In the news: Samsung sues Huawei, Uber investors push for Didi truce and the CAC cracks down on online news

Uber investors push for Didi truce

Uber Technologies Inc. investors are reportedly pushing the company to ink a partnership agreement with China market leader Didi Chuxing, saying it is time to wrap up the expensive fight to boost users. Uber has said it is spending at least $1 billion a year to expand its business in the country, and both are giving out incentives to drivers and free rides to customers to try and gain an edge. Didi has 14 million drivers signed up in 400 Chinese cities, while Uber China has set a target of 100 cities this year. Uber, which was last valued at nearly $68 billion, says it has access to more than $11 billion in cash and equity. Didi was most recently valued at $28 billion and says it has more than $10 billion at its disposal. The stakes are huge, with the China market's 600 million smartphone users dwarfing that of the U.S. and EU combined. An alliance would help stem the revenue blood-letting and boost investor confidence, at least for Uber. But would that lead to anti-competitive issues? Watch this space.

China slaps ban on online news reporting, tightens crackdown

The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) ordered major online companies including Sina Corp. and Tencent Holdings Ltd. to stop original news reporting, imposing the ban on major news portals including Sohu.com and NetEase. These were said by the agency's Beijing office to have “seriously violated” internet regulations. Mobile and online news service operators were instructed to dismantle “current-affairs news” and only carry reports provided by state-controlled print or online media, sources said. Most online news services have so far operated in a regulatory grey area, as they aren't authorized to provide original content or to hire reporters or editors. “Current-affairs news” is a broad term and encompasses all news and commentary related to politics, economics, military, foreign and social issues, according to the draft of China's online information law, which is currently out for public comment on the CAC website. This is a major step on control of news content, coming after an earlier move to increase oversight of the internet, and is guaranteed to spur international scrutiny.

MasterCard takes cautious approach to PRC market

MasterCard Inc. hopes to apply this year to become a payment service provider in China after the government opened the market, but is still weighing whether to do so alone or with a partner, senior executives said. China is crucial to its future, but the company is still studying rules in the country that would affect its operations and is hammering out a business plan, the president of international markets told Reuters. The new rules permit foreign payment card companies to operate in the country, potentially giving global players like MasterCard and Visa Inc. access to its Rmb55 trillion card market, which is dominated by state-run China UnionPay Co. They also require compliance with national security and cybersecurity standards, and a registered capital of Rmb1 billion in a local company. These give rise to a host of legal issues regarding data protection, infrastructure and sharing.

Samsung fires back at Huawei with IP suit

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. said on July 22 it sued Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd in China for infringing six of its mobile technology patents. The South Korean firm is claiming a total of Rmb161 million ($24 million) in a Beijing IP court lawsuit, according to the court's Weibo blogpost. Samsung has demanded that Huawei, and a Beijing department store, cease production and sales of Huawei products including the Mate 8 and Honor smartphones. This comes months after the Shenzhen-based telecom equipment maker sued Samsung in the U.S. and China, when the two companies failed to strike a FRAND [fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory] licensing deal over 4G LTE technology. (A Shenzhen court is hearing this case in China.) The lawsuit and countersuit follow Huawei's increasing emergence as Samsung's main rival in the world of Android smartphones. The Beijing court is regarded as one of the most progressive courts in China in terms of handling IP cases—it's also currently reviewing the Apple iPhone 6 patent infringement case—and the ruling will have a significant impact on the smartphone business.

Uber investors push for Didi truce

Uber Technologies Inc. investors are reportedly pushing the company to ink a partnership agreement with China market leader Didi Chuxing, saying it is time to wrap up the expensive fight to boost users. Uber has said it is spending at least $1 billion a year to expand its business in the country, and both are giving out incentives to drivers and free rides to customers to try and gain an edge. Didi has 14 million drivers signed up in 400 Chinese cities, while Uber China has set a target of 100 cities this year. Uber, which was last valued at nearly $68 billion, says it has access to more than $11 billion in cash and equity. Didi was most recently valued at $28 billion and says it has more than $10 billion at its disposal. The stakes are huge, with the China market's 600 million smartphone users dwarfing that of the U.S. and EU combined. An alliance would help stem the revenue blood-letting and boost investor confidence, at least for Uber. But would that lead to anti-competitive issues? Watch this space.

China slaps ban on online news reporting, tightens crackdown

The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) ordered major online companies including Sina Corp. and Tencent Holdings Ltd. to stop original news reporting, imposing the ban on major news portals including Sohu.com and NetEase. These were said by the agency's Beijing office to have “seriously violated” internet regulations. Mobile and online news service operators were instructed to dismantle “current-affairs news” and only carry reports provided by state-controlled print or online media, sources said. Most online news services have so far operated in a regulatory grey area, as they aren't authorized to provide original content or to hire reporters or editors. “Current-affairs news” is a broad term and encompasses all news and commentary related to politics, economics, military, foreign and social issues, according to the draft of China's online information law, which is currently out for public comment on the CAC website. This is a major step on control of news content, coming after an earlier move to increase oversight of the internet, and is guaranteed to spur international scrutiny.

MasterCard takes cautious approach to PRC market

MasterCard Inc. hopes to apply this year to become a payment service provider in China after the government opened the market, but is still weighing whether to do so alone or with a partner, senior executives said. China is crucial to its future, but the company is still studying rules in the country that would affect its operations and is hammering out a business plan, the president of international markets told Reuters. The new rules permit foreign payment card companies to operate in the country, potentially giving global players like MasterCard and Visa Inc. access to its Rmb55 trillion card market, which is dominated by state-run China UnionPay Co. They also require compliance with national security and cybersecurity standards, and a registered capital of Rmb1 billion in a local company. These give rise to a host of legal issues regarding data protection, infrastructure and sharing.

In the news: Samsung sues Huawei, Uber investors push for Didi truce and the CAC cracks down on online news

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