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By Mark Hoyle, King & Wood Mallesons’ Dubai Office

Mark HoylePublic policy, as any student of English law knows, is “an unruly horse” which, depending on the rider, can either turn out to be one of the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse or a shining knight. After the issue of an award, just as a tribunal or the successful party feels that it is safe to relax and exit the psychological bunker that often shadows arbitrations in the UAE, the ace in the pack, high of course, is played and the immortal words “public policy” send a shiver through the process.

Once upon a time the arbitrators could sign at the end of the Award and breathe a sigh of relief that their job was done. But gradually, and with creeping vigour, the drums beat and the Tribunal is told that additional requirements must be fulfilled, such as initialling each page of the award in order for it to be valid. Nobody is able to point to a real legal basis of course, but never mind. Then, as if there is enough unpaid work for a tribunal, the watch phrase is “sign on each page” of the Award. At last, some might say – surely that is the end of it! But no, the latest wheeze is that each page of the award and the appendices must also be signed. No Court decision of course, no legal ruling, no change of the law.
Continue Reading Public policy, arbitration in the UAE & challenges to the norm

作者：Mark Hoyle 金杜律师事务所迪拜办公室

Mark Hoyle任何一个学过英国法的学生都知道：公共政策是一匹“不羁的骏马”，能否驯服它，全凭马背上的人是末日使者还是正义骑士。在阿联酋，当仲裁裁决作出后，仲裁庭以及获胜一方终于能松一口气，心中的石头终于落地。“公共政策”就是那块石头，悬在仲裁程序的结束。

以前，仲裁员只需在仲裁裁决的末尾签个名，他们所要做的工作已经完成了。但是逐渐地，对仲裁庭的要求越来越多：为了让裁决生效，仲裁员必须在裁决书每一页上签字。当然，没人指出这样做真正的法律依据，但这并不妨碍执行。之后，就像仲裁庭的无偿工作还不够繁重一样，每份裁决都注有“每页需签字”字样。有人觉得到这一步也不会再有新的要求了。但最新的苛求是仲裁裁决以及附件上的每一页都要有签字。当然，这项不成文的规定并不是出自法庭判决，也没有相应法规出台，没有修订法律。 
Continue Reading 公共政策、阿联酋仲裁及对规范的挑战

作者：雷继平 金杜律师事务所争议解决组

当事人是否有不促成合同生效的自由

如果批准属于合同生效要件，那么合同生效与否是否属于合同缔约自由中的应有之意？由于当事人有缔约自由，既可以选择签订合同，也可以选择不签订合同，那么选择不让合同生效、不接受合同的约束，是否属于缔约自由的范围？如果属于缔约自由的应有之意，法院有何理由违背当事人意愿、判决其促成合同生效呢？这里，要看到两个问题，一是已经签订了合同但不办理审批手续与根本未签订合同是两种不同的缔约状态，如果是后者，当然有选择不缔约的自由，但前者，当事人事实上已经缔约了；二是如果借用了合同中预约的概念，即便将审批生效合同中的主要条款的达成视为一个预约，如不履行，预约本身可被强制执行以促成合同生效。上述观念可作为《合同法》解释二第八条与《外商投资企业法》第六条规定的理论支撑。
Continue Reading 附生效条件的合同能否强制其生效？

By Chen Changhui King&Wood Mallesons’ Intellectual Property Group

untitledCivil enforcement is the last step of civil litigation (incl. intellectual property (IP) litigation), which plays a key role to realise civil rights. Whether or not it operates smoothly tends to be a weighted indicator to a nation’s legal development.

Enforcement constitutes the last yet crucial step of the protection of IP right holders’ interests. However, similar to other civil disputes, arduous enforcement has always perplexed IP right holders, which may cause that they cannot get the full extent of compensation (or even no compensation at all). Given that, how to avoid such a problem has become an intractable issue for both IP right holders and their attorneys.
Continue Reading Enforcement: the last mile of intellectual property litigation

By Yang Hua  Ding Xianjie  and He Tongjun  King&Wood Mallesons’ Intellectual Property Group

untitleduntitled 01What should we concern: when determining the level of similarity between trademarks, it should be limited to comparing the part that the citation mark has acquired the right to exclusive use with the mark in application. The part that is disclaimed of the exclusive right to use in an early registration even if has distinctiveness should not constitute a valid part for comparison and impede registration of a later filed trademark.

