Why Did the Court Not Rule in Accordance With Article 14 of the Anti Monopoly Law? Part II

(By You Yunting) August 1, 2013 was the fifth anniversary of the enactment of China’s AntiMonopoly Law. On the same day, Shanghai Higher People’s Courts handed down the first decision that supported a plaintiff’s claim in an anti-monopoly civil ligation in China. The court determined that Johnson & Johnson Medical Co. Ltd action constituted as a vertical monopoly for restricting the minimum sales price, and the company was ordered to make civil compensation for the plaintiff’s loss.

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Why Did the Court Not Rule in Accordance With Article 14 of the Anti Monopoly Law? Part I

(By You Yunting) August 1, 2013 was the fifth anniversary of the enactment of China’s AntiMonopoly Law. On the same day, Shanghai Higher People’s Courts handed down the first decision that supported a plaintiff’s claim in an anti-monopoly civil ligation in China. The court determined that Johnson & Johnson Medical Co. Ltd action constituted as a vertical monopoly for restricting the minimum sales price, and the company was ordered to make civil compensation for the plaintiff’s loss.

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Can Employees’ Nondisclosure Warranty Letter Be A Confidential Measure in China?

Abstract

(By Albert Chen) According to the Anti Unfair Competition Law, one of the conditions required for something to constitute a trade secret is whether sufficient measures have been taken for such information to remain confidential. In practice, apart from an NDA (Non Disclosure Agreement), other confidential articles that explicitly indicate the inclusion of remuneration for confidentiality in an employee’s pay, as well as written warranties issued by an employee can both be considered confidential measures in law sufficient to properly maintain a trade secret.

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Why Ctrip’s Opponent Failed in Charging Its Advertisement’s Unfair Competition?

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Abstract

(By Albert Chen) For the company operation in China, whether its slogan would constitute the unfair competition, it shall first judge whether the parties involved are conducting the same or similar industries. After that, it shall verify whether the defendant has conducted the accused propaganda. The last and also is the most important, it shall confirm whether the prohibitive words or phrases have been adopted in the slogan, or whether its description has appeared to be exaggerated or not the truth, and the fit with the fact shall also be judged.

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How MaoTai and Wu Liang Ye Would Defend Against Vertical Pricing Monopoly Fines ordered by China NDRC?

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(By You Yunting) Abstract: Both Mao Tai and Wu Liang Ye can rely on one of the seven situations in Article 15 of the Anti Monopoly Law for their defense. But, that defense will not be easy because it requires evidence that the relevant agreements will not limit market competitors and that consumers can share the interests produced by the agreements.

In yesterday’s post, the writer analyzed the legal meaning of the punishment ordered by the National Development and Reform Commission (“NDRC”) against two top Chinese distilleries, Mao Tai and Wu Liang Ye. Today’s post will go one step further to describe the way for Mao Tai and Wu Liang Ye can protect their own interests.

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Is It Illegal for 360buy Blocking Etao’s Price Comparisonand Plugin?

Today we are going to discuss legal problems concerning the 360buy blocking Etao.com, Alibaba’s price comparison website,’ and its plug-ins. And it shall be first pointed out, the author has no relation with either party of the event. The introduction to the event background:

In November of 2011, 360buy took technical measures to block the price search engine of Etao, who afterwards replied it would no longer index the price data of 360buy by Weibo. Yet in the price war between 360buy and Suning, Etao again published the live price comparison between 360buy and other online shopping stores. And in recent, 360buy further blocked the browser plug-in of Etao on 360buy.com, and the plug-in is designed to show the prices on different websites of the same product. Etao stated 360buy is paralyzing its software.

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Damages from Over Promotion by E-retailers

Recently, a sale’s promotion campaign (note: the link is in Chinese) is launched by China e-commerce merchants on Weibo, a twitter like website. On 14th August, Mr. Liu Qiangdong, CEO of 360buy.com made a statement on Weibo that all the major home appliances sold on his website will maintain ZERO gross profit in the coming 3 years, and will also be 10%  cheaper than those sold by Sunning and Gome, who are also the major E-retailers in China. Facing the challenge, Sunning (SZSE: 002024) and Gome (SEHK: 493) replied that all their commodities will be cheaper than 360buy.com. After that, both sides announced they will adjust the prices in time to ensure its own prices are lower than the opponent. The quarrel on Weibo triggered a promotion battle between the e-retailers, and after the 1st day of fighting, 360buy.com said the total sales of the day had been over RMB 200 million.

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