关于违约金计算标准的法律问题
司法实践中，因逾期付款时的债务人违约责任约定不明而常发生争议。债权人在债务人逾期付款时可以主张逾期付款违约金，但就逾期付款违约金计算标准理解不一。不同当事人主张的逾期付款违约金计算标准不同，不同法院采取的裁判准则也不一致，导致对该问题的认识及做法混乱。现就上述问题进行简要阐述。
Continue Reading...Calculating Late Payment Breach Damages
By::Cheng Shigang, Associate in King & Wood's Domestic Litigation and Arbitration Practice
Unclear provisions have frequently caused liability disputes for late payment damages. Clearly a non-breaching party may claim damages for late payment. Yet, opposing parties have often advanced differing methods for calculating damages depending on which method provides a more favorable outcome. In the past, courts also proposed differing principles for deciding cases. This lack of uniformity often led to confusion.
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Co-existence Agreements--"a must"--in Trademark Rejection Reviews
Successfully handling rejection reviews, based on a prior similar mark, in the past has proven difficult. Rather than simply giving up registration of an important trademark, recent China Trademark Review and Adjudication Board (TRAB) decisions indicate that an effective alternative for applicants is trying to reach a co-existence agreement with the owner of the cited mark. If there is a slight difference between the preliminarily rejected trademark and the cited mark, and the marks do not cover identical goods or services, a co-existence agreement could become “a must” for overcoming a preliminary official rejection.
Recently we received a favorable decision for a client from the TRAB on a trademark rejection review. Since the rejected trademark and the cited mark differed only in one of ten letters and the two marks also covered similar goods, we expected the board to reaffirm the previous rejection based on Chinese trademark examination criteria. The obvious deciding factor resulting in a favorable review was the Co-existence Agreement entered into by our client with the owner of the cited mark. The co-existence agreement in essence consented to the registration and use of the trademark by our client in China.
Written by Zhu Fangjin, Associate, Trademark Group
New Technology Import Regulations May Cause Headaches for the Unprepared
By: Mark Schaub, a Partner of King & wood's corporate Group
Two sets of new measures have been issued in June 2008 (namely Measures for the Administration of Prohibited and Restricted Technology Import and Measures for the Administration of Import and Export Contracts Registration) which are likely to have a material, practical affect upon technology licenses and transfers to and from China. The measures are a mix of devolution (i.e. the regulations delegate responsibility down to regional Bureaux of Commerce); increased regulation and supervision on the one hand but relaxation in other regards.
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