There are actually a number of people in China who make a living by usurping foreign trademarks and then selling a license to that trademark to the original license holder. Once one comes to grip with the fact that China, like most of the rest of the world is a “first to file” country, one can understand how easy this usurpation is, and also, how easy it is to prevent it.

The fact that you are manufacturing your product in China just for export does not in any way minimize the need for you to protect your trademark. Once someone registers “your” trademark in China, they have the power to stop your goods at the border and prevent them from leaving China.

The key to protecting a trademark in China is actually very simple: register it in China.

China’s trademark requirements are actually quite similar to those in most other countries. The trademark must not conflict with an existing Chinese trademark and it must be distinctive. China allows for registration of all marks for goods, services, collective marks and certification marks.

China’s Trademark Office maintains a centralized database of all registered and applied-for trademarks. Trademark applications that pass a preliminary screening are published by the Trademark Office and subject to a three month period for objection. If there are no objections within this three month period, or if the Chinese Trademark Office rejects the objections as frivolous, the trademark is registered. If the Chinese Trademark Office supports an objection, it will deny the application. Denied applications may be appealed to the State Administration of Industry and Commerce Trademark Review & Approval Board and then to the People’s Court. Based on our experience, objections to trademarks are rare.

A Chinese trademark gives foreign companies a surprising amount of protection in China. If a foreign company learns that its trademark is being infringed in China, it has a number of actions available to it.

We usually advise our clients to pursue a multi-pronged approach to protect an infringed upon trademark and to pursue the infringer. The foreign trademark owner should usually file a lawsuit against the infringer, seeking damages and an injunction stopping the infringer from continuing to sell the infringing goods. The Chinese courts in the more commercialized regions are actually quite willing to enforce China’s trademark laws, even for foreign companies. Trademark infringement is a crime in China. For serious cases of infringement, a complaint to the office of the public prosecutor can often result in a criminal prosecution against the infringer. The Chinese police will close the offending operation and seize the counterfeit goods. The courts are authorized to impose both fines and imprisonment. Finally, if the counterfeit goods are destined for export, a notice to the Chinese customs authorities will prevent export of the counterfeit goods.

Dan Harris is an attorney with the international law firm of Harris & Moure, pllc, and lead blogger for chinalawblogchinalawblog China Law Blog

Teachers, students, and parents at Long Island schools have been struggling with how to give credit for physical education classes. On the one hand, many argue that counting gym like an academic class can badly affect the GPA of students who are strong academically but do not do well in gym. On the other hand, others argue that when students know that the gym class does not affect their GPA they do not put the effort and attention into the class in order to improve their physical health.

Long Island Schools have decided to strike a middle ground and allow students to choose whether they want it to count or not. The decision only applies to current sixth through ninth graders so it will not affect current graduating high school students. 24 of the 60 schools in the Suffolk County district have decided to handle gym in this way, hoping to please groups on both sides while addressing the needs of students.

The Process

Many of the changes were suggested by parents who signed petitions to allow physical education to be counted on GPAs instead of as a pass / fail mark as it had been in the past. The superintendent and the school boards of Long Island schools met to consider the proposals from parents to figure out how to make the physical education curriculum the most effective for students as well as the most standardized in grading.

In addition to parental concern, there was also intense scrutiny of the new New York State Standards for Physical Education. The argument here is that the new standards have clear aims and objectives that can be measured and graded like an academic class. Superintendents of Long Island schools determined that in implementing these new standards in the physical education curriculum, the schools would be able to give grades for accomplishing certain tasks rather than the all ? encompassing pass / fail marks.

What People Think

Reactions to the change have been mixed. Some parents are looking forward to counting the physical education class on the GPA while others are worried about hurting the academic side of their child?s report card. One board member stated: “I think that phasing it in provides us the opportunity to see how it goes. Allowing the option would not hurt a student’s GPA.” The decision also pleased Jonathan Estrada, who will be a senior this fall at Northport High School. Earlier in the school year, he had become concerned when he learned that the new policy would be mandatory. “I was immediately sort of troubled about it,” he said. “You shouldn’t be hurt from a grade that doesn’t reflect the actual ability.”

