By He Wei and Zeng Ying King & Wood’s Dispute Resolution Group

Mediation in China can be divided into three categories: mediation supervised by the people’s court, mediation supervised by an arbitral tribunal and mediation without the supervision of a court or arbitral tribunal. The first two categories of mediation share many similarities. Both of them are conducted by particular institutions in accordance with statutory proceedings, and the settlement agreements reached have the same binding force as judicial judgments. These two categories of mediation, because of their "quasi-judicial" nature, are usually collectively referred to as "judicial mediation". Usually such bodies are decision making—and a mediation must give only the parties control over decisions.

Besides judicial mediation there are many other forms of mediation, which also help resolve disputes and lift the heavy caseload of the courts and arbitration institutions. These forms of mediation can be collectively described as "extra-judicial mediation". Extra-judicial mediation, which provides parties with more alternative dispute resolution mechanisms, plays a very important role in today’s fast-growing economy.

Continue Reading Extra-judicial Mediation System and Practice （Part I of II）

作者：何薇、曾颖 金杜律师事务所争议解决组

我国目前的调解制度主要包括法院调解、仲裁调解、以及法院和仲裁调解之外的其他调解。法院调解与仲裁调解有很多共同之处，他们均依托于规范的机构和严格的程序，其调解协议具有充分的法律效力，加之仲裁在一定程度上具有“准司法”的性质，两者往往可以合称为“司法体系下的调解”。与之相对，法院和仲裁程序之外还存在着很多其他形式的调解，有效解决了大量的纠纷，大大减轻了诉讼和仲裁的压力，可以统称为“非司法体系下的调解”。非司法体系下的调解在利益多元化的今天提供了多元化的纠纷解决机制，在社会生活中发挥了非常重要的作用。

非司法体系下的调解制度在我国由来已久，并且在实践中被广泛应用。它既包括在专门调解机构的主持下进行的调解，也包括没有调解机构参与的调解。处理的争议既可以是民事的，商事的，也可以是行政的。非司法体系下的调解包括以下几大特征：第一，自愿性。当事人将自己的争议交由自己选择的第三方处理，而且纠纷的范围和内容均是当事人可以自行处分的。调解员必须始终尊重当事人的意志，不得有任何的勉强和强迫。第二， 独立性。非司法体系下的调解独立存在，不附属于任何其他程序。第三，调解的结果没有强制执行力。第四，调解的结果不影响当事人以其他公力救济的方式寻求争端解决。

Continue Reading 非司法体系下的调解制度及实践（一）

By King & Wood’s Foreign Investment Group

On October 12, 2011, the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) promulgated the Circular on Issues Relating to RMB Cross Border Direct Investment dated (the "Circular"). The Circular provides that outbound investors (including investors of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan) can make direct investment with RMB funds they obtained legally outbound (the "Offshore RMB").

Continue Reading MOFCOM Releases Circular on Cross-border RMB Direct Investment

作者：金杜律师事务所外商投资部

2011 年10 月12 日，商务部正式颁布了《商务部关于跨境人民币直接投资有关问题通知》（ “《通知》”）。《通知》规定，境外投资者（含港澳台投资者）可以合法获得的境外人民币依法开展直接投资活动。

Continue Reading 商务部发布《商务部关于跨境人民币直接投资有关问题的通知》

By Susan Ning and Huang Jing

On 7 September 2011, the Shanxi Combined Transportation Group Company (SCTG) filed an administrative law suit with the Taiyuan Xinghualing District People’s Court against the Taiyuan Bureau of Railways (the "SCTG Case"). On 15 September 2011, the Taiyuan Xinghualing District People’s Court accepted the SCTG Case.

SCTG alleged that it had submitted two applications to the Taiyuan Bureau of Railways for establishing new railway ticket agent stores on 25 January 2011; but Taiyuan Bureau of Railways did not respond to such applications.  According to SCTG, Taiyuan Bureau of Railways’ conduct was a violation of the Anti-monopoly Law (AML), and constituted administrative omission.   Thus SCTG filed the administrative lawsuit.

Continue Reading Taiyuan Bureau of Railways Sued for Antitrust Violation

By King & Wood Intellectual Property Group

Liu Zhaolong, a Chinese national, was found to have purchased raw wine, bottles, bottle caps, labels, bottle capping equipment and other illegal materials and tools, and manufactured counterfeit wines imitating Chivas, Remy Martin, Ballantine’s, Jack Daniels, Martell, Hennessy, Royal Salute and other famous wine brands. Liu filled the counterfeit wines and distributed them to several cities in China, the illegal turnover of which has been over RMB 200,000 (around US$31,250). As a result, Beijing Daxing District Court found that Liu Zhaolong had violated the provisions of Article 213 of the Criminal Law of China and committed the crime of counterfeiting a registered trademark.

Continue Reading Criminal Liability: the Last Resort for Trademark Protection

金杜律师事务所知识产权组

因未经注册商标权人许可，自行购买原料酒、酒瓶、酒盖、标签、封盖机等原料和犯罪工具，通过灌装方式假冒芝华士、人头马、百龄坛、杰克丹尼、马爹利、轩尼诗、皇家礼炮等著名洋酒，销往全国数个城市，非法经营额达到20余万元，刘兆龙被北京市大兴区人民法院认定触犯中国《刑法》第213条，构成假冒注册商标罪。

Continue Reading 恶意仿冒马爹利等知名洋酒品牌获刑—-刑事责任，商标保护的最后一道屏障

By King & Wood’s Intellectual Property Group

Pursuant to the judicial interpretations enacted by the Supreme People’s Court of China in February 2008, if a prior registered trademark owner files an infringement lawsuit against the use of a latter registered trademark, courts will refuse to accept the case. The prior trademark registrant must first initiate a trademark dispute action with the China Trademark Review and Adjudication Board (TRAB) to invalidate the latter registered trademark. The are various reasons that may prevent the latter registered trademark from being invalidated within a short period of time, making it difficult for the prior registrant to prevent continued infringement by the latter mark in a timely manner.

Continue Reading Copyright, a Drawn Sword towards Bad Faith Trademark Registration

金杜律师事务所知识产权组

根据中国大陆最高人民法院于2008年2月作出的生效司法解释，依据在先注册商标对在后注册商标的使用提起商标侵权诉讼的，法院不予受理，在先权利人应首先向商标评审委员会请求撤销在后申请的注册商标。这种情况导致权利人在基于各种原因无法及时撤销在后注册的侵权商标的情况下，很难制止其使用。

但是，如果在侵权注册商标的申请日之前，权利人对相同、近似商标享有其他种类的在先民事权利，比如，著作权、企业字号权、肖像权、姓名权、外观设计专利权等，权利人可依据该在先权利对侵权注册商标的使用直接提出侵权之诉，同样可达到制止后者使用的目的。

Continue Reading 著作权，对抗恶意注册商标的一把利剑