March 2010

By Zhang Yi and Alan Du, King & Wood’s Corporate Group

The Oriental Morning Post reported that a Trial Plan for the Participation of Foreign Investment into RMB Equity Investment Funds (the “Trial Plan”) was approved by the Shanghai government on March 15, 2010. This development will be fully publicized in April and first implemented in the Pudong New Area. The Trial Plan will open a gateway for the conversion of foreign exchange into RMB, which has been a major factor hindering foreign general partners (GP) and limited partners (LP) from becoming involved in the RMB PE fund industry.Continue Reading PE Fund Trial Plan: New Gateway for Foreign Investors?

By Wang Fengli and Wang Jiangang, King & Wood’s Dispute Resolution Group

For many people, their main wealth management strategy involves purchasing financial products promoted by banks. Since the first impact of the global financial crisis was felt in 2008, the performance of different bank-issued financial products has varied greatly. Some Chinese investors have lost money as a result of buying financial products promoted by foreign-funded banks, and some have even sued those banks for compensation. Since financial products are generally quite complex, hurt investors often make their claim against a bank on the grounds that the bank failed to give clear notice about the risks inherent in the financial product which it was promoting and that the bank induced the investor into purchasing a product while concealing important facts.Continue Reading Should Banks Be Held Responsible for Losses which their Clients have Suffered as a Result of Purchasing Wealth Management Products?

By Jiang Ling, Partner, King & Wood’s Trademark Department

The term "works" used and protected under the Copyright Law refers to original intellectual creations in the literary, artistic and the scientific domain, in so far as they are capable of being reproduced in a certain tangible form. As for literal works, this refers to the works manifested in text form, no matter how long it is or what type or format of literature it uses. As long as it is original, it should be within the scope of protection by the PRC Copyright Law (as well as Trademarks as previously discussed). Therefore, it can be concluded that an advertising slogan is in principle not excluded from copyright protection on the condition that it is original. However, the Copyright Law does not define what "original" is. Judging by judicial practice, the expression of original works may not necessarily be unprecedented, and re-creation based on previous intellectual works of others is not forbidden either. In general, works possess originality as long as it is created by the author independently rather than plagiarizing others’ works which bears some personalized characteristics. Thus, it is possible for slogans to be copyrighted.

Continue Reading Just Do It!? Protecting Advertising Slogans in China Part II