Mathew is an international transactional lawyer and corporate advisor with a focus on entertainment, technology and creative industries. Described as a “game-changing attorney” by Variety Magazine, Mathew leads our China office and media and entertainment practice from Beijing. He represents major Hollywood studios and producers on both motion picture and television projects. Mathew’s clientele extends to tech companies, promoters and event management companies, architectural firms, universities and publishers.
In the early 1980s the US Air Force commissioned Lucian Pye, an eminent sinologist, to write a report on how Chinese negotiate with foreigners. Published in 1982, it was called Chinese Commercial Negotiating Style. Based on extensive interviews with foreigners engaged in China trade, Pye’s paper analyzes the negotiating style the Chinese use with foreign businesspeople. Pye’s
Sports broadcasts aren’t recognized as copyright subject matter Sports broadcasts aren’t recognized as copyright subject matter under Chinese statute law although they have been accepted as such in some of the Chinese case law. This makes it necessary for sports brands, such as leagues or their licensees, to tackle piracy using Chinese anti-unfair competition laws.
China is digital. Its music market is almost entirely digital. Physical sales here comprise only about 20% of the total market. China has more than twice as many internet users as the US has people. There are about 900 million mobile internet users here, 70% of whom consume music online. That means there are around
China’s copyright law, in its present form, has been in place since 2010 and numerous proposals for amendments have been floated since that time. The National People’s Congress recently released another draft amendment and solicited public comment. As far as I can tell, this would be the 5th draft since 2010. In a recent post
Let me tell you about a European friend of mine in China. Well, he’s not really in China. Right now he’s in Thailand. Like many an expat, he went there for a quick holiday before the border closed and has been stuck for months because of virus travel restrictions. My friend desires anonymity. We’ll just
Many Chinese factories are hurting right now. Badly. This should come as no surprise. First they went through months of closures due to the coronavirus, and just when they opened they faced massively reduced demand. Chinese factories are closing left and right and many of those that are open are facing reduced demand and falling
The numbers coming out of China continue to amaze. There are 855 million digital consumers in China and they have more than twice as many internet users as the US has people. The Chinese are spending an average of 358 minutes per day online. They spend 8% of their online time streaming video content. A
Many foreign IP owners doing business in or with China do not believe the Chinese court system works. They or their foreign lawyers therefore tend to choose foreign law and jurisdiction in their contracts. When this results in contracts that are unenforceable against a Chinese party, everyone blames the Chinese. The prophesy about the lack
The pace of change is so rapid that it’s always hard to keep up with developments in China. What made sense last month often makes no sense this month. Here’s my attempt to make sense of what’s going on in video streaming right now. 1. More subscribers As recently as four or five years ago
Online gaming in China is subject to the same overall regulatory framework that applies to software as a service (SaaS) in China. The regulatory framework comprises no less than a dozen key components that have developed over the past twenty years or so. The development has not evolved neatly. Earlier regulations have not been comprehensively
