China Law Blog

I have a new rule. When I get three or more emails on a topic, and at least one of them says something like the following:

"Dan, I am sure you are familiar with the recent Microsoft case and already planning to blog on it, but...."

I am going to blog on it even though I don't want to and even though I have nothing to say on it -- none of you better be thinking, yeah, what else is new?

Yes, I have read about the China Microsoft decision. Yes, Microsoft is in my backyard. Well not literally, but even though I live in the city of Seattle and Microsoft is in the far away ex-burb of Redmond, my house is surrounded on all four sides by Microsofties, as we call 'em. And yes, I have read a bit on the decision, but almost all of what I have read has been pretty much nonsensical in its legal analysis.

But, having said all that, I really do not know what to say about it. I have seen articles assuming the ruling favoring a Chinese company over Microsoft is proof positive of how a foreign company cannot get a fair trial in China. And I have seen articles assuming the ruling favoring a party suing for IP infringement means China is advancing to Western standards of IP protection. The reality is that this is just one case and from what I can tell about it (which is, quite honestly very little because I have not read the decision itself) is that it seems like just your normal decision based on the facts and the law. My tentative opinion is that this decision will have no lasting meaning beyond the parties to the case. Everyone just move along.