In academic circles, many educators are applauding the change, citing the need for a stronger and more comprehensive program in physical education to tackle the current health problems of America?s youth. University studies and national surveys all point to the increased grading and evaluating of physical education as key to keeping the class relevant and useful for students. Counting the class as a grade will help students take the class more seriously, and hopefully translate into healthier students in and out of Long Island schools.

Stacy Andell is a staff writer for Schools K-12, providing free, in-depth reports on all U.S. public and private K-12 schools. Stacy has a nose for research and writes stimulating news and views on school issues. For more information on Long Island schools visit schoolsk-12.com/New-York/Long-Island/index.html”>hzzp://www.schoolsk-12.com/New-York/Long-Island/index.html

This is all part of the Houston schools proposed $1.4 billion budget for the 2006-07 school year, and the Houston schools will NOT increase school tax property rates by the allotted four cents per $100 of property.

The Houston schools believe the pay raises should make their district more competitive to attract more teaching talent. Newly recruited teachers will start at $40,268, an increase from last year?s $36,050 starting pay.

The Houston schools proposed budget also includes the following:

? $1.9 million for principal and assistant principal pay raises of 5.1 percent. Again, the Houston schools intent is to make their district more competitive. This also includes additional incentives for principals of larger schools and/or those with higher numbers of disadvantaged students and gifted and talented students, which require more oversight and innovation to educate.
? $3 million to help academically struggling Houston schools.
? $4.8 million more for elementary and middle schools.
? $12 million for small-sized Houston schools that do not receive as much per-student funding but need the revenues for instructional improvements.
? More than $10 million to help bring school buildings up to standard.
? $25.1 million for overall school building maintenance.
? $927,300 (nearly $1 million) to maintain the increased police and K-9 presence at the Houston schools.
? Four percent raise across the board for school bus drivers, cafeteria workers, custodians and hourly employees.
? Four percent raise for Houston schools administrators.

This is all from the proposed budget?s General Fund, which increases by 5.7 percent under the Houston schools new plan. The Houston schools additional revenue for the coming school year comes from the increase in local property values and the state?s newly adopted school finance system, which shifts more of the funding of public education burden to the state. This decreases the cost of education for the local taxpayers from the 87.1 percent last year to only 77.6 percent for school year 2006-07.

Separate from the General Fund is a special appropriation from the state legislature for the Houston schools. It will place $11.8 million more next year into improving high schools, with each receiving an extra $187 in per student funding. The Houston schools intend to add an additional $39 per student to this special appropriation, based upon the types of students and specific needs of each school.

Lastly, the Houston schools put aside extra money this year to cover the cost of fuel for school vehicles and electricity. The Houston schools have a total of 1,000 buses and other vehicles in its fleet. They expect the cost of fuel to increase by $3 million. The cost of electricity for Houston schools is expected to increase by $9.1 million over last year?s expenditure.

Patricia Hawke is a staff writer for Schools K-12, Which provides free, in-depth reports on all U.S. public and private K-12 schools. Patricia has a nose for research and writes stimulating news and views on school issues.

Because of the power of the word ?free? many institutions are using it and luring many people into what they term free online distance education. Many of the institutions doing this are online fraudsters. I believe you know them. They have a way of getting their victims. Many times I have received mails in my Inbox and bulk box offering free online distance education. I don?t normally waste time about this. I delete them immediately. I advise to the same.

If any school claims to be offering you free online distance education, kindly and politely ask them who will pay for the downloaded materials, the building and maintenance of the website, the online instructors, the certificates etc. their answers will help you know the type of school they are. The fraudulent will have no answer while the reliable ones will give you good answers.

What you?ll get from free online distance education won?t benefit your career in the long run. This is because the certificates you?ll be issued will not only be bogus but won?t be useful for getting those good jobs you?ve always dreamt of. And moreover most employers of labour out there are very skeptical of online certificates. And they won?t waste time contacting the online school you get it from. If the school is not genuine, they won?t spend their precious time interviewing you for the job.

