Digital Economy

Insight

On January 16, 2025, the General Office of the Shanghai Municipal People's Government issued the Implementation Plan for Promoting the High-Quality Development of Digital Trade and Service Trade in Shanghai (in Chinese 上海市推动数字贸易和服务贸易高质量发展的实施方案, the “Plan”), announcing to lift the restrictions from Internet Data Centers, Content Delivery Networks, and Application Stores in the Lingang Special Area and Pudong New Area of Shanghai.corporate mergers and acquisitions-foreign direct investment fdi,telecommunications media entertainment and technology-telecommunications

27 January 2025

Insight

On October 16, 2024, the official WeChat account of the Ministry of State Security (“MSS”) published an article titled The Secret Mapping and the Hidden Leaks . This article attracted widespread social attention, especially in the automotive industry.dispute resolution and litigation-criminal investigation and defens-corporate mergers and acquisitions-corporate compliance system- automotive manufacturing and industrials-automotive and mobility

22 October 2024

Insight

On 10 April 2024, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (“MIIT”) of China released the Circular on the Pilot Scheme for the Further Opening of Value-Added Telecom Services to Foreign Investment/工业和信息化部关于开展增值电信业务扩大对外开放试点工作的通告 (“MIIT Circular”) , announcing that China will remove foreign ownership restrictions on certain value-added telecom services provided within domestic pilot areas (“Pilot Areas”). For the first time, the internet data center and its sub-item internet resource collaboration business are open to foreign capital other than those from Hong Kong SAR and Macao SAR. corporate-mergers-and-acquisitions-foreign-direct-investment-fdi,digital-economy,projects-energy-and-infrastructure-infrastructure-and-new-infrastructure

14 April 2024

Insight

In recent years, the rules on cross-border data transmission have been a constant concern of MNCs. The Measures for the Security Assessment of Cross-border Data Transmission, the Measures for the Standard Contract for the Cross-border Transmission of Personal Information, and other relevant regulations released during 2022 – 2023 provide MNCs with an outline as to how security assessments, filings of standard contract or personal information protection certification (“Three Mechanisms for Cross-border Data Transmission”) would be implemented. However, the Three Mechanisms for Cross-border Data Transmission also imposed a heavy compliance burden on MNCs.Further clarifications have been issued on 22 March 2024, when the Cyberspace Administration of China (“CAC”) released the Provisions on Promoting and Regulating Cross-border Data Transmission (“New Regulation on Cross-border Data Transmission”), together with the Guidelines on Declaring for the Security Assessment of Cross-border Data Transmission (Second Version) and the Guidelines on Filing of the Standard Contract for the Cross-border Transmission of Personal Information (Second Version) (collectively, “New Guidelines on Cross-border Data Transmission”).The New Regulation on Cross-border Data Transmission provides exemptions from some of the heaviest burden of the Three Mechanisms for Cross-border Data Transmission in respect of both under specific scenarios and also from a quantitative perspective. The New Guidelines on Cross-border Data Transmission clarifies and simplifies the methods, procedures and materials required for making an application for a security assessment and the filing of the standard contract.The New Regulation on Cross-border Data Transmission provides an updated process that will facilitate cross-border data transmissions. This will, to certain extent, simplify matters for MNCs when they carry out cross-border data transmission activities in their daily operations.The main issues MNCs need to be aware of under the New Regulation on Cross-border Data Transmission are as follows: corporate-mergers-and-acquisitions-corporate-compliance-system,digital-economy,telecommunications-media-entertainment-and-technology-data-protection-and-privacy

29 March 2024

Insight

Since the promulgation of the Cybersecurity Law of China in 2017, the Chinese government has been focusing on the regulation over cross-border data transfer out of China. As of today, the PRC legal regime for the cross-border data transfer has been generally established, while special requirements may vary across different industries or regions. In recent years, China have enacted a set of regulations and voluntary rules on cross-border data transfer that data processors and their counterpart recipients should abide by concerning the outbound transfer of personal information or Important Data. Some of the compliance requirements can be rather stringent and onerous to be put into practice, especially for MNCs with limited resource in China. On March 22, 2024, the Cyberspace Administration of China (the “CAC”) enacted the much-awaited Provisions on Promoting and Regulating Cross-border Data Flows (the “New Provisions”) which was published for public comments in September 2023. The newly-issued New Provisions has significantly eased the triggering conditions of complicated compliance obligations by proposing a series of exemptions for scenarios that would otherwise be subject to data transfer restrictions. It is widely deemed as the regulator’s positive attitude of relaxing the control over cross-border data transfer and streamline the data exchange between China and overseas in the real world.digital-economy-intellectual-property-telecommunications-media-entertainment-and-technology-data-protection-and-privacy

26 March 2024

Insight

Seagull Song: On February 8, 2024, Guangzhou Internet Court rendered a verdict in China’s first case concerning the infringement of AIGC outputs, finding the defendant, a text-to-image AIGC provider, liable for infringing the copyrights of the famous Ultraman IP. The court also discussed China’s first AI regulation—the Interim Measures for the Management of Generative Artificial Intelligence Services issued in July 2023 (2023 GAI Measures) in its decision, concluding that the defendant failed to exercise reasonable duty of care in generating its AIGC output, thus violating the 2023 GAI Measures. intellectual-property-intellectual-property-dispute-resolution，digital-economy，telecommunications-media-entertainment-and-technology-entertainment

