Dealing with social media influencers—China


Produced in partnership with Grace Guo of Hogan Lovells and Stefaan Meuwissen of Hogan Lovells
Practice notes

Dealing with social media influencers—China

Produced in partnership with Grace Guo of Hogan Lovells and Stefaan Meuwissen of Hogan Lovells

Practice notes
imgtext

This Practice Note is aimed primarily at brands wishing to engage with influencers (or other talent) for social marketing campaigns and advertising promotions in China.

Influencer endorsement

Influencer ‘endorsement’ is mainly regulated under the Chinese Advertising Law (CAL), which is the main body of legislation governing commercial advertising activities in China. The CAL applies broadly to commercial advertising activities in which commodity dealers or service providers directly or indirectly present goods or services marketed by them within China.

Up until 2015, the CAL contained no provisions in relation to endorsements or influencer activities. When a new version of the CAL was adopted in 2015, however, a definition of ‘endorsers’ and specific provisions directed at endorser activities were enshrined in it. Endorsers are defined in a broad and neutral way as: ‘natural persons, legal persons or other organisations other than advertisers that recommend or demonstrate products or services in their name or image in advertisements’ (see Article 2 of CAL) and therefore would cover ‘Key Opinion Leader’, ‘KOL’ or ‘关键意见领袖’

Grace Guo
Grace Guo

Counsel, Hogan Lovells

Grace Guo works in Hogan Lovells Intellectual Property, Media and Technology (IPMT) Practice Group who concentrates her practice on advising clients on various contentious and non-contentious matters covering trademark, copyright, domain name, design patent, trade secrets and unfair competition issues.

She has been working in the IP field for about 15 years focusing on cross-border IP matters.

On the contentious side, Grace has represented clients in PRC courts for administrative litigation for trademark prosecution and civil litigation for trademark infringement, design patent infringement and unfair competition cases. She also has a proven track record in designing comprehensive enforcement strategies against infringers including internet enforcement/takedowns, customs protection, trade fair protection, administrative raid actions, etc.

On the non-contentious side, Grace provides trademark portfolio management advice, drafts and negotiates IP terms for commercial transactions, conducts IP due diligence searches for corporate projects. She also advises on IP related regulatory issues regarding advertising, influencer endorsement, e-commerce, corporation IP/trade secret policies, inventor remunerations etc.

Grace is mindful of industry dynamics and is excellent at aligning legal options to new economic phenomena and exploring creative approaches to solve problems. She has the business acumen when advising on legal actions, and understands the importance of delivering solutions when assessing potential legal risks.

Read moreRead more
Stefaan Meuwissen
Stefaan Meuwissen

Intellectual Property Lawyer, Hogan Lovells

Stefaan works for the Beijing branch of our Hogan Lovells Intellectual Property Agency. He joined Hogan Lovells in 2014. Prior to this, he worked at the intellectual property department of a top international law firm in Brussels for three years.

Stefaan obtained a master's degree in intellectual property law from King's College, University of London, and a bachelor's and master's degree in law from Leuven University, Belgium. He also qualified as a lawyer in Brussels in 2011. His native languages are Dutch and English, and he is also fluent in French, Portuguese and Italian, and has an intermediate level of Mandarin Chinese.

His main practice areas are commercial intellectual property, including deals involving licensing, assignment and technology transfer, and various intellectual property-related commercial transactions. In addition, he also provides general foreign-related intellectual property consulting services.

Read moreRead more
Powered by Lexis+?
Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom
Key definition:
Social media definition
What does Social media mean?

Internet-based platforms which allow for interactions between individuals or the broadcast of content to the wider world and which are far more interactive than traditional broadcast media.

Read more readmore

Popular documents

Television format rights

Television format rightsWhat is a television format?A television format is a concept or idea for a television programme or series of programmes presented in a particular way, often including characteristic features (such as music, branding or a particular setting) that are then repeated in each

Copyright in films and television programmes

Copyright in films and television programmesFor the purposes of copyright law the term 'film' means a recording, on any medium, from which a moving image may by any means be produced. A television programme is protected as a film for these purposes and the definition is intended to be technology

Deepfakes

DeepfakesThis Practice Note provides a summary of UK law as it applies to the use of deepfakes. A deepfake is a form of audiovisual content that has been generated or manipulated using artificial intelligence (AI) that misrepresents someone or something. The Practice Note covers: what a deepfake is;

Strike out—making an application to strike out a statement of case

Strike out—making an application to strike out a statement of caseA strike out order can be made either following an application by the parties or on the court's own initiative. This Practice Note deals with the scenario of the order being made following a party's application.Making an application