All posts by legal

Some companies would entrust trading companies to sell products for various reasons, and both parties would sign contracts. In practice, those contracts have different titles, such as a distribution contract , or a consignment contract, and contents are various as well. Then, how to determine the right title and contents? The specific provisions in the “Contract Law” have listed many named contracts, however, the distribution contract and the consignment contract have not been listed in such provisions. According to Article 124 of the “Contract Law”, such unnamed contracts shall be governed by the general provisions of the “Contract Law”; and…

Company A sent Lee an offer, in which the company had stated the position, salary, the date of employment and so on. Lee replied to accept the offer, and applied for resignation to the current employer. Unexpectedly, a few days later, Company A informed Lee that the offer was withdrawn. Both parties have disputes on the withdrawal. Then whether an employer could withdraw the offer? First, the relationship between the two parties is the key for determining the applicable laws. Article 7 of the “Labor Contract Law” stipulates that the employer shall establish an employment relationship with the employee from…

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…