30
2025-12
With the official implementation of the newly revised “Anti-Unfair Competition Law of the People’s Republic of China,” the legal regulatory framework for the live-streaming e-commerce industry has undergone a structural overhaul. The new law explicitly includes “unauthorized use of another party’s commercial identifiers as search keywords” within the scope of confusion-based unfair competition practices. Coupled with the increasingly common judicial practice in recent years of awarding “punitive damages” and imposing “joint and several liability,” the entire chain of responsibility involving merchants, MCN agencies, and live-streaming platforms is now facing a systematic review. This article, drawing on the latest legislative developments and actual court cases, takes a problem-oriented approach to thoroughly analyze the boundaries of legal responsibilities for all relevant parties and offers specific guidance on compliance practices.
2025-12-30
30
2025-12
In judicial practice, provisions regarding the division of property and debts in divorce agreements take two forms: divorce that has been registered and divorce that has not been registered. Parties who disagree with either form of divorce agreement may file a lawsuit with the People's Court. However, the courts apply different standards when determining the validity of these two types of agreements. Generally, for divorces that have been registered, the court will consider the agreement legally binding and enforceable on both parties; whereas for divorces that have not been registered, the court typically holds that such agreements are not yet effective.
2025-12-30
29
2025-12
To deepen integration into the low-altitude economic industry ecosystem and empower high-quality development of the regional low-altitude economy, the awarding ceremony for the Low-Altitude Planning and Consulting Professional Committee and its service team of the Zibo Low-Altitude Economy Association was solemnly held on December 24 at Zibo City Institute of Urban and Rural Planning & Design Co., Ltd. Representatives from the association’s 18 member units and relevant personnel attended the meeting together. Zhongcheng Qingtai, as an invited legal service provider, was invited to participate in the event; partner Zhang Lijie and paralegal Wang Xiaoxi represented the firm at the ceremony.
2025-12-29
29
2025-12
Regarding construction projects involving illegal subcontracting or assignment, the law and judicial interpretations have clearly stipulated who bears the responsibility for work-related injury insurance when construction workers hired by “foremen” are injured during construction, as well as how to determine the time when the dispute arises and how to observe the statute of limitations for protecting one’s rights during the rights-assertion process.
2025-12-29
29
2025-12
In July 2008, the local government signed a “Gas Concession Agreement” with Company A regarding the investment, construction, and operation of local gas facilities. The agreement stipulated that Company A would enjoy a gas concession right within the jurisdiction of the county, and if any dispute arose between the parties concerning the performance of the agreement, either party could submit the dispute to a certain arbitration institution for arbitration. In July 2022, the same government signed another “Gas Concession Agreement” with Company B. Company A argued that the government’s action constituted repeated authorization, infringed upon its legitimate rights and interests, and amounted to a breach of contract; therefore, Company A filed an arbitration application with the arbitration institution.
2025-12-29
26
2025-12
Recently, the “Two New” Working Committee of the Provincial Party Committee announced the list of 50 outstanding Party organization secretary studios in emerging fields at the provincial level. The Secretary’s Studio of Geng Guoyu from Zhongcheng Qingtai (Jinan) Law Firm was once again successfully selected, adding another prestigious honor to the firm’s Party building development.
2025-12-26
26
2025-12
As a special actor in China’s urbanization process, state-owned urban investment companies assume substantial responsibilities for urban infrastructure construction and public service provision. In recent years, amid economic transformation and mounting debt pressures, the number of cases in which these urban investment companies serve as the parties subject to enforcement has been steadily increasing. Given the enormous sums involved and the complex web of interests at stake, such cases have become both a major challenge and a focal point in the enforcement work of the people’s courts. Traditional coercive enforcement measures, when applied to urban investment companies, often encounter multiple dilemmas—“reluctance to enforce, inability to enforce, and ineffectiveness in enforcement.” Thus, how to innovate enforcement approaches that both safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of creditors and avoid disrupting local economic and social stability has become an urgent legal and policy issue demanding immediate attention.
2025-12-26
25
2025-12
In business lending and other related activities, borrowers typically provide collateral such as real estate to secure their loans. However, in practice, borrowers may find themselves facing court-ordered seizures of their collateral due to litigation or other legal issues. Once the collateral has been seized, banks—seeking to avoid loan defaults—face the critical decision of whether to agree to a loan extension. For bank officers handling such cases, this situation involves complex legal relationships that require careful analysis in light of both the Civil Code and judicial precedents. The central question is: Under the circumstance where the collateral is already seized, can the bank’s original priority right to be repaid from the collateral remain intact? What legal defects or risks of invalidity might arise from such an approach? This article will explore these questions in depth, drawing on theories related to changes in property rights, the principle of publicity and good faith, and the system of security interests for debts. Furthermore, it will offer practical risk-prevention recommendations tailored to bank operations.
2025-12-25
24
2025-12
In the realm of criminal defense, self-surrender is one of the few legally recognized circumstances that can directly influence the sentencing scale: According to judicial interpretations, in most cases, it can lead to a reduction of up to 40% from the base sentence; in cases involving minor offenses, it may even result in exemption from punishment. Self-surrender is not merely about increasing or reducing the length of imprisonment—it also reflects the leniency and benevolence of the law toward those who recognize their mistakes and turn back from the wrong path. On the chessboard of criminal defense, self-surrender is both an opening move and a decisive one. As countless cases have demonstrated, a well-crafted defense based on self-surrender can completely alter a defendant’s life trajectory, both inside and outside prison walls. However, in judicial practice in China, an unwritten convention has emerged: If, after voluntarily surrendering, a defendant fails to truthfully disclose all the facts of the crime during their initial statement, their act will not be considered self-surrender. Yet given the wide variety of practical cases, mechanically adhering to this judicial convention could lead to disproportionately harsh criminal sentences. Therefore, if a defense attorney, after reviewing the case files, discovers that the defendant, after voluntarily surrendering, did not fully and truthfully disclose all the facts of the crime during their first statement, securing recognition of self-surrender for the defendant becomes one of the key priorities in the subsequent defense strategy.
2025-12-24
24
2025-12
Perspective | Design and Practical Implementation of Third-Party Provision of Top-Up Guarantees
In recent years, as the reform of state-owned enterprises has continued to deepen, some state-owned enterprises have begun to engage third-party institutions to provide shortfall guarantees, which have become an important component of credit enhancement mechanisms. The so-called “shortfall guarantee” refers to a commitment by a third party to make up for any shortfall when the income generated from underlying assets or projects fails to cover anticipated expenditures or principal and interest payments on debts, thereby safeguarding investors’ rights and maintaining the stability of the financing structure. This article aims to systematically examine, from the perspective of the legal characterization of shortfall guarantees and in light of relevant legal provisions and typical cases, the operational procedures and key risk-control considerations involved when third parties provide shortfall guarantees for state-owned enterprises, with the hope of offering practical guidance for real-world application.
2025-12-24
Zhongcheng Qingtai Jinan Region
Address: Floor 55-57, Jinan China Resources Center, 11111 Jingshi Road, Lixia District, Jinan City, Shandong Province
