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Patrick Dransfield, Principal of Clearway Communications and Co-Founder of the Managing Partners’ Club, explains in this interview why he has had success in forging strong relationships with private practitioners and in-house counsels at various corporations across Asia, the Middle East, and the United Kingdom.  In addition, he shares his thoughts about where the legal industries in emerging markets are heading.Read this article

Image: Heru Purwanto, Pomelo On The Tree (Publicdomainpictures.net)

Guiding Case No. 160 addresses a fundamental issue: when rights to a new plant variety are granted, what falls within the scope of protection?  According to China’s legislation, propagation materials of the plant for which variety rights have been granted are clearly protected.  Yet, what are “propagation materials”?  Unfortunately, no definition can be found in China’s legislation.  Guiding Case No. 160 fills the legal gap by setting the criteria for such determination.Read this article

Image: Lilla Frerichs, Indian Corn 1 (Publicdomainpictures.net)

Before the release of Guiding Case No. 100, the Supreme People’s Court of China released Guiding Case No. 92 to establish this principle: in a case involving infringement of rights to a new plant variety, when the related DNA fingerprinting test result cannot provide a clear answer, the allegedly infringing party, i.e., the defendant, has the burden to prove that the allegedly infringing plant is different from the plant for which variety rights have been granted.  Guiding Case No. 100 shows what the defendant can do to meet this burden of proof.Read this article

Image: Andrew Schmidt, Corn On The Cob (Publicdomainpictures.net)

Guiding Case No. 92 provides guidance on an important issue frequently encountered in cases involving infringement of rights to new plant varieties: how to determine whether two plants are of the same variety, when the related DNA fingerprinting test result cannot provide a clear answer.  According to this Guiding Case, when this happens, the allegedly infringing party, i.e., the defendant, has the burden to prove that the allegedly infringing plant is different from the plant for which variety rights have been granted.  How did the court justify the shifting of the burden to the defendant?Read this article

Image: George Hodan, Agriculture (Publicdomainpictures.net)

The Supreme People’s Court of China released Guiding Case Nos. 92, 100, and 160 to clarify fundamental issues related to the protection of rights to new plant varieties that were left unanswered by the country’s legislation and judicial interpretations.  Yet, have these three Guiding Cases essentially lost their significance, considering that their guiding principles, as analyzed in this article, have already been incorporated into the Supreme People’s Court’s latest judicial interpretation related to new plant varieties?  Dr. Mei Gechlik explains why the answer is negative and discusses related implications. Read this article

Image: Kai Stachowiak, Background (Publicdomainpictures.net)

Tom Tong, an international partner of Locke Lord LLP, recently founded Lawmato, an app that enables lawyers to provide online consultation to consumers, including individuals and small businesses, anywhere in the world via the robust audio/video communication capacities of the app.  Apart from explaining how Lawmato has the potential to change the legal services industry, Mr. Tong draws on his more than 20 years of experience acting as liaison between U.S. and Chinese firms to share his insights about different challenges in doing deals in China and in the United States.Read this article