China’s Supreme People's Court interpretation opinion on hearing administrative cases concerning trademark granting and ownership.

China’s National Development and Reform Commission and Ministry of Commerce jointly revised and promulgated the Catalog of Industrial Guidance for Foreign Investment on November 7, 2007 which replaced its 2004 version and took into effect on December 1, 2007.

In many countries the commercial franchise business has been in existence for almost a century. In China, however, franchises have only been around for a bit longer than a decade.

On July 7, 2009, the China’s Anti-Monopoly Commission under the State Council (“AMC”) published a Guideline on Definition of Relevant Market (“Guideline”) on its official website to guide the Anti-monopoly Enforcement Agencies (“AMEA”) to effectively define the “relevant market” in the monopolistic activities by business operators during their antitrust enforcement.

On July 1, 2009, the China’s Supreme People’s Court (“Supreme Court”) issued a Regulation on the Division of Work in the Hearing of Administrative Cases Regarding Granting and Confirmation of Patents, Trademarks and Other Intellectual Property Rights (“Regulation”) , which took into effect immediately.

On April 21, 2009, China’s Supreme People’s Court (“Supreme Court”) circulated an Opinion on Several Issues Concerning Trial to Intellectual Property Cases in the Current Economic Situations (“Opinion”) under Documentation Fa Fa (2009) No. 23 to local people’s courts at all levels, guiding them to effectively try intellectual property (“IP”) related disputes.

On December 27, 2008, the China’s highest legislative authority revised the current Patent Law of the People’s Republic of China. The revised Chinese Patent Law, which will take into effect on October 1, 2009, has dramatically perfected the current Chinese patent regime by improving its former thresholds on patentability for invention, utility model and industrial design, strengthening protection to granted patent, promoting technology spreading and development.

On April 21, 2009, China’s State Administration for Industry and Commerce (“SAIC”) issued a Working Rules for Identifying Well-known Trademarks (“Working Rules”), which took into effect immediately, to efficiently identify well-known trademark during their trademark administration.

After more than ten years of drafting and debating, China passed its first Anti-monopoly Law (“AML”) on August 30, 2007, which took into effect on August 1, 2008.

In an official media interview on November 3, 2008, the head of the Administrative Tribunal of the China’s Supreme People’s Court (“Supreme Court”) clarified certain rules applicable to the trial to administrative cases involving the China’s newly effective Anti-monopoly Law (“AML”).

With the rapid development of the China’s economy within the last two decades, China has absorbed and utilized huge amount of foreign capital. Many foreign investors have been doing business with their Chinese partners or making direct investment within China.

One of the more common vehicles for entry into Chinese market is for foreign investor to establish a wholly foreign-owned entity (“WFOE”).