Earlier this year, “Univar USA Inc. paid U.S. $62.5 Million to Resolve Allegations that it Evaded $36 Million in Antidumping Duties on Imported Chinese Saccharin.” My law firm profited handsomely from this case because we brought it to the government’s attention and then assisted on it. The United States Department of Justice describes this case
Got an email the other day from a good-sized company the other day asking about the benefit of having manufacturing contracts with companies in countries like Thailand, Taiwan, Indonesia, and Malaysia. The email went something like this (I say “something” because I’ve changed it so nobody will ever be able to identify it): I am
— Protecting Innovation in an Innovative Way: What are China’s IP Courts? After decades of engagement between US and Chinese legal experts on reforming IP protection in mainland China, Chinese IP courts were first pioneered in 2014 in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou (see the National People’s Congress (NPC) Decision of Establishing Intellectual Property Courts in
1. The Huawei Indictments On January 28, the U.S. Department of Justice unsealed two indictments against Huawei. The first indictment concerns ongoing claims against Huawei and its CFO, Meng Wanzhou, for allegedly violating U.S. sanctions against Iran. The second and more interesting indictment concerns alleged trade secret thefts by Huawei’s U.S. subsidiary under the direction
Chinese companies (especially SOEs) increasingly require their contracts with foreign companies provide for disputes to be resolved by arbitration in China. Our China lawyers are seeing mostly CIETAC and BAC arbitration clauses. Many of our American and European clients are uncomfortable with arbitrating against a Chinese company in China as they are convinced they cannot “get a fair
It is nearly always a good idea to have your Chinese counter-party “chop” or “seal” your China contracts with their official China company chop. There are many types of company chops. Which one should be used? How do you know if the company chop is real? What does a real China company chop look like?
Hong Kong courts are world class and most companies would rather have their disputes against their Mainland China counter-parties resolved in Hong Kong instead of in Wuxi or Harbin. Hong Kong as jurisdiction of choice is alluring. But for all sorts of reasons, it’s a trap. Let me explain. In 2008, China and Hong Kong
China has adopted a plan to establish a cyberspace court in Hangzhou. The plan is for this court to accept filings electronically, try cases via livestream and hear only e-commerce and Internet related cases. Why Hangzhou? Under Chinese civil procedure law, lawsuits must be brought in the place of the defendant’s domicile. For companies, domicile
Pretty much every month, one of my law firm’s international lawyers gets an email or a phone call from someone (often a fellow lawyer) seeking assistance with making a China related document legal for some sort of use somewhere in the world. Maybe 40 percent of the time, the request relates to a need to
A German lawyer, representing a German company owed lots of money by a Chinese citizen, wrote me last week to discuss retaining my law firm to help the company collect on its debt by seizing U.S and Canada real property held by the Chinese citizen. This lawyer was coming to me because he had liked
