In the news: New FTZ Negative List released, Baker & McKenzie and FenXun Partners cooperate and Beijing IP Court releases Q1 statistics

Negative List for all Free Trade Zones released

China's State Council has published a comprehensive Negative List applicable to all four Free Trade Zones (FTZs): Shanghai, Guangdong, Tianjin and Fujian. On the List are 122 business segments closed to foreign investment, down from 139 previously. Foreign investment is prohibited in sectors such as rare earth mining, air traffic control system management, postal enterprises and radio and television broadcasters, and is restricted to joint ventures with domestic companies in sectors such as oil and natural gas exploration and development, general-purpose aeroplane design, manufacture and maintenance as well as rare earth smelting. The List has become shorter, which is encouraging for foreign investors struggling with a spate of recent FDI policy changes ranging from the PRC Foreign Investment Law to the 2015 Foreign Investment Industrial Guidance Catalogue. Also, the combined FTZ List can be mined for clues on what will be included in the Foreign Investment Law's Negative List - when it finally comes.

More from CLP:
Shanghai Municipality, Special Administrative Measures for Foreign Investment Access in the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone (Negative List) (Revised in 2014)
Shanghai Municipality, Special Administrative Measures for Foreign Investment Access in the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone (Negative List) (2013)
Not so free zone?
Announcement on the Implementation on a Trial Basis in the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone of Implementing Measures for Increasing the Foreign Investment Percentage in the International Shipping and International Shipping Management Businesses
General Plan for the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone


Baker & McKenzie and FenXun Partners first in joint operation

Baker & McKenzie has become the first partner to enter into a “joint operation” in the Shanghai Free Trade Zone (SFTZ) after its application with Beijing-based FenXun Partners was approved by the Ministry of Justice. The Shanghai Bureau of Justice unveiled a scheme last year that allowed for increased cooperation between foreign and domestic law firms in the SFTZ by means of secondments of lawyers between firms and setting up joint operations in the zone while remaining structurally separate. The scheme is a small step towards liberalising the legal market. Local firms can benefit from the brand value of global names, while foreign firms now have a way to move into new territory by tapping into the local firms' client base of many fast-growing Chinese companies looking to go abroad. Teaming up with small- to mid-sized local firms appears to be the strategy of international firms considering this arrangement, as it reduces conflicts of interest.

More from CLP:
Shanghai permits Sino-foreign law firm alliances in FTZ
How law firms should prepare for the new VAT rules
Law firm competition heats up in China


Beijing IP Court releases debut Q1 statistics

The Beijing Intellectual Property Court has released statistics on cases it has accepted and concluded during the period from November 6 2014 (when it began operating) to March 20 2015. It has accepted 2,400 cases and concluded 567. For first instance cases, 71% were trademark-related while 25% and 2.7% were patent and copyright cases respectively. Copyright was the highest for second instance cases at 76%, with patents at 0.9% and trademarks at 9%. The Beijing IP Court has 60 judges. The fact that trademark disputes were the most common first instance cases shows that brand owners have been more active in trying to protect their rights. Another reason for the high figure is that the backlog of applications faced by the China Trademark Office (CTMO) since 2009 caused it to hire a large number of examiners to speed things up, which led to highly varied interpretations and, subsequently, many trademark administrative disputes.

More from CLP:
Opinion: Why specialised IP Courts are not enough
Provisions on Jurisdiction in Cases of the Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou Intellectual Property Courts
Opinion: New Pudong IP Office has high ambitions
Understanding the SPC's stance on patent disputes
Unilever interview: Fitting China into a global patent strategy
Why China's judicial reform has a long way to go