SINOTALKS.COM

Image: Linnaea Mallette, Energy Transition Wind Turbines
(Publicdomainpictures.net)

In early October, amid growing concerns about artificial intelligence (“AI”), the Chinese leadership issued an important document to show its unwavering commitment to AI and other innovative developments. Included in the document is a special message concerning micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (“MSMEs”) that indicates Chinese leaders’ dedication to helping these enterprises overcome challenges presented by the current AI era. In order to grasp the full extent of this dedication, one needs to understand China’s strong opposition to recent characterizations of the Chinese economy as “K-shaped” and the country’s specific measures aimed at helping MSMEs. Despite these efforts, there are major problems associated with MSMEs that China will need to tackle effectively.

Image: Victoria Borodinova, Bribe, Bribery, Illegal, Crime
(Publicdomainpictures.net)

The past couple of weeks saw millions of people in a few key countries use their voices—and votes—to weaken or oust incumbent political leaders, in the hope of bringing about change to address corruption, the high cost of living, and other concerns. While no similar elections were able to take place in China, the ruling communist party just issued a crucial decision aimed at improving the party itself to ensure its continued governance over the country. Unfortunately, to a Chinese professor who was struggling to abide by Chinese law while also facing pressure to utilize his own resources to set up fake research projects, this decision and related potential reforms come too late. The professor chose suicide, leaving behind a note that has drawn widespread attention to problems prevailing in Chinese academia.

Image: Mohamed Mahmoud Hassan, Installment, Car, Bank, Percentage
(Publicomainpictures.net)

Judicial protection of intellectual property (“IP”) rights in China has been perceived to be limited because, among other problems, the amounts of damages awarded by Chinese courts in IP infringement cases have historically been small. However, this state of affairs may be changing, as China’s Supreme People’s Court (“SPC”) rendered a landmark judgment in a case involving large-scale infringement of trade secrets, allowing the victims to receive an amount equivalent to almost USD 90 million as compensation. As analyzed by Nathan Harpainter and David Zhao, Co-Managing Editors of SINOTALKS®, the innovative approach taken by the SPC to calculate the damages in the landmark case is essentially based on the concept of “unjust enrichment”. The steps followed by the SPC to do the calculation are helpful but inadequate. To help China develop its jurisprudence in this important area, the two co-authors discuss related U.S. experiences.

Image: Petr Kratochvil, American Flag And City Buildings (Publicdomainpictures.net)

On March 6, 2025, Dr. Mei Gechlik, Founder & CEO of SINOTALKS^® gave a talk about China’s Guiding Cases and related topics to a group of attorneys at the U.S. Department of Commerce to deepen their understanding of China’s court system and latest developments.