28 February 2024

Insight

In November 2023, Beijing Internet Court rendered a verdict in China’s first case concerning the copyrightability of AI-generated pictures LI v. LIU, which ruling triggered mixed reactions among the AI industry and the public. The plaintiff, Mr. LI (the “Plaintiff”), filed a copyright lawsuit alleging that the defendant, Ms. LIU, a blogger on Baijiahao platform (the “Defendant”), violated his copyrights in the AI-generated picture, including his right of authorship and the right of dissemination via information networks. In its decision, Beijing Internet Court found that the AI-generated picture was a copyrightable work involving human authorship and that Defendant was liable for copyright infringement.intellectual-property-intellectual-property-dispute-resolution,digital-economy,telecommunications-media-entertainment-and-technology-entertainment,artificial-intelligence

07 December 2023

Insight

The finalized Chinese AI Measures address a few important topics surrounding generative AI services, including: (1) the scope of this regulation—to whom these AI Measures apply; (2) AI governance—which is based on classified and graded supervision; (3) responsibilities to AI service providers; and (4) protection of personal information. intellectual property, digital economy, telecommunications media entertainment and technology-technology,artificial-intelligence

20 July 2023

Insight

In April 2023, Chinese Hangzhou Internet Court ruled on the first case regarding digital avatar in China. The plaintiff, Mofa Company ("Mofa"), lodged a complaint alleging that the defendant, a network company located in Hangzhou (the "Defendant"), had engaged in copyright infringement and unfair competition. Ultimately, the court of first instance ordered the Defendant to bear the legal responsibility of eliminating the impact and compensating for the loss. Unsatisfied with the result, the Defendant appealed to the Intermediate People’s Court of Hangzhou. At present, the case is awaiting commencement of court session by the court of second instance. In this case, the court of first instance focused on the following issues: (1) whether digital avatar enjoys copyright and/or neighboring right protection; (2) whether the image of digital avatar and its related videos are copyrightable subject matter; (3) whether Mofa, the developer of the digital avatar, enjoys the neighboring right protection; and (4) whether the economic interests of digital avatars can be regulated and protected by the Copyright Law and Anti-Unfair Competition Law. intellectual property-intellectual property dispute resolution, digital economy, telecommunications media entertainment and technology,artificial-intelligence

16 June 2023

Insight

From Australia’s pilot projects to Jamaica’s JAM-DEX, the UK’s budding Britcoin and China’s ever-expanding e-CNY, there is significant movement in central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) globally. Here, we take a journey around the world in CBDCs. Which countries are experimenting? Which have already implemented? And where is there resistance? For more on CBDCs, see our related insight on how they’re reshaping the payments industry.

19 May 2023

Insight

The Draft AI policy addressed a few important topics surrounding AI and AIGC, including (1) the definition of Generative AI and to what extend this Draft AI Policy should apply; (2) whether text and data mining (“TDM”) might constitute copyright infringement in training AI; (3) misinformation risks associated with AIGC; (4) data privacy issue; and last but not least (5) security evaluation of AI service provider and its filing procedure etc. intellectual property, digital economy, telecommunications media entertainment and technology-technology,artificial-intelligence

17 April 2023

Insight

Data centres – and in turn investments relating to them – are increasing worldwide. Japan is home to the third largest number of data centres, after the US and China. The regulatory settings in Japan may make it a more attractive destination for data centre investments in the future. In this insight, we look at laws and regulations relating to data centres in Japan, as well as: - Why it might become a favoured investment destination - Customer contracting considerations - Investment structuring - ESG considerations (in particular, renewable energy), and - Considerations when selecting the location of a DC. Our experts are closely watching this space, both in Japan and across Asia.

22 March 2023

Insight

Much awaited, the finalized version of the Provisions on the Standard Contract for Personal Information Export (the “SCC Provisions”) were released On Feb 24, 2023.

01 March 2023

Insight

Digital economy, as an important form of economy, is significantly reshaping the mode of production, lifestyles and the way governments regulate, and has become a key force in restructuring global production factors and resources, reshaping the global economy structure, and changing global competition patterns.

15 November 2022

Insight

On June 30, in order to regulate cross-border data transfer activities (hereafter "CBDT Activities"), and protect and facilitate the free flow of personal information in a secure environment, the Cyberspace Administration of China (hereafter "CAC") released the long-awaited Standard Contracts Clauses Rules (hereinafter "CAC SCC Rules") and the accompanying Standard Contracts Clauses (hereinafter "CAC SCC") for public consultation.

06 July 2022

Insight

In this article, we will break down the main points raised in the Administrative Instruction with the reference to Guidelines for Anti-monopoly in the Field of Platform Economy so that enterprises can avoid potential pitfalls in their business practices.

13 April 2021

Insight

2017 has witnessed a quickened pace of legislative development on personal information protection worldwide. A variety of countries in the Asia-Pacific region introduced or amended their legislation on personal information protection. Such as in China the Cybersecurity Law of the People's Republic of China (the "Cybersecurity Law") was implemented on June 1, 2017, the Mandatory Data Breach Notification was approved in February, 2017 in Australia, and the revised Personal Information Protection Act took effective on May 30, 2017 in Japan.

07 February 2018

Insight

This article was written by Susan Ning(partner) , Han Wu(senior associate) Yangdi Zhao(associate) .

10 April 2017