Once you?re sure that somebody somewhere has to pay for everything used in transferring knowledge and skills online, you won?t have detecting fraudulent free online distance education institutions.

Instead of frantically searching for free online distance education, its advisable you do comparison shopping in order to get affordable online institutions. There are online schools whose fee is quite affordable. Some exist that can even give you a loan for the duration of the program you want to enroll for. However, I urge you to consult your attorney before putting to such papers.

Ras Reed provides more detailed and free information on his website. Get more info at hzzp://distanceeduguide.com/sitemap.html.

The first important point to look at is the existence of any tax treaties that Panama may be in with any other countries. This is an easy topic since Panama has no tax treaties with any other countries. Tax treaties can be privacy invasive for a banking client. Under some treaties the bank must collect a certain percentage of taxes from interest income paid to the clients and this money is turned over to the client?s home country. Other treaties call for an exchange of information so if a requesting country wanted to gather certain facts about a bank account or if a certain constituent of theirs had a bank account the bank would be obligated to provide the information. The European Union Withholding Tax Treaty is a very relevant treaty.

The next type of treaty one must look at is called the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty, or MLAT. This treaty allows countries to request information from other countries in the treaty. The general way this type of treaty operates is through diplomatic channels. Panama is in such treaties. The requesting country must have a criminal case on file in the national courts of their country. They would then cite this case already in their criminal courts when the request for information is made. The requesting country would a need to show that the requested information about the Panama bank account is absolutely required to successfully prosecute the case and that the requesting country has no other way to obtain such evidence. Then the request is considered by Panama. Panama may ask for more information. Panama could deny the request on whatever grounds they wish to use. Panama could also decide to conduct their own investigation because they feel that some Panama laws may have been broken and delay the MLAT request until after they have concluded their investigation which may be some years. The statue of limitations could expire before Panama completed their investigation. This is not to say that Panama is in the habit of thwarting requests for information but Panama does have a right to investigate crimes that took place in their jurisdiction. As a result of these investigations they could confiscate assets and prosecute individuals under their own laws.

For the MLAT to take effect the violation in question must be a crime in both the requesting country and the country the information is requested from. Various MLAT treaties have all sorts of details and exceptions and should be read individually if you are seriously interested in a particular treaty. Panama not only has no tax treaties with any other nation but all income tax related offenses in Panama are civil offenses only, not criminal offenses. So tax matters are not a crime in Panama. Thus Panama does not participate in requests for information in tax offenses. Panama does cooperate in certain areas freely. If one acts fraudulently while in the capacity of a fiduciary in a financial relationship Panama will cooperate. Panama also cooperates in cases of narcotics trafficking, money laundering, terrorism and child pornography.

The Panama Bank Secrecy laws are contained in a number of different legal statues. We will go through some of the relevant ones:

The Panama National Banking Commission was formed by Cabinet Decree 238 of July 2, 1970.

Article 74 of Decree 238 deals with protecting the privacy of Panama bank clients. It states that the Commission is prevented from conducting or requesting investigations concerning the banking affairs of any bank clients. Any data obtained by the Commission in the course of its normal regulatory functions may not be revealed to any person or authority, except if subpoenaed in accordance with the legal provisions in force (Panama Court Order required). If a violation of this occurred Article 101 of this Cabinet Decree contains provisions for the dealing of such a violation.

Article 101 of Cabinet Decree 238 states that:

“Any person who furnishes information in violation of this Cabinet Decree, or who violates any of the prohibitions established in it, for which no specific punishment is provided for, shall be subject to a monetary fine as determined by the Banking Commission, without prejudice to applicable criminal and civil liabilities.” This is fairly strong language.

Article 65 of Cabinet Decree 238 deals with how the National Banking Commission may gain access to documents relating to the bank’s operation, not individual records of banking clients. The Banking Commission needs to regulate the banks financially and thus inspect their books but this is mandated to be done on a collective basis, thus the books for the bank as a whole are inspected not the records for an individual account holder at the bank. The Banking Commission may not examine or inspect any type of individual deposit accounts, nor the securities held in custody by the bank for clients, nor the safe deposit boxes belonging to clients and their contents, nor the documents associated with receiving credit from the bank, unless there is a Panama Court Order in place that specifically authorizes such inspection or examination according to Article 89 of the Panama Commercial Code.

