Commercial Law

On Aug. 30, 2007, China's National People's Congress adopted the Anti-Monopoly Law ('AML'), the first ever comprehensive competition law in the largest emerging market in the world. This was the culmination of 13 years of legislative effort and debate since the first draft of this law was originally conceived. What are the essentials of China's emerging antitrust legal regime? The following are the ten key things that you should know about this area.

This month's installment continues an exploration of the differences that franchisors in the United States and Canada will face when seeking injunctions to enforce non-competition and other covenants contained in their franchise agreements.

The Internal Revenue Service has not weighed in on the proper tax classification of series LLCs. Accordingly, lawyers recommending this new form of entity to clients or considering a series LLC for an ancillary business of the law firm or other purpose should proceed with caution.

Claims of consumer fraud are difficult and rarely succeed in the context of a pharmaceutical product liability action. They are, however, troublesome, because the pleading of such a claim often opens the door to extensive discovery of the company's sales and marketing departments. If the defendant cannot succeed in obtaining a dismissal prior to trial, it may still permit the jury to hear evidence of sales tactics and strategies that often paint the manufacturer in a less-than-favorable light. Companies should be aware of the potential for such claims and plan their sales and marketing strategies accordingly.

From YouTube's perspective, taking burdensome steps to prevent the posting of potentially infringing content could destroy the business model and consumer goodwill upon which it relies. [Although YouTube recently announced it was tesing a new copyright filtering process.] This information sharing/rights protection dilemma is not solely limited to YouTube ' many Web sites and other service providers face decisions every day concerning the propriety of user-generated content. The U.S. Copyright Act may provide a critical solution to that dilemma.

The 'classic' product liability lawsuit against the Chinese manufacturer raises many issues, including, but not limited to, jurisdiction, forum non conveniens, and the uncertainty as to whether traditional U.S. product liability or tort defenses apply. Probably the most important issue, enforcement of any judgment in China, is also either unchartered or risky territory for a claimant.

Entrepreneurs have traditionally dreamed of creating family businesses that would last for generations. Certainly, everyone has seen the stickers and other marketing testifying to a firm's and its founding family's decades of service, and their stability and track record. But in today's constantly changing e-commerce world, a business often must reinvent itself several times in one generation, much less plan to last for several.

This three-part article provides a pointers for the Prime Landlord, Sublandlord, and Subtenant to consider when negotiating provisions relating to subleasing.