Beijing, China –November 4, 2010
– On Oct. 28, 2010, the National People’s congress promulgated the fist statute on conflict rules, the Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Application of Law on Civil Relations Involving Foreign Interests, which shall come into force as of April 1, 2011.
The statute contains 52 articles, 8 chapters, covering most civil affairs (marriage and family, succession, property rights, obligatory rights and intellectual property rights) related to foreign countries and Hong Kong and Macau as well.
The most significant development of this new statute, we thought, is it clarified intellectual property rights application rules which have not been explicitly stipulated in most of Chinese civil and commercial regulations. Under the law, the attribution and content of an intellectual property rights apply to the laws of the region where the claim is made. The parties concerned may select by agreement the applicable laws on the assignment and licensed use of the intellectual property rights or relevant provisions on contract under the law shall apply if no party selects the applicable law. If the liabilities for intellectual property rights infringement apply to the laws of the region where the claim is made, the parties concerned may also apply the law where the court is located by agreement after the infringing act occurs.
Lehman, Lee & Xu is a prominent Chinese corporate law firm and trademark and patent agency with offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hong Kong, Macau, and Mongolia. The firm is managed by Mr. Edward Lehman who is a long-time China resident, and is recognized as a leading expert on corporate law with 21 years of practice experience in Mainland China.
For more information about the firm, please visit our website at
www.lehmanlaw.com
.