Mr. Cheng Liu is a partner at King and Wood Mallesons. Mr. Liu has extensive experience in antitrust and competition law since 2005. He regularly advises clients on Chinese antitrust and competition matters and has represented numerous multinational companies and Chinese companies in their merger filings at Chinese authority, including a number of high profile transactions. He provides advice on antitrust compliance for the clients’ business model, and delivers antitrust trainings. He also advises clients in dealing with antitrust investigations by the authorities. Mr Liu has been recognized by many global media as one of the leading competition lawyers in China.
312
Key Changes and Impacts On October 23, 2021, the Standing Committee of the Chinese National People’s Congress (“NPC”) released the Draft Amendments (’Draft Amendments’) to Anti-Monopoly Law of the People’s Republic of China (“AML”) for public comments [1]. This is the second draft of amendments (...)
254
A few days ago, the State Administration for Market Regulation (“SAMR”) and Shanghai Administration for Market Regulation (“Shanghai AMR”) successively issued two administrative decisions punishing two Internet platform companies for engaging in “either-or choice” practices (a type of exclusive (...)
92
In 2020, SAMR promulgated the Anti-monopoly Guidelines for Intellectual Property Rights, i.e. IP Guidelines, which provide a more detailed analytical framework for monopoly agreements and abuse of dominant market position involving intellectual property: Definition of relevant market: The IP (...)
223
10 Highlights of the Antitrust Guidelines for Platform Economy* On 10 November, the Anti-Monopoly Bureau of the State Administration for Market Regulation (“SAMR”) issued the Antitrust Guidelines for the Platform Economic Industry (draft for comments) (“Platform Guidelines”). [1] The release of (...)
74
On November 10, 2020, SAMR promulgated the Platform Guidelines, which demonstrates SAMR has prioritised increasing its regulation of the Internet industry. The Platform Guidelines pay particular attention to specific business models and possible antitrust behaviours in the platform economy. (...)
119
China’s IP Antitrust Guidelines Released to the Public* Preface Recently, the Anti-Monopoly Guidelines for the Intellectual Property (“IP Guidelines”) was published in the Collection of Antitrust Regulations and Guidelines in 2019 released by the Anti-Monopoly Bureau of the State Administration (...)
61
Antitrust litigations concerning intellectual property rights increased in 2020. Among notable cases, the case of eight KTV v. China Audio Video Copyright Association (“CAVCA”) for its abuse of dominance attracted particular attention. Background In this case, the plaintiffs of eight KTV (...)
176
On 15 May 2020, the State Administration for Market Regulation (“SAMR”) in China conditionally approved ZF Friedrichshafen AG (“ZF”)’s acquisition of WABCO Holdings, Inc. (“WABCO”, ZF and WABCO collectively as the “Parties”) following a 180-day extended Phase 2 review. It is noteworthy that the SAMR is (...)
126
Preamble On 20 April 2020, China’s State Administration for Market Regulation ("SAMR") formally accepted a filing for the Establishment of a Joint Venture between Shanghai Mingcha Zhegang Management Consulting Co., Ltd. (“SMZ”) and Huansheng Information Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. ("SMZ (...)
106
China’s Auto Antitrust Guidelines Released to the Public* On 20 February 2020, in his annual review “Dedicated to Fair Competition and Serving Reform and Development – Overview of Antitrust Work in 2019”, Mr. Wu Zhenguo, the Director of the Anti-monopoly Bureau (“AMB”) of the State Administration (...)
19
In the past year, the enforcement of China’s Anti-Monopoly Law (“AML”) was characterised by continued activism and a number of new developments. In summary China consolidated the functions of previous three antitrust agencies, i.e. merger review under the Ministry of Commerce (“MOFCOM”), (...)
28
Chinese State-owned enterprises (SOEs) acquiring businesses or entering into joint ventures with other parties may unexpectedly trigger an EU merger filing. This was clarified by the European Commission’s decision clearing the UK joint venture between China General Nuclear Power Corporation (...)
16
Since the Anti-monopoly Law of the People’s Republic of China ("AML") came into effect, there has been much debate about the circumstances in which minimum resale price maintenance ("RPM") will constitute a vertical monopolistic agreement prohibited by Article 14 of the AML. In the debate, the (...)
309
For the past three years (2017–2020), it appears that conglomerate mergers were under more scrutiny in China than in the European Union (“EU”) or the United States (“U.S.”). This article mainly examines five mergers—namely, HP/Samsung, Essilor/Luxottica, KLA/Orbotech, Infineon/Cypress and (...)
19 avenue Jean Aicard
75011 Paris, France
106 West 32nd Street, Suite 144
New York, NY, 10001, USA
563 Chiswick High Road
W4 3AY London, UK
