China’s Ministry of Commerce reported that inward foreign direct investment (FDI) plunged over the first three quarters of 2020 when compared to 2019 largely due to the effects of Covid-19. A Shanghai court ordered Chinese shoe company New Barlun to pay USD $1.41 million in damages and litigation costs for trademark infringement and unfair competition to American shoe company New Balance. Huawei responds to criticism in the United Kingdom (UK) and proposed restrictions on its involvement in the UK 5G network by noting its role in keeping Britain online and the damage done by the criticism. A British parliamentarian calls for the UK government to ensure Imagination Technology’s technology base is not moved to China. Yahoo Japan will cooperate with the Japanese government to provide data from consenting users that could help identify clusters. The Board of Investment of Thailand approves Mitsubishi Motors’ plan to improve manufacturing lines at one existing plant to allow for production of hybrids and electric vehicles. After the failure of arbitration, Netflix opts to take South Korea’s SK Broadband to court over special fees for data-heavy content that the latter wants to improve upon the former. LG Chem obtains special privileges from the Polish government enabling its employees dispatched to its electric vehicle plant there to avoid certain quarantine.
