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After the outbreak of COVID-19, there are many articles concerning whether COVID-19 shall be deemed as a force majeure circumstance, how to defend the claim of the liability for breach of contract and so on. These articles have analyzed from the laws to the judicial decisions. However, for the majority enterprises, you may only want to know whether you can take advantage of force majeure; if yes, then how to use the relevant provisions and what are the results? Let’s make it simple, we will use the “Q & A & Example” method to explain this topic within 3 minutes.…

The COVID-19 pandemic has lasted nearly 2 months. In China, the State Council extended spring festive, local governments postponed the date of resumption of business. COVID-19 is under control in China, however, it spreads fast in Japan and Korean. Recently, some cases were founded in Europe and America. COVID-19 has started to behave a lot those days. March, the significant month for the majority enterprises to resume of business, we have prepared some management tips for reference. 1.Issues concerning individuals enter mainland China 1.1 Entry On 1st Mar., the Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism of the State Council of China…

When a company becomes famous, it attracts not only business opportunities, but also imitators. Taiwan “南 X” Plastic Industry Co., Ltd. has successively established several subsidiaries under the name “南X” in mainland China. One of those subsidiaries, “南X” Electronics (Kunshan) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Kunshan南X”) was established in August 2000. However, Shanghai ”南X” Copper Clad Foil Co., Ltd was established in June 2000, and changed its name as ”南X” New Material Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Shanghai 南 X”) in August 2017. In addition, the business scope of Shanghai 南 X is similar to Kunshan 南…

A Singapore company and Singaporean Bai signed a contract, in which the company hired Bai as the manager of Shanghai business development department. Soon, Bai signed a labor contract with the Shanghai branch of a Xiamen company invested by the company. The Shanghai branch applied the employment permit (hereinafter referred to as the “EP”) for Bai. Later, Bai and the Shanghai branch were in dispute; finally, the court determined that there was no labor relationship the two parties. The Shanghai branch signed the labor contract, and applied the EP, why the court still denied the labor relationship? Let’s analyze step…

Cao sued Company X on the ground of a dispute over a contract of house transaction, and required Company X to assist him to handle the property registration procedures. The court of the first instance carried out mediation, and Company X agreed to assist Cao to handle the property registration procedures within 3 days after the mediation document became effective. Then the court of the first instance made a mediation letter. Subsequently, Company X applied for a retrial of the mediation letter on the ground that the contract should be invalid, and provided relevant evidence. The court of the second…

Lee, the former employee of Huawei, left Huawei at the expiry of his labor contract, and Huawei gave him “2N” compensation. 1 year later, Lee was arrested on suspicion of extortion, and after being detained for 251 days, he was released without charge. This is the “Huawei 251 Incident”. In Qingdao, after resigned from the company, Yang filed alabor arbitration on the ground that the company had induced and coerced him, and required the company to pay economic compensation. In the end, both the court of the first instance and second instance supported Yang’s claim (See (2017) Lu 02 Min…

Company S applied for trademark registration with the combination of the Chinese character “没事儿” and a circular pattern. The Trademark Review and Adjudication Board (“TRAB”) rejected the application. Company S applied for a review with the reason that the sign had certain originality; however, TRAB rejected Company S’s application for the review in accordance with item 3, paragraph 1 of Article 11 of the “Trademark Law”, which says the sign is lack of distinctiveness. Company S filed a lawsuit against TRAB later then, after the first and second instance, Beijing High People’s Court rejected Company S’s claim. (See (2016) Jing…