CHINA INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY LAW NEWSLETTER
Vol. 3, No. 9 - July 15, 2002
TOPICS THIS ISSUE:
- China UNICOM and Korea's SK Telecom Agree to Form JV
- On-line Education Gives Pupils Equal Opportunities
- Falungong Sending Messages with Phones, Faxes, Internet
- 528 Internet Cafes Closed in North China Province
- China To Offer Hand Delivered e-Mail
- Chinese Websites and ISPs Sign Self-discipline Pact
China Litigation and Arbitration
Need a Local Lawyer? Contact mail@lehmanlaw.com Lehman, Lee & Xu
China Lawyers, Patent & Trademark Agents | |
China UNICOM and Korea's SK Telecom Agree to Form JV
China Unicom, the second largest mobile carrier in China and SK Telecom of Korea signed a memorandum of understanding ("MOU") on July 3, 2002 to establish a joint venture to launch wireless telecommunications services in China.
This is the first such deal between mobile telecom carriers in Korea and China. According to the MOU, SK Telecom and China Unicom shall jointly designate platform standards in China, build and maintain the platform, develop content and operate an internet business.
SK Telecom and China Unicom plan to form a task force in early July and confirm the scope of business, investment scale and service protocol by October, so that they can complete the joint venture within this year.
SK Telecom has made headway into the vast Chinese market when it concluded a comprehensive collaboration agreement with China Unicom in February 2000.
The Korean company is also expanding its partnership with China Mobile, the number-one Chinese mobile telecom service provider, with a bilateral mobile phone roaming service.
Pyo Moon-soo, the president of SK Telecom, said that the signing of the MOU signals the full-fledged launch of its mobile business in China.
(Source: Asia Pulse Pte Limited)
On-line Education Gives Pupils Equal Opportunities
Students from Xuanhua Middle School, a remote middle school in Yongchuan County, Chongqing Municipality, west of China, can watch experiments performed by a qualified physicist simply by a click of the mouse. This is made possible as the Internet is now widely used in schools to give students access to high standards of teaching and information from across the country.
In the year 2000, China's Ministry of Education decided to distribute information technology to 90 percent of primary and middle schools in five to ten years. In its 10th five-year plan from 2001 to 2005, China has projects to computerize educational information to improve the overall standard of education.
According to officials with the Ministry of Education, computers with basic software have been distributed to over 15,000 high schools as well as to 70 percent of middle school students. By the end of last year, campus-wide information systems had been set up in over 15,579 middle and primary schools, whereby 51 students shared a computer.
(Source: Xinhua News Agency)
Falungong Sending Messages with Phones, Faxes, Internet
It was reported recently that the banned Falungong movement is using phones, faxes and the Internet to get its message directly to people in China by making random calls to Chinese phone numbers. The group is using increasingly sophisticated tactics in its information campaign.
A Falungong spokeswoman said: "some call up and talk directly to people in China, others use pre-recorded messages". "Individuals have been doing it for quite awhile, maybe for the past year, or year and a half". "Some have also tried to get in touch with the Chinese through Internet chatrooms". "Practitioners are using every way to take their messages into the country".
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said, "Falungong practitioners have engaged in a great number of activities that threaten the normal lives of Chinese people".
According to a practitioner, the campaign has succeeded in getting more people to join their movement.
(Source: Agence France Press)
Need to File a Patent or Trademark in China? Contact LLX at mail@lehmanlaw.com and click below to download a Power of Attorney: | | |
528 Internet Cafes Closed in North China Province
In a nationwide crackdown triggered by a deadly fire at the Lanjisu Internet Cafe in Beijing recently, which killed 25 people, most of whom were college students, a total of 528 Internet cafes "with serious safety problems" in north China's Hebei Province were closed.
According to local authorities, after the incident, a thorough investigation on the 3,813 Internet cafes in Hebei has found that a total of 2,892 of such Internet cafes are hazardous. The hidden dangers include blocked exits, unclear security signs and poor firefighting facilities. In Shijiazhuang alone, the provincial capital of Hebei Province, 83 Internet bars "with problems" were ordered to suspend business for further investigation, while another 41 unregistered "black web bars" were closed.
It was reported that by the end of year 2001, the Chinese mainland had 33.7 million Internet surfers with a total of 12.54 million personal computers linked to the Internet.
Statistics from the Ministry of Culture showed that there were more than 200,000 Internet bars in China, but only 46,000 of them were legally registered.
(Source: Xinhua News Agency)
China To Offer Hand Delivered e-Mail
China Post announced recently that it would introduce a new service that enables people to write mails on their computers then send them to the post office over the Internet like e-mails. At the post office, those mails will be printed out, placed in envelopes and sent as normal mails. Computer mailing services are already offered in some Chinese provinces and regions, including Beijing and Shanghai, and the services will be extended to remaining provinces soon.
China Post is the official postal service for the world's most populous nation. China Post expects that the main users of this service would be medium-sized, small companies, and individual entrepreneurs.
At present, to mail a normal letter costs 10 U.S. cents. It is reported that the new service would cost more whereby the first sheet would be about 24 cents, and the next three sheets would be 6 cents each. The letters would be limited to four pages.
This new service is not quite an e-mail, and it is also not quite a regular mail. China Post hopes that the new service would act as a convenient alternative for customers who use the Internet, and at the same time, a moneymaker for the Government.
The market for this service is very large as government figures showed that Mainland China had 33.7 million Internet users at the end of last year.
(Source: Associated Press)
Chinese Websites and ISPs Sign Self-discipline Pact
According to a China Internet Association official, a "self-discipline pact" was initiated on March 16 by the Beijing-based China Internet Association, a national self-governing body for the country's Internet sector. This pact was designed to prevent cyber crime, the spread of harmful information and unhealthy competition in China. The pact explicitly bans signatories from producing, releasing or spreading material "harmful to national security and social stability" or "in violation of the law". The signatories also are responsible for advising Internet surfers to "use the web in a civilized way" and "avoid any content that breaches others' intellectual property rights"
Entering into the pact was on a voluntary basis, but only legally registered Internet companies were eligible to sign it. This pact was first signed by a group of leading websites and Internet companies in Beijing. In the following few months, major Internet companies in provinces such as Guizhou, Fujian, Liaoning and Hubei have followed suit. An increasing number of Chinese websites and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are signing this pact. In Tianjin, 22 local websites and ISPs have just signed the pact.
Source: Xinhua News Agency
The China Information Technology Law Newsletter is intended to be used for news purposes only. It should not be taken as comprehensive legal advice, and Lehman, Lee & Xu will not be held responsible for any such reliance on its contents.
Lehman Lee & Xu
China Lawyers, Notaries, Patent, Copyright and Trademark Agents
http://www.lehmanlaw.com
Beijing Office | Shanghai Office |
6th floor, Dongwai Diplomatic Office Building
23 Dongzhimenwai Dajie
Beijing 100600 China
Tel.: (86)(10) 8532-1919
Fax: (86)(10) 8532-1999
Email: mail@lehmanlaw.com | Suite 5107A, Plaza 66
No. 1266, West Nanjing Road
Shanghai 200040 China Tel: (86)(21) 6288-2698
Fax:(86)(21) 6288-2699
Email: shanghai@lehmanlaw.com |
Contact Our Other Offices:
