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 Shanghai. 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
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
I recently spoke in Beijing at a conference on legal protection of sports broadcasts, organized by the National Copyright Administration of China (NCAC) and the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Other speakers included Chinese judges, Chinese and American lawyers and academics, sports league and broadcaster general counsel, and American and European IP officials. What
Making a biopic – a biographical movie about real people– is complicated. And one of the biggest concerns is liability for defamation. In an ideal world, filmmakers would get everyone depicted in the movie to sign a release. But that’s often impractical: people want too much money, too much control over how they are depicted,