“Disclaiming the right to exclusive use” in trademark application refers to the situation in which the proprietor makes a disclaimer to give up any right to exclusive use for a part of the trademark, in order to avoid rejection of the whole application due to registrability issue of the disclaimed part. Signs prohibited from registration due to lack of distinctiveness are the part that is more commonly disclaimed of the right to exclusive use. In practice, some proprietors also disclaim the right to exclusive use for a part that has distinctiveness (the Disclaimed Part), which gives rise to the issue referred above, whether the Disclaimed Part will function to impede the registration by others of a later filed application.
Continue Reading Trademark comparing: disclaimed part no longer valid even with distinctiveness

By Ou Xiuping  Xu Jing Yin Ji  King&Wood Mallesons’ Intellectual Property Group

01The legal framework of service invention is stipulated by the PRC Patent Law and the Regulation on Protection of New Varieties of Plants. Also in April 2015, the State Council solicited public opinion of the Regulations on Service Invention (Draft), which has been amended for the fourth time[1]. This article will closely study and analyse hot-spot issues in PRC legal practice with respect to disputes over service invention on the case study, including:
Continue Reading Invention for hire in PRC: what should practitioners know – I

By Yang Hua  Wang Fang  King&Wood Mallesons’ Intellectual Property Group

untitledWhat should we concern: registered trademark, filed in the name of others without others’ authorisation should be deemed as “obtained through means of fraud” and should be announced invalid.

DELTASOFA’S S.R.L. (“DELTASOFA”) was established on September 19, 1985 by Vincenzo Liborio Calia, a skilled master carpenter in Europe who in 1965 started to design and produce sofas in south Italy and created the famous sofa brand “caliaitalia”. Nowadays the “caliaitalia” sofa products are sold in countries in North America, the Middle East and the Far East.

On August 1 2008, a Guangdong company filed a trademark application for the mark “caliaitalia” under No. 6875537 (hereinafter as “mark in dispute”) in the name of “Calia Italia S.p.A” (the former name of DELTASOFA”). In 2011, this Guandong company, again in the name of “Calia Italia S.p.A.”, signed the trademark assignment documents regarding the mark in dispute and had the mark assigned to its affiliated company.
Continue Reading Trademark invalid: registering in others’ name with no authorisation

By Yang Hua  Wang Fang  King&Wood Mallesons’ Intellectual Property Group

untitledWhat should we concern: prior copyright shall be regarded as a prior right being protected in China; a registered mark, which is substantively similar to the other’s prior copyrighted work, shall be announced invalid on the basis of copyright infringement.

“THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN” (French: “LES ADVENTURES DE TINTIN”) is a world famous series of comic albums created by the Belgian cartoonist HERGE. After HERGE passing away, all the rights in association with this work have been assigned to and managed by Moulinsart which was established under the HERGE Foundation.  Since “THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN” entered into China in 1988, this series work has gained immense popularity among the Chinese readers.  In China, Moulinsart has applied for and registered several marks for “TINTIN” and “TINTIN & Device” (drawing of this mark is listed below) in respect of various goods and services in classes 9, 16, 25, 28 and 41. The images of the boy and the dog with the bone as shown in the “TINTIN & Device” mark are the leading character “TINTIN” and his friend “Snowy” in the “THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN”.
Continue Reading Registered trademark invalid based on prior copyright infringement

作者：欧修平 徐静 尹吉 金杜律师事务所知识产权组

01我国《专利法》、《植物新品种保护条例》等法律法规已经建立起了职务发明的基本制度，但是在实践操作中仍存在大量的问题，法院在司法审判中也出现了标准不一的情况。而2015年4月国务院法制办就《职务发明条例草案(送审稿)》公开征求意见[1]。本文拟结合立法与司法，对职务发明奖励报酬纠纷中的相关问题进行分析研究，其中包括：

  • 奖励报酬制度适用的主体和条件；
  • 约定优先原则的理解与适用；
  • 奖励报酬数额的确定；及
  • 诉讼时效问题。

囿于篇幅所限，我们先在本篇介绍奖励报酬制度适用的主体和条件。
Continue Reading 职务发明报酬纠纷之制度适用主体及条件

作者：陈长会 金杜律师事务所知识产权组

untitled执行程序作为知识产权侵权诉讼的最后一环，对于有效保护权利人的利益至关重要。但是，与其他民事纠纷一样，执行难一直是困扰权利人的问题，导致权利人即使胜诉，赔偿也难于完全履行，甚至根本得不到履行。因此，如何避免赢了官司拿不到钱是需要权利人和律师重视的棘手问题。

一、国内执行现状：

民事执行是实现债权人权利的重要手段，也是法制国家的重要指标[1]。执行难问题一直是困扰我国法治建设的关键难题之一。
Continue Reading 知识产权侵权诉讼执行问题浅析