Panama statues specify that bank secrecy may be lifted by a Panamanian court through Article 89 of the Commercial Code. This is not a commonly invoked procedure but is possible concerning serious criminal activities.

Articles 168 and 170 of the Panamanian Criminal Code contain two sections which enables criminal prosecution for violation the privacy of Panama banking clients:

Article 168. Any person that is in legitimate possession of correspondence, records or documents which are not intended for public knowledge and notwithstanding discloses said correspondence, records or document without proper authorization, even in the event that they were addressed to him, shall be subject to prosecution, whenever such disclosure might inflict damage.

Article 170. Any person that in the course of his occupation, employment, profession or activity obtains knowledge of confidential information that in the event of being made public could inflict damages, and such person discloses that information without the consent of the concerned party; or in the case that disclosure of such information were not necessary to safeguard a higher interest, shall be punishable by imprisonment of 10 months to 2 years or a comparable fine, and the inability to practice his occupation, employment, profession or activity for not more than 2 years. One can readily discern that this would cover Panama Stock Brokers, and Panama Banks including all the employees and officers. This could also be construed to cover Directors of Panama Anonymous Bearer Share Corporations and Council Members of Anonymous Panama Private Interest Foundations.

Panama has done away with numbered bank accounts as have the rest of the offshore tax haven jurisdictions. This is due to pressure from FATF, the Financial Action Task Force. FATF is a private entity that unofficially dictates anti-money laundering statues to the banks worldwide. Numbered accounts are no longer allowed.

Panama through the use of anonymous Bearer Share Corporations accomplishes practically the same privacy as the old numbered bank account. The banks around the world including those in Panama must know who their customers are. This usually means getting identity documents such as passports, driver?s licenses, national identity cards, and letters of reference from banks and businesses. The Panama Bearer Share Corporation is anonymous in that there is no reporting or recording of any stock ownership records in any registry or database thus it is impossible to determine who the natural persons are behind the corporate veil. This means when international wire transfers are sent only the name of the anonymous corporation appears in the wire, the true owner of the account is not revealed for the world to see same as it was when numbered bank accounts were allowed. With regards to writing checks the same applies assuming the signatory signs the check in a hard to read manner. To provide for more privacy Panama only allows an attorney to form a corporation or foundation. This cloaks the formation of the corporation with Panama attorney client privilege further protecting the owners of the corporation or foundation with an additional layer of privacy. In most tax haven jurisdictions the formation of a corporation handled by a corporate agent which does not provide privileged communication to protect the identity of the person owning the corporation.

One can readily see why Panama has become the new Switzerland of Latin America.

Ronald Edwards is a researcher, with years of experience in finances and real estate.

Ever since President Bush and the Federal Reserve Board, without legal justification, blocked the settlement and then failed to honor a July 31 deadline imposed by Wanta, the Ambassador, who is legal trustor of the money, hoped for a quick resolution.

However, after receiving no cooperation from the Bush administration and no receipt for the money, he decided to come forward Sunday with a “status update” regarding the progress of repatriating the $4.5 trillion earmarked for the American people.

Besides the $4.5 trillion negotiated settlement in May, Wanta has been declared legal trustor of more than $27.5 trillion in offshore funds amassed when he was instructed by President Ronald Reagan to destabilize the Russian currency at the end of the Cold War, which turned into a highly successful financial program beyond Wanta and Reagan’s wildest dreams.

But instead of using the money to strengthen America after Reagan was out of the picture, Bush Sr. and Clinton devised a plan to use the money for their own underhanded purposes, jailing Wanta in the process, as they then created phony front companies and illegal trusts to use the money illegally.

