Digital Commons Network^™

Putting The Pieces Together: A Proposal For A Contributory Infringement Provision In Patent Law, Xianzhi Quan

Chicago-Kent Journal of Intellectual Property

Among the top five countries who have filed the most patent applications under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (“PCT”) in 2015, China is the only country that has no provision regarding contributory patent infringement. As a result, in patent cases related to contributory infringement, different courts have adopted different criteria to determine whether contributory patent infringement is present. This has resulted in many problems in China, causing confusion and conflicts in understanding among patent holders and the public.

With the increase of patent infringement cases in China, legislation on the standard of contributory patent infringement is imminent. This Article puts forward …

The Trademark As A Novel Innovation Index, Brian J. Focarino

The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law

When studying the relationship that exists between entrepreneurship and intellectual property, patents receive the most scholarly attention. The attention makes sense when we consider that patents are closely associated with technical progress, grant temporary monopolies that incentivize investment in research & development (R&D), and function as vectors of technological dissemination in and of themselves. In a number of industries however, conventional forms of innovation often associated with patenting are minimal or missing altogether, and require us to look elsewhere to discern innovative behavior. This Essay highlights novel applications for trademark law to entrepreneurial activity in low-technology industries and low-financing locations …

Development And Distrust: A Critique Of The Orthodox Path To Economic Prosperity, W. Tyler Perry

Northwestern University Law Review

The dominant strain of law and development theory holds that strong property rights are a necessary condition for economic growth. Nonetheless, China has experienced thirty years of frenetic growth absent strong property rights. This Note explores this phenomenon through an analysis of a unique corporate form that has come to underlie most of the publicly traded Chinese Internet sector—the Variable Interest Entity (VIE). The VIE is, at its core, a series of contracts designed to mimic “true” ownership. As such, the VIE problematizes law and development theory in two primary ways. First, the contract-based ownership system does not provide the …

The Evolution Of China’S Legislation On Reproduction, Du Yifang

San Diego International Law Journal

This Article discusses how Chinas policy on reproduction developed from one that encouraged population growth to the very restrictive one-child policy. Part I discusses the factors underlying the establishment of the reproduction system after 1949. Part II analyzes the transition of national olicy and legislation over the period from 1980 to 2001 from encouraging to controlling childbirth. Part III discusses, in detail, the development and implementation of the one-child policy, and Part IV discusses the effects of this development. Finally, Part V explains the 2016 amendment to the Population and Family Planning Law in China, which abandoned the one-child policy.

Chinese "Workers Without Benefits", Ron Brown

Richmond Journal of Global Law & Business

Millions of workers in China are not afforded the rights and benefits of its labor and employment laws and thus are not "workers with benefits." China's labor reforms and worker "safety net" have come so far in the past 30 years, producing "workers with benefits." Why are there still millions of workers in the urban sector who do not have the protections of these labor and employment law reforms, who are the "workers without benefits," falling outside the labor safety net?

Open Sesame: The Myth Of Alibaba's Extreme Corporate Governance And Control, Yu-Hsin Lin, Thomas Mehaffy

Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial & Commercial Law

In September 2014, Alibaba Group Holding Limited (Alibaba) successfully launched a $25 billion initial public offering (IPO), the largest IPO ever, on New York Stock Exchange. Alibaba’s IPO success witnessed a wave among Chinese Internet companies to raise capital in U.S capital markets. A significant number of these companies have employed a novel, but poorly understood corporate ownership and control mechanism—the variable interest entity (VIE) structure and/or the disproportional control structure. The VIE structure was created in response to the Chinese restriction on foreign investments; however, it carries the risk of being declared illegal under Chinese law. The disproportional control …

A Comparison Between Shale Gas In China And Unconventional Fuel Development In The United States: Water, Environmental Protection, And Sustainable Development, Paolo D. Farah, Riccardo Tremolada

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

China is believed to have the world's largest exploitable reserves of shale gas, although several legal, regulatory, environmental, and investment-related issues will likely restrain its exploitation. China's capacity to face these hurdles successfully and produce commercial shale gas will have a crucial impact on the regional gas market and on China’s energy mix, as Beijing strives to decrease reliance on imported oil and coal, and, at the same time, tries to meet growing energy demand and maintain a certain level of resource autonomy. The development of the unconventional natural gas extractive industry will also provide China with further negotiating power …

International Law In The Obama Administration's Pivot To Asia: The China Seas Disputes, The Trans-Pacific Partnership, Rivalry With The Prc, And Status Quo Legal Norms In U.S. Foreign Policy, Jacques Delisle

Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law

The Obama administration's "pivot" or "rebalance" to Asia has shaped the Obama administration's impact on international law. The pivot or rebalance has been primarily about regional security in East Asia (principally, the challenges of coping with a rising and more assertive China--particularly in the context of disputes over the South China Sea -- and resulting concerns among regional states), and secondarily about U.S. economic relations with the region (including, as a centerpiece, the Trans-Pacific Partnership). In both areas, the Obama administration has made international law more significant as an element of U.S. foreign policy and has sought to present the …

Public Antitrust Enforcement Of Resale Price Maintenance In China: A Crusade Or Discrimination?, Jingmeng Cai

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

In recent years, a growing number of international observers and companies have expressed concerns that China may be using its new antitrust laws to discriminate against multinational companies. China’s antitrust decisionmakers, however, have taken pains to deny such criticisms. This article focuses on Resale Price Maintenance (RPM) to argue that these concerns are not always based in reality. After examining almost all of the decisions made public regarding RPM by the Chinese antitrust agency, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), this article analyzes the following three factors that have shaped how the NDRC enforces antitrust laws in China. First, …