By King & Wood Mallesons’ Finance Group

In May 2010, the State Council issued the Opinions on Encouraging and Guiding the Healthy Development of Private Investment (Guo Fa [2010] No.13) to promote private investment activities . In order to solve the difficulties faced by private companies in terms of overseas financing and the lack of liquidity, and to simplify the foreign exchange control policies for outbound investment activities by private companies, SAFE released new rules on private outbound investments, the Circular of State Administration of Foreign Exchange on Foreign Exchange Administration in Relation to Encouraging and Guiding the Healthy Development of Private Investment (Hui Fa [2012] No.33) (the “Circular”) on 11 June 2012. The Circular simplifies the regulation processes for the remittance of foreign direct investment capital as well as offshore loans[1]  granted by domestic enterprises and relaxes the administration of  external security provided by individuals.

The Circular’s main content includes:

Continue Reading Safe New Rules to Boost Private Outbound Investment

作者：金杜律师事务所融资组

自2010年5月7日国务院发布《关于鼓励和引导民间投资健康发展的若干意见》（国发[2010]13号）以来，民间投资业务获得了进一步发展。为了解决企业在境外融资难及流动资金不足的问题，简化民间投资相关外汇管理政策，鼓励和引导民间资本境外投资的健康发展，国家外汇管理局于2012年6月11日颁布了《国家外汇管理局关于鼓励和引导民间投资健康发展有关外汇管理问题的通知》（汇发[2012]33号）（简称“通知”）。该通知简化了境外直接投资资金汇回及境外放款的监管程序，并适当地放宽了境内个人对外担保的管理。
   
《通知》的主要内容包括：

Continue Reading 外管局新规则助力民间境外投资进一步发展

作者：陈长会 蒋志培 金杜律师事务所知识产权组

在中国制造遍布全球的今天，走出去战略最核心问题是如何让品牌走出去。无论是中国制造还是中国创造，如果不注重品牌培育，继续使用他人商标，就难以摆脱随时可能被商标持有人“踢出局”的窘境。

多数走出去企业在发展之初并没有预见到将来能够有机会走出去，也没有足够资金和实力到海外注册企业、商标或域名，往往是等到准备走出去之时或者走出去之后才发现其名称、商标或域名早已存在或已被他人恶意抢注。最典型案例是海信集团与博西 “HiSense”商标纠纷以及国内某知名企业标识更换事件。借助于海信在国内行业地位以及中国市场在博西战略中份量，海信集团在国内舆论、学术界及政府各方努力下，最终与博西友好地化解了纠纷，拿回了商标权。而上述国内某知名企业则因原名泛滥采取更名策略，而新名称选择又欠妥，导致推广新标识代价巨大、困难重重。由这两个案例可见，解决企业名称、商标、或域名纠纷往往需要综合考量和高超技巧。 Continue Reading 走出去企业如何应对与品牌有关的知识产权争议

作者：张保生 程世刚   金杜律师事务所争议解决组

一、公司诉讼的界定

下文所述的公司诉讼，并非指公司作为一方当事人的纠纷所引发的所有诉讼，而是指对公司内部的纠纷进行解决的一种诉讼，主要包括因股东与股东纠纷引发的诉讼、股东与公司纠纷引发的诉讼、公司或股东与公司高级管理人员纠纷引发的诉讼。因公司外部纠纷而发生的诉讼不属于本书所探讨的公司诉讼范围。

公司诉讼最核心的特征是与公司内部法律关系直接相关，或者说是对基于公司内部法律关系产生的“公司纠纷”进行解决的一种诉讼。

Continue Reading 公司诉讼的界定和发展趋势—-跨国公司在华公司诉讼系列(Ⅰ)

金杜博客每周选取一到两个《跨国公司在华公司诉讼–应对策略与律师实务》的精彩主题进行连载。参与本书编写的人员均系金杜律师事务所富有公司诉讼和仲裁实务经验的合伙人和律师，包括张保生、夏东霞、郭勤贵、程世刚、陈湘林、李响、周伟、吴颖和孙慧丽。

参与编写本书的各位律师在多年的律师执业过程中，关注并潜心研究公司诉讼，代理跨国公司和其他境内外投资者处理了大量的、多种类型的公司诉讼案件，对跨国公司如何应对中国的公司诉讼案件，积累了丰富的实务经验，并形成了独特的、具有现实意义的专业视角。

敬请期待！

By Chen Changhui and Jiang Zhipei  King & Wood Mallesons’ Intellecutual Property Group

Chinese enterprises are progressively pursuing outbound investment strategy by expanding their businesses abroad. How to build the global branding of Chinese manufacturing is a key concern in China’s outbound investment strategies. If all Chinese-related exports, either “Made in China” or “Created in China”, continue to use the registered trademark of others without paying great attention to cultivating their own brands, Chinese exports are extremely likely to be kicked out by trademark owners in the international market.

