Introduction

• Pages: 2-2

1. Introduction

Imagine a situation that you signed a licensing agreement

with your Chinese business partner. At the beginning, all looks

very promising, but aer a few months, your business partner

is not paying due fees for the use of the license. You are

sending emails to urge the other party to pay immediately.

That is, however, unsuccessful. You wonder what step to take

next, and it seems that the only way is to go to a Chinese

court to resolve this dispute. Yet, that does not have to be

the only way to resolve your IP-related disputes. This Guide

introduces you to the use of an alternative way, arbitration,

in the context of IP-related disputes with China.

Already when entering into any business transaction, you

should be aware of the risk of disputes that this transaction

may bring. Facing a legal dispute is not a pleasant thing in

any scenario. It can, however, get even more complicated

if it is to take place in a foreign country, like China, and/

or against a foreign party, like a Chinese party. There can

be numerous concerns, just to name a few: high expenses

related to resolving disputes, lack of understanding of local

language and procedure, perceived bias of local courts, etc.

Some of these risks can be, at least to some extent, mitigated

at the initial stage of business. Therefore, despite the fact

that no one likes to think about the divorce when entering

into a promising marriage, it is worth to anticipate possible

dispute resolution options already at the stage of planning a

particular transaction.

The same applies also to intellectual property (IP) -related

disputes. Generally, there is a number of dispute resolution

methods that European SMEs can resort to in the Sino-

foreign context. Each of them has its own advantages and

disadvantages. This guide concentrates specically on

arbitration as one of the methods. It introduces the concept

of arbitration; analyses the advantages and disadvantages

of arbitration – in particular when compared with resolving

disputes in front of the state court; and explains the key

procedural aspects of arbitrating in China.

How to Search for Basic Chinese Company Information to

Protect your IP

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