When is the Employment Relationship with Foreign Employees established?

A Canadian Mr. D was hired by Company W as its General Manager. Both parties signed a labor contract. Later, Company W dissolved the contract. Mr. D filed a lawsuit against Company W and claimed for the economic compensation. The case was reviewed by the first and second trials. Finally, the Guangdong Provincial High People’s Court reheard the case, and…

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Setting Other Party’s Trademark as the Search Keyword on Internet

If you type “金夫人” on the search engine Baidu, the first three links show “金夫人GOLDEN LADY” and relevant pictures; the official website of the trademark right owner Company J and its relevant information; and the promotion information with the words as “南京婚纱摄影领军品牌M公司”. Company J filed a lawsuit against Company M and Baidu by claiming that both parties had jointly infringed…

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Risk Prevention of Software Service Contracts

More and more companies apply software in handling business operations. They have to sign a software service contract (“SSC”) or a software development contract (“SDC”). In practice, many companies only pay attention to the payment article, which stipulates that the commissioning party would pay upon the acceptance of the deliveries. This opinion is very dangerous. In fact, in the 57th…

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Feasibility and Attentions to Early Retirement System

An enterprise with a longer history would have more employees who are close to the retirement age. Some of those employees may have less improvement in skills, and be lack of energy. If they still occupy the positions, the successors will have fewer opportunities to practice. Under such circumstance, more and more enterprises are considering to establish the early retirement…

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Is It Risky to Ignore the Social Insurance of Foreigners?

In the past many years, foreign-invested companies would purchase commercial insurance for foreigners instead of participate in social insurance, because China had not set any requirements in any laws or regulations, and normally, the offshore parent companies would participate in social insurance for foreigners in their own countries. The “Social Insurance Law” has come into force on July 1, 2011,…

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Legal Risks Related to Advertising Creativity

Bei Ji Rong (“BJR”) Underwear had published a creative advertisement. The spokesperson Zhao Benshan wore the BJR thermal underwear. He was hijacked by aliens, and frozen in an ice brick. After unfrozen, he was uninjured, and he told the aliens: “Keep Warm, Wear BJR, everyone knows on the earth.” Chen brought a piece of BJR thermal underwear. Later then, he…

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Getting Injured or Suffering from a Disease During the Lunch Break, Is it a Work-Related Injury?

During the lunch break, Yang went home to get a work operation permit, and got injured in a traffic accident on his way to work. Yang filed an application for ascertainment of the work-related injury (“WRI”). However, the authority determined that this was not a WRI. Both the courts of the first instance, and second instance supported the authority’s decision…

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Is There Legal Risks in Using Videos Taken by Others for Promotion?

Liu took a short video for his self-driving trip to skiing by driving a Brand A car, and shared such video on the online platform. Company A used this video in a client’s advertisement, which was released via WeChat official account and Weibo. Liu filed a lawsuit against Company A for the infringement of copyright. Recently, the court decided that…

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Pay Attention to the Leaving Reason Stated in the Employment Separation Certificate

Zhou was dismissed by Company A, and the leaving reason stated in the Employment Separation Certificate (“ESC”) covered two aspects, (a) Zhou has seriously violated the company’s rules and procedures; and (b) Zhou is incompetent to his position. Zhou insisted that such words would affect his job search, and required Company A to delete such words. Company A refused, and…

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A Manufacturer Does Business with Its Distributor’s Clients Directly, Whether the Manufacturer Has Infringed the Distributor’s Trade Secrets?

In practice, many manufacturers would sell products to authorized distributors, and then the authorized distributors would sell to the end customers. Manufacturers focus on R&D and manufacturing, while distributors focus on market development. If both parties could cooperate well, then it is a win-win situation. However, due to many reasons, for example, the distribution contract has been expired and both…

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