Most Chinese enterprises don’t have immediate plan for outbound investment, or have sufficient financial strength to register enterprises, trademarks or domain names overseas in their early stage of development, and then find out their enterprise names, trademarks or domain names are already in existence or have been registered by others out of malicious cybersquatting. Continue Reading Brand-Related Intellectual Property Disputes in Outbound Investment

By Jiao Hongbin  King & Wood Mallesons’ Intellectual Property Group

On March 31, 2012, the National Copyright Administration of the PRC (NCAC) released the Draft Amendments to the Copyright Law of thePRC (the “Copyright Law”) (the “Draft Amendments”) and the Brief Explanations on the Draft Amendments (“Brief Explanations”)[i] for soliciting public opinions. Unlike the two previous revisions, the Draft Amendments proposed by China on its own initiative are home-grown. 

The prevailing Copyright Law was adopted by the 7th Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC) on September 7, 1990 and became effective on June 1, 1991. Two revisions in 2001 and 2010 were undertaken in light of China’s involvement with the World Trade Organization (WTO). The first revision was made for China’s entry into the WTO, where modifications and complements were made to coordinate the inconsistencies between the Copyright Law and the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS); two articles were revised in 2010 with an aim to enforce a WTO panel ruling on the dispute over intellectual property rights (“IPRs”) between China and the United States.

Continue Reading Key Disputable Issues regarding the Draft Amendments to China Copyright Law

作者：矫鸿彬  金杜律师事务所知识产权组

2012年3月31日，中华人民共和国国家版权局公开《中华人民共和国著作权法》（“《著作权法》”）（修改草案）文本和关于草案的简要说明[i]，向社会公开征求意见，此次修订被视为是中国对《著作权法》的首次主动修改。

现行的《著作权法》是1990年9月7日由第七届全国人大常委会审议通过并于1991年6月1日起施行，曾于2001年和2010年进行过两次修订，均与世界贸易组织有关。2001年进行的第一次修订是为了满足中国加入世界贸易组织的需要，对《著作权法》与世界贸易组织《与贸易有关的知识产权协议》不一致的地方进行了修改或补充；2010年进行的第二次修订是为了执行世界贸易组织关于中美知识产权争端案的裁决，对著作权法进行的只涉及两个条文的小修改。 

Continue Reading 《中华人民共和国著作权法》第三次修改草案的主要争议问题

By Huang Tao and Dai Yue  King & Wood Mallesons’ Dispute Resolution Group

Lacking knowledge of and exposure to China’s judicial and arbitrational system, foreign companies usually worry about dispute resolution clauses more than any other clause in a contract. Deciding which arbitration tribunal and what arbitration rules to specify becomes a sensitive and important aspect of contract negotiations for wholly foreign owned entities (“WFOE”) and cooperative joint ventures (“CJV”).

I．     Choice of Arbitration Tribunal

Contracts in which one party is a foreign entity will contain foreign elements, allowing the parties to choose their jurisdiction without restriction under PRC law. The parties to such a contract may decide at their discretion whether to choose an arbitration tribunal within China or in another country, or resort to ad hoc arbitration to resolve disputes.

Continue Reading Forum Shopping in China: CIETAC vs. UNCITRAL

作者：黄滔  戴月 金杜律师事务所争议解决组

由于对中国司法制度和仲裁制度的陌生或偏见，外国公司在订立合同时对争议解决条款的关注大大高于其它条款。而在争议解决条款中，它们最为关心的问题之一则是仲裁机构和仲裁规则的选择。在决定选择恰当的仲裁机构及仲裁规则前，外国公司应考虑下列法律问题。

一、仲裁机构的选择

在合同主体一方为外方的情况下，该合同由于具备了“涉外因素”，因而可以自由选择国内机构、国外机构或国外临时仲裁作为争议解决手段。中国法律对此均无禁止性规定。

Continue Reading 外资企业如何选择商事合同的仲裁机构和仲裁规则