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By Mark Schaub, Partner, Corporate, King & Wood Shanghai

Every multinational company needs a China strategy. The country’s resilient economic
performance during the global downturn has made it even more attractive to some overseas
investors, but how should such companies arrive at a realistic appraisal of the potential
risks and opportunities of a specific deal?Continue Reading Due diligence: deal killer or deal saver?

By Ariel Ye and James Rowland, King & Wood’s Cross Border Litigation & Arbitration Group

Many foreign business operators report that they are concerned about the risks associated with entertaining their business partners in China, even when providing meals or offering to pay for travel and accommodation costs of a low value.
 Continue Reading Offering Gifts of Travel and Entertainment in China – What if the Recipient is a State Functionary

By Mia Qu and Bessie Ye, King & Wood’s IP Department

To many foreign companies, China remains attractive as the world’s largest potential market for pharmaceutical products. As such products rely heavily on the protection of intellectual property rights, it is essential for foreign companies in this field to adopt a combination of IP protection methods to formulate a strategy for their products in China. To this end, China has established a relatively comprehensive legal system in relation to IPR protection where intellectual assets are protected by way of patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets.
 Continue Reading Protecting Pharmaceutical Intellectual Property Rights in China

By Xu Ping, Partner, King & Wood’s FDI Department

In continued support of foreign direct investment into China, on April 13, 2010, China’s State Council released the Further Views on the Utilization of Foreign Capital (国务院关于进一步做好利用外资工作的若干意见). These new guidelines for foreign investment in China encourage foreign funds to flow into high-end manufacturing, hi-tech and eco-friendly sectors and to the central and western areas of the nation. The guidelines restrict investment into environmentally unsound projects and in sectors suffering from overcapacity. Meanwhile, the new guidelines also promise more favorable policies for foreign-funded companies, including an array of new tax incentives.Continue Reading China Reaffirms Support for Foreign Investment

By Guan Feng and Wu Sijie, King & Wood’s Litigation & Arbitration Group

In 2008, a financial derivatives dispute arose between a foreign-funded bank (the "Bank") and a local Chinese company (the "Company"). Although both parties executed certain documents to conclude the transaction, due to adverse changes in the international financial environment, the Company denied that the parties had entered into any contract regarding the derivative transaction and refused to perform. As a result, the Bank initiated a lawsuit against the Company to seek damages.
 Continue Reading Culpa in Contrahendo: PRC Judgment in Dispute over Financial Derivatives Services

By Zhang Yi and Alan Du, King & Wood’s Corporate Group

The Oriental Morning Post reported that a Trial Plan for the Participation of Foreign Investment into RMB Equity Investment Funds (the “Trial Plan”) was approved by the Shanghai government on March 15, 2010. This development will be fully publicized in April and first implemented in the Pudong New Area. The Trial Plan will open a gateway for the conversion of foreign exchange into RMB, which has been a major factor hindering foreign general partners (GP) and limited partners (LP) from becoming involved in the RMB PE fund industry.Continue Reading PE Fund Trial Plan: New Gateway for Foreign Investors?

By Wang Fengli and Wang Jiangang, King & Wood’s Dispute Resolution Group

For many people, their main wealth management strategy involves purchasing financial products promoted by banks. Since the first impact of the global financial crisis was felt in 2008, the performance of different bank-issued financial products has varied greatly. Some Chinese investors have lost money as a result of buying financial products promoted by foreign-funded banks, and some have even sued those banks for compensation. Since financial products are generally quite complex, hurt investors often make their claim against a bank on the grounds that the bank failed to give clear notice about the risks inherent in the financial product which it was promoting and that the bank induced the investor into purchasing a product while concealing important facts.Continue Reading Should Banks Be Held Responsible for Losses which their Clients have Suffered as a Result of Purchasing Wealth Management Products?

By Jiang Ling, Partner, King & Wood’s Trademark Department

The term "works" used and protected under the Copyright Law refers to original intellectual creations in the literary, artistic and the scientific domain, in so far as they are capable of being reproduced in a certain tangible form. As for literal works, this refers to the works manifested in text form, no matter how long it is or what type or format of literature it uses. As long as it is original, it should be within the scope of protection by the PRC Copyright Law (as well as Trademarks as previously discussed). Therefore, it can be concluded that an advertising slogan is in principle not excluded from copyright protection on the condition that it is original. However, the Copyright Law does not define what "original" is. Judging by judicial practice, the expression of original works may not necessarily be unprecedented, and re-creation based on previous intellectual works of others is not forbidden either. In general, works possess originality as long as it is created by the author independently rather than plagiarizing others’ works which bears some personalized characteristics. Thus, it is possible for slogans to be copyrighted.

Continue Reading Just Do It!? Protecting Advertising Slogans in China Part II

By Kenneth Choy, Partner, Corporate, King & Wood–Hong Kong

Hong Kong’s Financial Secretary, the Hon. John C Tsang, gave his annual budget speech Wednesday, February 24th. Buried in the 178 paragraph speech on the 2010-2011 Budget Report were two paragraphs relating to intellectual property rights. The issues mentioned by the Financial Secretary may benefit inventors and high-tech start ups.
 Continue Reading Hong Kong Budget Report: New Benefits for Inventors