The PRC National People’s Congress last week promulgated a second discussion draft of the PRC E-Commerce Law (电子商务法草案). This statute is an attempt to gain greater control over China's online consumer markets, which have exploded with little regulation. The lack of regulation has not slowed development of e-commerce in China. The success of online marketing
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
American and European companies that have their consumer products made in China regularly must contend counterfeits of their products showing up on Amazon. My law firm's international IP lawyers frequently get inquiries from companies that sell their products on Amazon and have seen their sales plunge because they are having to compete with duplicate/counterfeit products
Years ago, I spoke at a major technology event on how to protect IP from China. I rarely use notes when I give a speech, which and I often riff on various things. At some point during that speech, I mentioned how technology companies tended to get into more trouble when it comes to China
On March 10, 2016, the PRC government will impose new rules to govern online publishing in China. Under these new rules, all entities that intend to publish online in China must first obtain an Online Publishing Service Permit from SAPPRFT. The OPS Rules set out the conditions for obtaining the required permit. The Chinese government strictly
As we pointed out in SaaS in China: Build a compliant Go-to-Market Plan by Looking Beyond the Regulations and again in Foreign SaaS in China: Get Off of My Cloud, the PRC does not permit foreign entities to make direct sales of SaaS products from servers located within China. For foreign software companies, this is a major
As businesses are rapidly moving to the cloud, the Chinese government seems to be taking its lead from the Rolling Stones: Hey! You! Get off of my cloud. China wants to run its own private cloud, and foreigners need not apply. The primary issue for Internet businesses in China is that all commercial Internet businesses
Media reports state that online gambling in China soared during the recent World Cup. The punters put their money into online gambling on the World Cup, with revenue at China's government run lottery site increasing by over 80% during this period. The general ban on gambling in China is subject to one exception. The Chinese
A technology company contacted one of our China lawyers months after having started selling its software into China. This company came to us seeking help in deciding whether to continue selling its software from the United States or to form a China WFOE and start selling through that entity. The first thing we told this
VIE stands for variable interest entity and they are entities used to allow a company in China to technically be a Chinese domestic company, but be de facto controlled by a foreign-owned entity or entities. VIE structures are usually used to allow foreign companies to get involved in various sectors of China's economy forbidden to
