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In commercial activities, it is not rare that the parties would implement a transaction before signing a contract, due to the time requirements, or a party is too eager to obtain a transaction opportunity and so on. However, once there is any dispute, such as a disagreement over the terms of the transaction; or the seller has implemented its responsibilities, but the buyer refuses to pay, then it would be very difficult for the parties to claim their rights and interests. In fact, if both parties have implemented a transaction before signing a contract, it shall be deemed as a…

Company A found that HR manager Chen was the supervisor of Company B, and dissolved the labor contract for violating the “Employee Handbook”, in which it stipulates that an employee shall not take another part-time job. Chen insisted that Company B had not signed a labor contract with him, or given any salary to him, in addition, the supervisor role would not be involved in the daily business of Company B, so his behavior should not be deemed as a violation of the “Employee Handbook”. Finally, both the labor arbitration committee and the court decided that such behavior should be…

If a trademark for registration is identical with or similar to another party’s trademark which has been registered or preliminarily approved for use on identical or similar goods, the Trademark Office shall reject the application, as stipulated in Article 30 of the “Trademark Law”. In practice, it is very common that a trademark for registration might be rejected for such reason. Where the applicant has used a trademark for a long period, or has spent a large amount of manpower and mone in the promotion, or for other similar reasons, the applicant would try to register such trademark by applying…

The labor contract signed by Shao and Company A expired in Nov. 2014. Company A failed to renew the contract timely. In Feb. 2015, Company A asked Shao to renew the contract, and required Shao to sign the date as Nov. 2014 in the contract. Later, Shao took the vocal record of the talk with the HR manager as the evidence, and required Company A to pay double salary for the periods of not signing the contract. Finally, the court supported Shao’s claim. Article 82 of the “Labor Contract Law” clearly stipulates that an employer shall sign the labor contract…

Many companies tend to use distinctive fonts to attract consumers’ attention in promotion. However, if any company has made a wrong choice, such distinctive fonts might attract the attention of the font or font bank owner/developer, which might trigger a copyright infringement dispute. The reason for such dispute is that the font or font bank might be considered as the work stipulated in the “Copyright Law” in the judicial practice, if any company uses such font without authorization, it shall have infringed the owner/developer’s copyright. Then, when a font or font bank could be considered as the work stipulated in…

Company A issued a Notice of Termination (“1st Notice”) to Sheng 30 days in advance, in accordance with item 2 of Article 40 of the “Labor Contract Law”. 15 days later, Company found that Sheng would retire after 30 days, so it sent another written notice to Sheng. The written notice stated that the company would withdraw the 1st Notice, and the labor contract would continue to perform until Sheng had accomplished the retirement procedure. 30 days after the 1st Notice, Sheng asked Company A to pay the economic compensation. Company A refused to pay. Finally, the court ruled that…

Many companies would like to design graphic works which are related to their industries or products and etc., in promotion or marketing. In order to prohibit others to imitate, many companies tend to apply for the registered trademark for those graphic works. However, for those graphic works which meet the requirements of the “Copyright Law”, it is recommended to file such graphic works for copyright registration in advance or simultaneously. The main reason is that compared with the trademark registration, the copyright registration has the following advantages. First, the trademark application period is longer, so the graphic works might be…