HONG KONG: Trademarks with vulgar meaning may be invalidated in the PRC

Reading Time: 4 minutesIntroduction On 3 February 2019, the Higher People’s Court of Beijing Municipality (“Beijing High Court”) handed down its judgment and determined that the trademark “MLGB” had a vulgar meaning, was of low style, and may endanger the socialist morality; and therefore shall be invalidated in accordance with Article 10(8) of Trademark Law of the People’s […]

聚焦劳资业务:香港法律在降级方面的规定

Reading Time: 1 minutes降级通常涉及职位降低,或者工作职责和/或薪水的减少。员工出现业绩不良、能力有限等情况但又无需辞退时,雇主都可能会考虑对其进行降级处理。

不管是什么原因,雇主考虑降级时都要慎之又慎。降级应当合法而又专业;否则雇主可能面临不必要的投诉举报。

香港:申请宣告父母身分与婚姻诉讼程序中的「密切联系」测试是否相同?

Reading Time: 1 minutes根据香港法例第179章《婚姻诉讼条例》第3(c) 条,如欲在香港提出的离婚程序,至少其中一方必须与香港有密切联系。过往的离婚案例显示,法院在判断有没有密切联系时会考虑所有相关因素,例如在香港居住多少时间及拥有多少资产。值得注意的是,上诉法庭在近期一宗案件中,将离婚案件的「密切联系」测试的适用范围大幅扩大至其他家事案件。在WSJ v WZC [2019] HKCA 89一案中,一名母亲(「母亲」)代表其未成年儿子(「儿子」)根据香港法例第429章《父母与子女条例》(「该条例」)提出申请

HONG KONG: A US short-seller was held liable for disseminating a false online research report about a Hong Kong listed company

Reading Time: 6 minutesIntroduction A US short-seller, Mr Andrew Left (“Mr Left”) of Citron Research, was held liable by the Market Misconduct Tribunal (“MMT”) in August 2016 for publishing false or misleading market information about Evergrande Real Estate Group Limited (“Evergrande”) (Stock Code: 3333). In February 2019, the Court of Appeal (the “CA”) dismissed Mr Left’s appeal against […]

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The Hong Kong Court’s Approach to Child Custody Relocation Cases

Reading Time: 7 minutesAs an international finance centre, families from all over the world relocate to Hong Kong for work purposes. In the event that the relationship between the parents break down, can one of them simply return home with his or her children? Parental removal of a child from one country to another may amount to child […]

Hong Kong: Is the test for “substantial connection” for the declaration of parentage the same as that for matrimonial proceedings?

Reading Time: 4 minutesIntroduction In respect of initiating proceedings for divorce in Hong Kong, section 3(c) of the Matrimonial Causes Ordinance (Cap. 179) requires either of the parties to have substantial connection with Hong Kong. There is a line of divorce cases showing that the Courts in determining whether a connection is substantial would take all relevant factors […]

The law on demotions in Hong Kong

Reading Time: 3 minutesA demotion normally involves a reduction in rank or status, or a decrease in job responsibilities and/or salary. An employer may wish to demote an employee for a variety of reasons including poor performance, capability and/or as an alternative to termination. Regardless of the reason for the demotion, an employer should be careful when demoting […]

香港:第二次机会──推翻认罪答辩的法律原则

Reading Time: 1 minutes在某些罕见情况下,被告人虽然有代表律师,但在作出认罪答辩前未获其律师提供适当意见(或被告人并无代表律师),则被告人可能需要以认罪答辩含糊为由,申请推翻其答辩。在最近HKSAR v Chan Chi Ho Lincoln [2018] HKCFA 64一案中,终审法院澄清了规管法院就被告人申请推翻认罪答辩而行使酌情权的原则。

香港:兼职引发的法律问题

Reading Time: 1 minutes不少香港公司规定,雇员若未作出披露或未经同意从事兼职,即属违反合约,可能会面临纪律处分、解雇,甚至被起诉索偿。兼职亦可能触犯《防止贿赂条例》内的刑事罪行。

雇佣合约或人力资源政策须列明准则,规定雇员就其收受的利益及任何外间薪酬(包括兼职)作出充分披露,以及订明审批权谁属。就相关政策提供培训、加深雇员的认识、制订审批权,以及建立申报外间工作的机制都是关键所在。

香港:在甚么情况下法院才会批准共同管养权的申请?

Reading Time: 1 minutes在近期的婚姻诉讼案件XS对LB [2018] CHKEC 639中,父亲要求拥有与母亲共同管养儿子的共同管养权要求,遭法院驳回,法院认为将儿子的管养权、照顾和管束权颁予母亲,符合儿子的最佳利益,理由是父亲和母亲的感情和沟通基础薄弱,在过去多年来,双方不能在儿子事宜上,有效地沟通和互相合作,而且母亲愿意作出一系列承诺、确认和同意,释除父亲的各种担心。

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Hong Kong: Mutual recognition of funds between Luxembourg and Hong Kong

Reading Time: 5 minutesIntroduction The Securities and Futures Commission (“SFC”) from Hong Kong and the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (“CSSF”) from Luxembourg have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (“MoU”) on Mutual Recognition of Funds (“MRF”) on 15 January 2019, which will allow eligible Hong Kong public funds and Luxembourg UCITS fund (a collective investment scheme […]

Hong Kong: Amendments to an employment contract – whether there is “real benefit” to an employer

Reading Time: 4 minutesIntroduction In our previous newsletter “Amendments to an Employment Contract Must Be Supported by Fresh Consideration” (September 2017), we discussed the ruling of the Court of First Instance (“CFI”) in Wu Kit Man v Dragonway Group Holdings Limited HCLA 15/2016, where the CFI held that amendments to an existing employment contract were unenforceable due to lack of […]