And now, according to Wanta, the same people are trying to under-mind the latest deal signed, sealed and delivered between Wanta, his AmeriTrust Groupe, Inc. and U.S. authorities after negotiating the deal through influential law firms in New York and Georgia, as well as with the assistance of two federal court judges.

Wanta claims the $4.5 trillion has been diverted and stolen with the complicity of high level officials, including the President of the United States, Secretary of the Treasury, Henry M. Paulson, Jr., the U.S. Attorney Gen.Alberto Gonzalez, the Supreme Court and other high level officials.

Furthermore, he claims financial institutions are illegally trading the vast sum of money with up to $200 billion a day being illegally earned instead of the money being used to better the American economy.

Wanta’s financial revelations were first revealed Sunday evening by Story on his London web site at www.worldreports.org. Story also revealed that his web site as well as the Arctic Beacon and its editor, Greg Szymanski, have been the target of ruthless and criminal intelligence attacks, aimed at discrediting the writers bringing the truth to the world as well as Wanta himself.

The following is Christopher Story’s status update of the Wanta saga, as provided on his web site listed above:

STATUS REPORT

“Note: The following report summarizes the status of The Wanta Settlement at the time of posting [13 August 2006].

“…The blatant and scandalous diversion of Ambassador Leo Wanta’s Treasury-tagged $4.5 trillion, earmarked for the benefit of the Ambassador Leo Wanta, his corporation, the US Treasury, the State of Virginia, and the American people, continues. Specifically:

“o Financial institutions are brazenly and illegally trading these tagged funds, that they do not own, overnight between each other, with up to $200 billion per day being earned and pocketed - such accruals being by definition exclusively the stolen property of Ambassador Leo Wanta. The identity of some of the institutions, which can now be regarded as criminal enterprises, is known.”

[The complete report is reprinted with permission at arcticbeacon.com/14-Aug-2006.html">hzzp://www.arcticbeacon.com/14-Aug-2006.html and at Christopher Story's site at: worldreports.org/news/15_highest_office-holde">hzzp://www.worldreports.org/news/15_highest_office-holde]

Greg Szymanski

In response to the increased demands for structure in E-discovery, the ABA has proposed new Amendments to Civil Discovery Standards relating to the use of E-discovery. In part, these proposed amendments are aimed at providing guidance for evidence retention, destruction and production.

Electronic evidence presents many issues not previously experienced with more traditional forms of evidence. Certain forms of electronic evidence may be misleading and prejudicial to one party or the other, because one piece of evidence may only represent an initial draft of a document, containing information leading to the inference of liability. From a simple printout of electronic evidence, it can be extremely difficult to ascertain whether that evidence is the first or final draft, and whether that evidence has any impact on the dispute. In many ways electronic evidence provides for easier access because there is no need to search through cumbersome boxes of paper, but conducting the actual discovery process may exponentially increase the costs to both the producing and discovering parties. It takes substantial time to track down trails of information throughout a company?s network. From a plaintiff?s point of view, electronic evidence is difficult to destroy, as it takes an extremely complicated and sophisticated process to completely erase an electronic signature and metadata associated with the files. As demonstrated, electronic evidence may at times be more difficult to find, but conversely, it is also harder to destroy. This juxtaposition of qualities can make a process that appears more concise in theory, to actually become more cumbersome and costly when actually put into practice.

In response to these growing concerns, as part of its proposed amendments, the ABA has focused on E-discovery issues ranging from pre-trial conferences and electronically stored information to a party?s failure to comply with discovery or to cooperate. Unnerving to many plaintiff?s attorneys is proposed Amendment 37(f), which provides that:

“Unless a court order requiring preservation of electronically stored information is violated, the court may not impose sanctions under these rules on a party when such information is lost because of the routine operations of its electronic information system if the party took reasonable steps to preserve discoverable information.”

