By: Susan Ning, Shan Lining and Angie Ng
On 6 May 2011, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) announced that a manufacturer of household and personal care products (the Manufacturer) has been fined a total of RMB2 million for breaching the Price Law. The NDRC also appeared to have made some Anti-Monopoly Law (AML) references in relation to this case.Continue Reading Price hikes and price signaling
By He Wei and Wang Yaxi of King & Wood Dispute Resolution Group
When a domain name is in conflict with the prior rights of others (e.g. the trademark rights, the rights of the company name, etc.), there are two approaches of settling the disputes: 1) the prior right holder may file a complaint to one of two domain name dispute resolution centers, or 2) the prior right holder may bring an action to the court or refer the dispute to arbitration. For the sake of efficiency and cost control, the prior right holder will typically seek a resolution from a domain name dispute resolution center(1)("DNDRC"), on the condition that the disputed domain name has been registered for less than two years.
Continue Reading Bridging DNDRC Decision and Judicial Judgment on Domain Name Dispute
By Susan Ning, Liu Jia and Angie Ng
On 25 April 2011, the Supreme People’s Court (the Court) published draft rules which govern Anti-Monopoly Law (AML) private actions (Draft Rules)1. These Draft Rules are entitled "Provisions on Issues Concerning the Application of Law in relation to Trials of Monopoly Civil Dispute Cases". The Court will consult on these Draft Rules till 1 June 2011.
We note that these Draft Rules provide for applicants to file "joint" applications with others against respondents. This article outlines what the Draft Rules say about joint applications and outlines how this interacts with the joint application regime pursuant to China’s Civil Procedure Law.
Continue Reading AML Class Actions and The Draft Litigation Rules
By Denning Jin, Helen Chen of King & Wood’ s Dispute Resolution Group and Shanghai Office
Background
A number of automobile design patent infringement cases have been brought to Chinese courts in recent years, such as Honda v. Hebei Shuanghuan, FIAT PANDA v. Great Wall PERI, Neoplan v. Beijing Zhongtong Xinghua Automobile Selling Co., Ltd., et al. The hallmarks of these cases are not only the high value of the damages claimed and the importance of the outcomes which are dispositive to the market structure, but also the malleability of rule of law in the field of design patent infringement determination.Continue Reading PRC Supreme People’s Court: Clarified Design Patent Infringement Determination