China joined WIPO (the World Intellectual Property Organization) in 1980 and it introduced its first copyright law in 1990. China adopted modern intellectual property laws as a condition of joining the WTO (the World Trade Organization) in 2001. 2001 China intellectual property laws amendments The 2001 amendments were the first round of modernization of China’s
Since 2006, we have been writing about fake China law firms. See China Where Even The “Law Firms” Are Fake. In that post we talked about fake Chinese lawyers taking money from American companies for trademark registrations: There are those who take money to file trademarks in China and then simply run away. A new client
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
Way back in 2006, I wrote about fake China law firms in China: Where Even The “Law Firms” Are Fake. In that post I talked about fake Chinese lawyers taking money from foreign companies for trademark registrations: There are those who take money to file trademarks in China and then simply run away. A new
China’s recently stepped up efforts to root out unregistered foreign businesses in China has caused a rash of China consultants to retain the China lawyers at my law firm. From our work in forming China WFOEs (wholly foreign owned entities) for these consultants, we have discovered that many China consultants are falling dangerously short in
Under Chinese law a foreigner who comes to China to complete a “short-term work task” and stays no more than 90 days, must get a work visa (a Z visa). A “short-term work task” is defined as one of the following: Tasks such as those involving technology, scientific research, management and guidance at the place
China Contract Formalities Contracts with Chinese companies often generate a unique set of legal and procedural intricacies. China’s legal landscape differs significantly from that of American, European, or Australian jurisdictions, primarily due to its distinct regulatory frameworks and business culture. These differences require a China-centric approach to both the drafting of China contracts and to
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
Let the hate mail begin. Whenever we write on how things are getting bad for foreign companies doing business in China and on how foreign companies should think long and hard before doing business in China, we get hate mail or hate comments (which we typically delete). Many of these come from China consultants accuse
Most of our clients know little about China employment law, but most know well that China has high expectations on how China employers must treat pregnant and nursing employees. Our clients know this because they all seem to know of a foreign company that had to pay a lot of money for not knowing this.
