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
It has been eight years since my graduation from law school and business school. I started law school in the Fall of 2008 before the world fell apart . . . the last time. The reverberations of the financial crisis that started roiling the world in 2008 continued into 2012 when I graduated and started
China presumes employers are more powerful than their employees and so it explicitly favors employees. For example, not only does the law permit employees to unilaterally terminate their employment contracts by giving notice of leaving (unless one of the very limited exception applies), employees also may terminate their employment contract and demand statutory severance for
As a business lawyer who specializes in international transactions, I spend about half of my time working on legal strategy with my clients. I describe legal strategy as figuring out what the right way is to get from A to B, and those are often separated by international borders, vast oceans, and language and cultural
One of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) most persistent bugbears are separatist threats—real or imagined—on the fringes of its empire. The most recent manifestation of this concern has been the CCP’s response to the ongoing unrest in Hong Kong. On May 20, 2020, the National People’s Congress adopted a decision regarding “national security” in Hong
In the United States and Europe, it is uncommon for a dispute between two business people to become subject to criminal law enforcement. This is not true in China. In doing business in China, you need to be aware of two things: the scope of economic crime there is far broader than you probably expect
On May 1, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced it had issued a withhold release order (WRO) against hair products manufactured by a Xinjiang company called Hetian Haolin Hair Accessories Co. Ltd. (Haolin). The WRO was issued under the authority of 19 U.S.C. 1307, which prohibits importing merchandise produced by forced labor. To be
Forming companies in China: Like a Maze As part of the supporting regulations relating to the Foreign Investment Law (FIL), China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) and State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) issued the Measures for Foreign Investment Information Reporting (the “Reporting Measures”). Under the FIL and the Reporting Measures, all foreign investors or foreign
Photo of a Xinjiang “industrial park” from Quartz Magazine China’s coronavirus outbreak continues to damage the supply chain worldwide. But another sickness in China could eventually cause as much damage: the use of forced Uighur labor in factories all over China. China’s Coronavirus was initially limited to Hubei province and China’s oppression of Uighurs and
Way back in the pre-coronavirus days — October 30-2019 — in Do Not Let Force Majeure be a Major Force In Your China Contract, we did a post warning of force majeure provisions in contracts with Chinese companies. That post began with the following warning/joke; Pull out and look at your contract with your Chinese
