The Dispute between Qihoo 360 and Tencent: What We Have Seen Thus Far
The feud between the Chinese Internet companies Qihoo 360 Technology Co., Ltd. (‘Qihoo 360’) and Tencent Inc. (‘Tencent’) has been simmering for nearly two years. This article spotlights the facts and major issues of the dispute.
The Facts
Tencent runs QQ, the most popular instant messaging (‘IM’) service in the mainland China with over 700 million active users by the end of 2011. Tencent also provides information security products, search engine, online media, gaming, interactive entertainment, e-commerce, etc. Qihoo 360 is China’s leading Internet security product and service provider and had over 400 million active users by the end of 2011.
Tencent and Qihoo 360 offer rival [...]
The J&J Vertical Price-Fixing Litigation in China
Johnson & Johnson Medical (China) Ltd. (‘J&J Medical’) and its Shanghai branch are sued in China for minimum resale price maintenance (RPM) by a Beijing-based distributor. This is the first private litigation that challenges RPM pursuant to China’s Anti-Monopoly Law (AML).
The Facts
Rainbow Medical Equipment & Supplies Co. (‘Rainbow’) distributed J&J suturing products for 15 years. The distribution agreements were reached annually. In January 2008, Rainbow signed a one-year distribution agreement with J&J Medical and its Shanghai branch (‘J&J Medical Shanghai’). According to the agreement, Rainbow was authorized to sell J&J suturing products to hospitals in allocated regions [...]
The Dongfeng Nissan Case and the Gaps of China’s Competition Law Regime in Tackling Vertical Restraints
The recent Dongfeng Nissan Case shed some interesting lights on the status of vertical restraints rules in China, three years after China’s Anti-Monopoly Law (AML) became effective in August 2008. Currently, China’s competition law regime is still insufficiently equipped to assess and deal with vertical restraints, in spite of frequent complaints on alleged anticompetitive vertical restraints in the Chinese market.
For example, car manufacturers in China typically prohibit authorized car parts suppliers from selling genuine car parts to independent repairers or distributors. Genuine car parts are often exclusively distributed through authorized car dealers, which both sell new cars and [...]
