Friday 23 December 2016

China Updates- The Michael Jordan Case/ Inbound Investment

The Michael Jordan Case


On December 8th, the Supreme Court ruled on the dispute between Michael
Jordan and Qiaodan Sports Co., holding that three trademarks registered by
Qiaodan for the Chinese character sound translation of “Jordan” were invalid
as they infringed upon the name rights of Michael Jordan. They thereby
reversed the decision of the Beijing High Court. This was something of a
surprise as, until then, the case was being held out as an illustration of China’s
“first registration” (rather than prior use) rule in IP matters, regardless of how
well known the claimant is.

Although the Court also ruled in seven parallel cases that Jordan had no rights
over the Chinese pinyin transcription (i.e. the romanised phonetic spelling of
the Chinese name) of his name, “qiaodan”, the case is nevertheless a departure
from the rule that first registration of a trade mark in China wins. When
considering also the delays in adjudicating on use of the Trump name until
after the US election result, one might wonder whether factors other than the
letter of the law are being considered in highprofile
cases.

Inbound Investment
On 7 December 2016, the National Development and Reform Commission and
the Ministry of Commerce released a revised draft of the Foreign Investment
Industrial Guidance Catalogue for public comments.

The Catalogue is a key document regulating foreign investment in China. In
essence, it sets out which sectors foreigners can invest in. In October last year,
the emphasis of the Catalogue changed to remove MOFCOM’s approval for
items not proscribed (i.e. on the ‘negative’ list), rather than to require their
approval for everything. However, no negative list has yet been issued.
Now, the structure of the Catalogue is being changed to correct this. The draft
Catalogue groups industries under the two main headings of “encouraged” and
”negative”. The negative list section is then divided into three categories, as
follows:


  • Encouraged but subject to restrictions on foreign equity holding;
  • Restricted;
  • Prohibited.

Further detail on the contents of each list is available from Primasia.


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Primasia will post the updates of Hong Kong and China from time to time. Follow us on our WebsiteBloggerLinkedIn and stay tunned for our updates!

=================================================================

Need more information?
Please contact:
John Barclay -Email
Teresa Tam - Email 
--------------------------
Follow us on:
LinkedIn: Primasia
--------------------------
Primasia Corporate Services Limited
Tel: +852 2882 2088
Suite 1106-08, 11/F., Tai Yau Building, No. 181 Johnston Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong

Saturday 10 December 2016

Hong Kong Updates- IP/ Data Privacy

We have a bumper issue for you this month!

IP
As part of the government's promotion of Hong Kong as an arbitration centre,
the Arbitration Ordinance is being amended to confirm that disputes over IP
rights can be resolved by arbitration and that the decisions can be enforced in
Hong Kong.

Data Privacy
It was reported that three different mobile apps (based outside Hong Kong)
had collected contact lists stored on users' mobile devices worldwide, and
pulled them into a database of some 2 to 3 billion individuals. The terms of the
apps advised users that the apps would do this. Nevertheless, the Hong Kong
Privacy Commissioner's expressed concern over the lack of consent for
collection of these data from the individuals.
However, the personal data legislation does not apply outside Hong Kong and
so no prosecution is possible.


***
Primasia will post the updates of Hong Kong and China from time to time. Follow us on our WebsiteBloggerLinkedIn and stay tunned for our updates!

=================================================================

Need more information?
Please contact:
John Barclay -Email
Teresa Tam - Email 
--------------------------
Follow us on:
LinkedIn: Primasia
--------------------------
Primasia Corporate Services Limited
Tel: +852 2882 2088
Suite 1106-08, 11/F., Tai Yau Building, No. 181 Johnston Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong