Features & Analyses

The Supreme People's Court has recently issued a significant and wide-ranging interpretation concerning how the general provisions of the PRC Civil Code should be applied. Diane Peng (Partner), Sijia Li (Counsel) and Aubrey Xiong (Associate) of Fangda Partners analyze the potential impact.

Multinational corporations with both a U.S. and China presence may increasingly find themselves caught between two legal systems as both countries implement regulations that seek to achieve diametrically opposite objectives. What are the issues and how should companies prepare and respond?

Geoffrey Chan and Xuan Zhang of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom highlight some key factors to consider when setting up a joint venture cooperation including structuring considerations, structuring options and deal terms

Loke-Khoon Tan and James Lau of Baker McKenzie highlight the changes to the Guidelines for the Review and Examination of Trademarks, which promise to offer more protection to brand owners in terms of clarifying what a bad faith trademark application is and inclusion of non-traditional marks, as well as other changes to the examination standards

Throughout 2021, China's legislative and enforcement authorities accelerated their all-encompassing regulation of the country's TMT sector, from anti-monopoly enforcement against internet platform giants to further crackdowns on cryptocurrencies, as well as tightening controls on the Internet content industry and online games. Casper Sek of Jingtian & Gongcheng discusses these challenges and the broader context of the regulators' continuing positive attitude towards new technology and overarching goal of safeguarding national security.

Fay Zhou and Arthur Peng of Linklaters review major developments in China's anti-trust regulations that aim to offer clearer guidance and more efficient enforcement actions that can impact on this area of law for the next decade. These developments include stronger deterrence, expanded substantive prohibitions, public interest litigation and a firmer stance against consolidation.

With the entrenchment of reciprocal US-China sanctions and export controls in the past year, counsel have helped clients enact fundamental changes to their approach to making deals, from contractual terms to due diligence

Aggie Liu, Binxin Li, Yun Chen and Muzi Xuan of FenXun Partners, highlight China's 2021 legislative and enforcement developments in the intellectual property sector including how they respond to challenges posed by emerging technologies and stimulate innovative vitality, significant cases that strengthen IP protection mechanisms and standards, and what the future holds for IP in 2022

Kevin Yuan, Lucca Li and Jocelyn Chen of FenXun Partners discuss China's efforts to support continuous financial innovation in 2021 based on steady development including taking steps to protect the security of personal data in the midst of rapid developments in finance and technology, implementing detailed rules and new initiatives related to fintech innovation, and taking clear steps to open up the financial market to the outside world.