Under Chinese law, a legal representative of a company is a person who can act (and thus sign) on a company’s behalf. Thus, for a foreign company, the Chinese authorities deem a legal representative of the company as the person who is able to act on your company’s behalf; such person is usually a director, or the chairman of the board of directors. The Chinese authorities will usually require proof of such person’s position. Where they require proof, your company would need to submit to the nearest Chinese embassy documentation such as your company’s articles of association, written resolutions of the board of directors or shareholders of the company, a business profile issued by the local government stating the name of this person as director, or an appointment letter outlining the signing powers of the person in question. This person would then be deemed the legal representative for all relevant dealings of your company in China. Such documentation needs to be notarized, authenticated and legalized by a local notary and the Chinese embassy. In some countries, the embassy requires the so-called legal representative to come physically to the embassy.

There are three types of patents under Chinese law: invention, utility model and appearance design.

Are novelty requirements less strict for a utility mode patent than for an invention patent?

Yes, because there are more techniques in an invention than in an utility model, thus, there are more requirements for creativity. Besides, invention application includes product invention and method of invention, while the utility model focduses more on product’s structure (not on the way of manufacturing the product).

Is a publication made outside china novelty destroying for a Chinese utility model filed later?

Under Chinese patent law, novelty means that no similar invention or utility model has ever been published in Chinese and foreign publications or similar invention or utility model has never been used publicly in China or made public in China in any means. In a common sense, a publication made outside China will destroy the novelty of a utility model filed later in China. However, there are some exceptions:

1. Within 6 months prior to the application date, the utility model or invention was exhibited for the first time in an exhibition held by or recognized by the Chinese government;
2. Within 6 months prior to the application date, the utility model or invention was published for the first time in certain academic meetings or technical communication meeting;
3. Within 6 months prior to the application date, any third party released the contents of utility model or invention without permission of the patent owner or holder;
4. The prior patent application is canceled, revoked or abandoned before it is published, then, the later utility model or invention application shall still have the novelty.

Under Chinese laws and regulations, a representative office has no right to hire a Chinese employee directly. Chinese employees have to register with Fesco (i.e. Foreign Enterprise Services Co., Ltd.) first and the contractual relationship will be established between the Chinese employee and Fesco. Fesco will then sign a labor service agreement with the representative office and the Chinese employee will be appointed to work with the representative office in accordance with the labor service agreement signed between the representative office and Fesco.

Yes, there are some requirements. Please note that representative offices can be set up only if they have an official lease in a commercial building and NOT in a residential building. This aspect is regulated in China and different cities have different requirements. In addition, in Shanghai for example, only landlords having permission from the Shanghai Foreign Economic and Trade Committee are entitled to rent premises to foreign companies. However, there is no such regulation in Beijing and Guangzhou.

Under Chinese law, a person getting married is entitled to three (3) day leave. However, if the groom is 25 years old or older, he is entitled to ten (10) more days. If the bride is 23 years old or older, she is entitled to ten (10) additional days. Please note that the marriage leave shall be a continuous calendar day leave (including the week-end). In addition, please note that in the event that the marriage leave falls on weekends and/or legal holiday, the weekends shall be included in the marriage day leave but the statutory holiday shall be excluded.