一、 引言
较之于一般的争议与纠纷，航空事故的争端解决有其特殊性，因其涉及的主体众多且关系复杂，每一起航空事故争端解决都需要进行大量细致而漫长的工作。本文将以“法航空难”为切入点，从航空事故责任主体的视角，简单谈谈空难事故的争端解决。
Launch of Youku Tudou Inc.
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Posted in compliance
By Susan Ning, Zheng Ziqing and Wu Han
On March 12, two Chinese Internet video giants Youku and Tudou announced that the two companies have signed a final agreement on March 11 to combine their services in a 100% stock-for-stock transaction to create a new service provider, Youku Tudou Inc, allowing Tudou to exit the stock market.
After the combination, Youku’s shareholders and holders of its American Depository Receipts (ADRs) will have 71.5% of equity of the new company, with Tudou’s shareholders and its ADR holders entitled to 28.5% of the combined equity. Youku’s ADRs, under the symbol of "YOKU", will continue to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
Latest Development re NDRC’s Antitrust Investigation against China Telecom
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By Susan Ning, Wu Han, and Sun Yiming
On 13 March, Mr. Zhang Guangyuan, Deputy Director of the Anti-monopoly Bureau of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) spoke on the latest development of NDRC’s antitrust investigation on China Telecom and China Unicom. Mr.Zhang said that the two companies have so far completed a 100G bandwidth expansion and committed to further reduce the internet access service charges. The Anti-monopoly Bureau of the NDRC will continue to press for rectification and reform of the two companies.
This investigation was initiated last April, targeting at China Telecom and China Unicom for their alleged abuse of market dominance in the Internet access market by administering price discrimination against different Internet service providers (ISPs)1. On December 2, 2011, the two companies publicized statement on their websites saying they have submitted applications to the NRDC for suspension of the antitrust investigation and decided to correct their misconduct, but NDRC demanded more concrete pledges.
Continue Reading Latest Development re NDRC’s Antitrust Investigation against China Telecom
外国破产企业在中国参加民事诉讼如何确定诉讼主体的司法实践及趋势
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Posted in Dispute Resolution
随着外商在华投资的快速发展及2008年金融风暴的影响，外国破产企业以诉讼方式，主动（作为原告起诉）或被动（作为被告或无独立请求权的第三人）处理其在华直接投资的案件开始出现并呈上升趋势。此类案件中，起诉或应诉时首先要解决的就是外国破产企业如何确定其诉讼主体的问题，即，应该以破产企业本身还是破产管理人作为原告（或被告）？这里既涉及国际私法领域的涉外民事法律关系的法律适用，还涉及我国破产法及相关规定在跨境破产案件中的法律适用。在目前法律规定不明确的前提下，这个问题解决起来看似简单，其实不然。
Western Digital/Hitachi Received Conditional Nod from MOFCOM
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By Susan Ning, Ji Kailun and Hazel Yin
On March 2nd, 2012, the acquisition by Western Digital ("WD") of Hitachi Global Storage Technologies ("Hitachi") finally received conditional nod from the Ministry of Commerce ("MOFCOM"), three month after MOFCOM conditionally cleared the Seagate/Samsung deal1 .
Review Timeline
According to MOFCOM’s announcement 2, this review process is particularly lengthy: the first submission was made on April 2nd, 2011, while the clearance was obtained 11months later. During this period, this filing was withdrawn by WD shortly before the expiry of the Extended Phase II due to "significant changes of facts". On November 7th, 2011, WD re-submitted the notification and the filing was cleared at the end of the second round of Phase II.
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The Green Credit Guideline
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Posted in Banking & Finance
By King & Wood Mallesons’ Banking Group
On the 24th day of February 2012, China Banking Regulatory Commission (the "CBRC") issued the Green Credit Guidelines (the "Guidelines"), which require banking financial institutions ("Banks") to encourage energy saving, emission reduction and environment protection by managing environmental and social risk(1) of its client. The Guidelines apply to domestic policy banks, commercial banks, rural cooperation banks and rural credit cooperatives. In addition, village banks, loan companies, rural funding cooperatives and non-banking financial institutions shall also adopt the Guidelines to the extent applicable.
The Guidelines introduced some specific requirements in relation to the following aspects:
绿色信贷指引
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Posted in Banking & Finance
Does SARFT Have the Authority to Regulate Movie Ticket Price?
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By Susan Ning and Liu Jia
Most recently,a piece of news related to the Anti-Monopoly Law ("AML")indicates that, the National Development and Reform Commission("NDRC")who is in charge of the implementation of the Price Law and price-related antitrust violation, communicated with the State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television("SARFT")1, for SARFT’s proposed draft of Guidance on Further Regulation of Movie Ticket Business("draft Guidance").It is reported that SARFT is suspected of abusing its administrative power for fixing the price of movie tickets.
Fact
On 26 February 2012, the draft Guidance was posted on the internet by a micro-blogger. According to the draft Guidance, SARFT divides the sales market of movie tickets into several districts, and sets the guided price (i.e.highest retail price) of movie tickets for each of the district. It also provides that the movie tickets for theater members and group buyers should not be sold for less than 70% of the listed price.
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Landmark Copyright Case on Computer User Interfaces
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Posted in Intellectual Property
By Sun Mingfei King & Wood Mallesons’ Dispute Resolution Group, Guangzhou Office
As Chinese courts rarely accept copyright disputes concerning computer user interfaces, the case of Shenzhen TP-LINK Technologies Co., Ltd vs. Shenzhen Tenda Technology Co., Ltd and Zhang Yabo (the "TP-LINK Case") represents a significant precedent in dealing with similar cases. It is highly controversial even for copyright or computer experts to answer questions such as whether computer user interfaces are under the protection of China’s Copyright Law or how to judge originality of a work in the case.
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侵犯计算机用户操作界面著作权纠纷案评析
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Posted in Intellectual Property
作者：孙明飞 金杜律师事务所争议解决组，广州办公室
中国法院极少受理计算机用户操作界面著作权纠纷案件，深圳市普联技术有限公司诉深圳市吉祥腾达科技有限公司、张亚波侵犯计算机用户操作界面著作权纠纷上诉案，对于同类案件的处理有着重要的参考价值。计算机用户操作界面是否属著作权法中所称的作品，如何界定作品的独创性？这些问题在司法实践中属于新生事物，几乎没有太多经验可以借鉴，研究版权的专家学者甚至计算机领域的专家对此也分歧很大。