China introduces new legislation to placate US IP concerns.

great wall of china

Photo by Johannes Plenio on Pexels.com

According to Bloomberg – China’s legislative body has passed new legislation to replace three main laws that impact non-Chinese companies doing business in China:(1) Law of Joint Ventures with Chinese and Foreign Investment, the (2) Law on Foreign-Capital Enterprises and the (3) Law on Chinese-Foreign Contractual Joint Ventures.

To summarize, the new legislation includes: (1) promise of equal support to foreign and domestic firms, (2) equal treatment for license applications, (3) foreign companies can participate in setting industry standards and in government procurement, (4) right of foreign companies to appeal non-security related decisions and (5) a complaints mechanism for foreign companies.

The law was passed on March 15th and will take effect on January 1, 2020. Whether this will impact the current trade negotiations is still yet to be seen.

MoneyGram-Ant Financial Merger Fails CFIUS Clearance.

pexels-photo-259165.jpegChina-based Ant Financial Services Group sought CFIUS approval for a merger with Dallas-based MoneyGram. On January 2, 2018 a joint press release from MoneyGram and Ant Financial confirmed the parties have terminated their agreement to merge despite their efforts to seek approval from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS).

In April 2017, MoneyGram approved a $1bn takeover offer from Ant Financial. Ant Financial is run by Jack Ma, founder of Ali Baba – the world’s largest financial technology company with more than 500 million customers in China.

If you have questions or need CFIUS approval, give me a call, 832.896.6288 or email: attorney.dave@yahoo.com.