New Laws/Regulations/Implementing Measures

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On February 05, 2022, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) announced that China had joined the Hague International Design System (the Hague System) that allows registering up to 100 designs in 94 countries through one international application.[1] …
Continue Reading China Joins the Hague International Design System for the International Registration of Industrial Designs

On August 6, 2021, the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) announced that effective September 1, 2021, an applicant and its trademark agency will be required to submit a letter of good faith in support of any opposition, opposition appeal, and invalidation submission that includes a claim for well-known protection under Article 13 of the PRC Trademark Law, which provides generally broad (and cross-class) protection for marks that are “well-known.”
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Continue Reading CNIPA’s New Formalities Requirements for Petitioning for Protection of Well-Known Marks: Letter of Good Faith of Applicants and Agents

The Center for Drug Evaluation (CDE) of the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) issued a notice that the patent information registration platform of drugs approved in the PRC will be put into official operation soon.[1] The CDE attached a user manual to specify (1) that the indications…

On May 7, 2021, the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) issued the Provisions Concerning the Participation of Technical Investigators in the Handling of Cases of Administrative Adjudications Involving Infringement Disputes over Patent and Layout Design of Integrated Circuit (Interim). Issuance of these provisions follows the Supreme People’s Court’s regulation on technical investigators for IP-related litigations and reflects the CNIPA’s determination to encourage the use of administrative recourse even in complex patent disputes. Some noteworthy articles include the following: …
Continue Reading Provisions Issued on Technical Investigators Participating in Disputes Over Patent and Layout Design of Integrated Circuit

During the last week, and to mark the World Intellectual Property Day (April 26, 2021), the People’s Court in several jurisdictions held press conferences to summarize the judicial IP protection progress made during 2020 and released lists of noteworthy cases. Some of the announcements made by the courts in key jurisdictions include the following:   …
Continue Reading The PRC People’s Courts Issue White Papers and Model Cases Regarding Judicial IP Protection

The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress announced amendments to the Trademark Law of the People’s Republic of China on April 23, 2019.

The new amendments address three primary issue areas:

  1. the filing of trademark applications in bad faith without an intent to use;
  2. the sanctioning of trademark agencies that assist with the filing

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China promulgated an electronic commerce law on August 31, 2018, effective, January 1, 2019.  Of interest to intellectual property rights (IPR) holders, the law makes e-commerce platform operators potentially jointly and severally liable with IP infringers and enables the relevant administrative department (e.g., the China National Intellectual Property Agency (CNIPA)) to fine platform operators up to 2 million RMB (~$291,000) for failure to protect IPR. The law also formalizes a mechanism for IPR disputes on e-commerce platforms.
Continue Reading China Promulgates Electronic Commerce Law

On April 25 this year the China National Drug Administration (CNDA) published a proposed draft on Implementing Measures for Pharmaceutical Trial Data Protection.  The measures prevent other drug manufacturers from relying on earlier trial data to receive sales approval without permission from the owner of the earlier trial data.  The proposed draft extends the trial data protection term to up to 12 years compared with that of up to 6 years previously.  During the protection term, the CNDA will not approve marketing of the same drug[i] from a third party without permission of the owner whose drug gets a trial data exclusivity, except if the third party independently runs a trial and collects trial data.
Continue Reading China plans to increase market exclusivity term for pharmaceuticals based on improved pharmaceutical trial data protection

On March 29, 2018, the State Council issued Measures for transferring Intellectual Property rights (IPR) to foreign parties (Pilot) (hereinafter called “Measures”). The Measures are effective immediately and apply to all technical IPR (i.e., patents, registered integrated circuit layout designs, computer software copyrights and new plant varieties rights). According to the Measures, in IPR export and M&A approval process, a relevant IP department under the State Council (e.g., the State Intellectual Property Office) must conduct additional review before IPR transfer to a foreign entity or before foreign investors acquire Chinese companies that include IPR transfer.  Previously, in IPR export approval process, only non-IP departments reviewed IPR transfer. In M&A approval process, no government departments reviewed IPR transfer.
Continue Reading China tightens scrutiny on Intellectual Property transfers to foreign parties

On May 7th this year, China National Drug Administration (CNDA) released a proposed draft of special review and approval procedure for innovative medical devices. The procedure intends to expedite approval for medical devices if the Applicant has patents or patent applications pending in China. This draft contains several major revisions compared with the previous version issued in 2014.
Continue Reading China plans to revise the Special Review and Approval Procedure for Innovative Medical Devices