered. For this, Bridge IPR Commentary made the retrieval and also put forward our advice.

It’s reported that Lashou.com is not approved for it’s application of the trademark “拉手”and“拉手团购”for their similarity to the registered ones, thus may bring Lashou.com the trademark conflict and the risk of losing its domain name www.lashou.com. If the reported facts do exist, the market of Lashou.com and its operating company Beijing Lashou Internet Technology Co., Ltd (hereinafter called as “Lashou Company”) may be influenced hereby, and even its IPO could be delayed.

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The Introduction on the Chinese Laws and Regulations concerning the Withholding Tax

Highlight: to introduce you the regulations concerning the withholding tax in China, including the scope and the calculation base of the tax.

Recently a reader consult our website for the relevant legal problems regarding the withholding tax in China. The withholding tax is a usually encountered question in foreign exchange payment for those foreign companies having cooperation with Chinese enterprises in intellectual property right. Ms. Chen Danhong, the attorney of our website replied the question as follows:

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Analysis on the Different Infringement Liabilities of Taobao Market and Tmall


Recently, the attorneys of Bridge IPR Commentary were interviewed by “China Intellectual Property “, an IPR magazine in China, and the details are as follows:

1. Taobao Market and Tmall are both the separate channels of Taobao, and Tmall was established after Market and now have its own domain name. Then is there any difference between Taobao Market and Tmall?

Unlike the stores in the Market applied by individual merchants with a relatively low threshold, the qualification for Tmall is much stricter for only licensed corporations could run the business in it, furthermore, the service of changing or refunding, after service and invoice are also demanded. Currently, the famous brands operating in Tmall include Lenovo, Haier, Nike and other well-known brands, which are similar to brand stores guaranteeing in service quality.

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New Chinese Laws & Regulations of October, 2011 (2)


To follow the regulations posted yesterday:

4. The Ministry of Finance and the State Administration of Taxation issued the Notice of the Value Added Tax (VAT) Policy for Software Product (hereinafter referred to the Notice)

On 13th October, 2011, the Ministry of Finance and the State Administration of Taxation jointly issued the Notice to further define the applicable scope, applicable conditions, and the calculation of the tax refund amount and other specific details of the preferential policy for the VAT of software product. The Notice clarifies that when the general taxpayers of VAT selling the software products developed and produced by themselves, the VAT shall be charged at the rate of 17%, while the amount exceeding 3% of the actual imposed VAT shall be refunded immediately. This policy will enter into force on 1st January, 2012.

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New Chinese Laws & Regulations of October, 2011 (1)

From this month, Bridge IPR Commentary will update the latest laws and regulations promulgated in China.

1. The Ministry of Commerce issued the Notice of the Problems regarding Cross- border Direct Investment Denominated in RMB (hereinafter referred to the Notice)

On 14th October, 2011, the Ministry of Commerce released the Notice, which regulates that the overseas investors (including the Hong Kong and Macau investors) can directly invest the RMB gained legally from overseas on business. The Notice defines the concept of “the RMB circulating outside China”, and regulates the investment scope, review and approval procedures and so on. By the Notice, the cross-border direct investment in RMB cannot be made in securities or derivatives (except otherwise specified), either be used for the entrusted loans. Regarding the administrative procedure of review and approval, there will be no alternation on the current review and approval power, which provides that the cross-border direct investment in RMB shall be approved by the local administrative departments of commerce according to the effective administrative regulations of the review and approval of foreign investment. For those investment projects and financial warrant of 300 million or more, foreign invested companies, macro control industry and other projects, the agreement from the Ministry of Commerce is demanded before the approval of the provincial commerce administration. And the procedure related will be simplified the Ministry of Commerce basing the practices of the cross-border direct investment in RMB.

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The Latest Development and Analysis on the Social Security Program Covering Foreign Workers in China

Highlight: The new Measures concerning foreigners’ participation in the local social insurance in China has come into effect recently. In this essay, we would like to introduce you the detailed regulations of the new document.

As provided in the Article 97 of the Social Insurance Law, P.R.C, which has come into effect from 2011.7.1, all foreign workers with a valid work permit could be covered by the social security program. However, according to the reply from the hotline of the Shanghai Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau, the participation in the program is on worker’s own choice as agreed in their labor contracts instead of being mandatory.

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The Suggestion on the Patent Management of the Company in China from the former Huawei Patent Engineer

Highlight: The patent has been an integral part of modern companies. Bridge IP Commentary will give you the suggestion for the patent management and application under the laws and regulations of China.

Patent is the essential part of the intangible asset of modern companies for it may bring great profit with proper application. In recent years, it has brought to the attention of China companies the importance of the patent for the often encountered patent litigation and the Section 337 Investigation by U.S.A. Then how to manage and apply the patent? And the followings are our suggestions:

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Introduction on the Regulations concerning the Capital Contribution in IPR or Domain Name in China

Highlight: The contribution of capital in IPR or domain name is permitted by China Company Law, though there regulates the proportion limitation on it. Bridge IP Commentary will introduce you the regulations of the investment in IPR.

Recently, a Company registered in Shanghai made its contribution of the 70% of the total registered capital of the company with domain name, which has been evaluated to be RMB 10 million yuan, and it has been the first company which made its capital contribution in domain name.

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