This is perhaps the most troublesome (at least for plaintiff?s attorneys), because it effectively creates a safe-harbor for the destruction of electronic evidence. Sanctions would be barred when information is destroyed as a result of routine destruction practices. The rule mentions nothing about what a reasonable destruction practice is or whether a party must freeze those practices once it learns that there is a potential for litigation. Other important proposed amendments include:

Rule 33(d). Under the traditional Rule 33, a party responding to an interrogatory could produce business records as a substitute for explicitly responding to the interrogatory. Under Amended Rule 33(d), the responding party will be permitted to produce electronic dates and records when responding to interrogatories provided that the requesting party can easily identify and locate the sought after information.

Rule 34(b). The new proposed amendments do not require an attorney to choose a particular evidentiary format when responding to discovery requests, but its mere mention suggests a policy toward favoring electronic evidence. When a requested production format is not specified, the responding party should produce evidence in the manner in which that information is ordinarily maintained or, alternatively, in a form that is reasonably easy to access and use.

Rule 26(b)(5)(B). This amendment addresses the inadvertent production of privileged or protected information. This rule will allow a party who unintentionally discloses the privileged information to retrieve it from the accidental receiving party unless that party can prove that they have a right to that information.

Rule 45. This amendment to Rule 45 would essentially allow parties to subpoena electronically stored information pursuant to any of the other adopted amendments contained in the Rules.

These are not the only proposed changes, but this brief summary of the proposed amendments is a good demonstration of the increasing preference for electronic discovery. The legal world is changing and those attorneys who are unable to keep up with the changes will be left in the dust. This move by the ABA should serve as a sign to those attorneys frightened by technology and advancements in the law. Electronic discovery is here to stay, unlike those who refuse to welcome the changes to the judicial discovery process.

This article was written by Nicholas Deleault, a Franklin Pierce Law Student. Nicholas writes select legal articles for the Law Firm of goldsteinandclegglaw.com/blog”>hzzp://www.goldsteinandclegglaw.com/blog, a goldsteinandclegglawgoldsteinandclegglaw.

Finding a good lawyer is essential, but if that lawyer doesn’t specialize in the specific area in which you need them, it doesn’t put you in the best situation. You don’t want to hire a lawyer who specializes in divorce to help you with a personal injury suit, and vice versa. Thus it’s imperative that you find not only a good lawyer, but one who really knows specific information about your problem. Here is a brief overview of some of the most popular types of lawyers and what they do:

Criminal Lawyer

A criminal lawyer is the highest profile lawyer for good reason. Criminal lawyers handle statutory and common law crimes and the punishment of criminal offences. They deal with every aspect of criminal law, with the state defender, or prosecutor, defending the state’s interest and the defense attorney representing the defender. They defend against and prosecute crimes against the person (assault, murder, rape, etc.), crimes against property (arson, theft, larceny etc.), crimes against justice (bribery, perjury etc.) and other myriad lesser criminal offenses.

Divorce Lawyer

Divorce lawyers focus on any and all matters concerning divorce. This applies to any proceedings, including prenuptial agreements, division of property, alimony or spousal payments, child support, and more. Most individuals going through a divorce generally hire a divorce lawyer to take care of all legal matters. Much of the time a good divorce lawyer can make all the difference in how messy or clean your divorce becomes.

Accident Lawyers or Personal Injury Lawyers

Accident lawyers, also known as personal injury lawyers, specialize in legal claims relating to auto accidents and vehicle claims, dangerous or defective products, medical and health care malpractice, workplace injuries (worker’s compensation), wrongful death, and a slew of other accidental incidents that warrant legal procedures.

Immigration Lawyers

Immigration lawyers handle any matters pertaining to immigration, including citizenship and naturalization proceedings, permanent residence, green cards, work visas, asylum, deportation hearings, family-based immigration waivers, and any other legal issues surrounding immigrants to the US.

Financial and Business Lawyers

Financial lawyers deal with a wide range of business and personal investments, savings products and services. These include mortgages, banking, brokerage services, commodities, claims, mutual funds, stocks and bonds, and other securities. They are in charge of taking care of all legal requirements and formalities surrounding any financial issue. They are also helpful for starting and operating businesses, including: LLC’s, corporations, and partnerships.

hzzp://myabogado

Marcela De Vivo writes on behalf of hzzp://myabogado, a directory specializing in law related resources.