On December 11, 2023, China’s National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) released the Second Batch, Part II, of Warning Cases for the “Blue Sky” special rectification action in the intellectual property agency industry (第二批知识产权代理行业“蓝天”专项整治行动警示案例发布（二）). CNIPA released Part I on December 9, 2023. CNIPA has been cracking down on both trademark and patent agencies that violate laws and regulations including unauthorized practice of law, filing of irregular (fake) patent applications, bribery, etc. So far, more than 7,400 patent and trademark agencies have …
Author: Aaron Wininger
Aaron Wininger is a Principal and Director of the China Intellectual Property at Schwegman Lundberg & Woessner.
China Releases Second Batch of Warning Cases in ‘Blue Sky’ Special Rectification Program of the Patent Agent Industry
On December 9, 2023, China’s National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) released the second batch of warning cases for the “Blue Sky” special rectification action in the intellectual property agency industry (第二批知识产权代理行业“蓝天”专项整治行动警示案例发布). CNIPA has been cracking down on both trademark and patent agencies that violate laws and regulations including unauthorized practice of law, filing of irregular (fake) patent applications, bribery, etc. So far, more than 7,400 patent and trademark agencies have been interviewed, more than 4,500 have been ordered to make …
Beijing Internet Court Recognizes Copyright in AI-Generated Images
On November 27, 2023 the Beijing Internet Court issued a decision recognizing copyright in AI-generated images. The plaintiff, Mr. Li, used Stable Diffusion (an artificial intelligence) to generate the image involved in the case and published it on the Xiaohongshu platform; the defendant, a blogger on Baijiahao, used the image generated by the plaintiff’s AI to accompany the article, and the plaintiff sued. The Court held that the artificial intelligence-generated image involved in the case met the requirements of “originality” …
China’s National Intellectual Property Administration: “Swing your sword and punch hard!” China Cracks Down on Fake Patent Agents
On November 27, 2023, China’s National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) announced 57 administrative penalty cases for unqualified patent agents (unauthorized practice of patent law) under the Blue Sky program. This is the fourth batch with similar announcements made in April 2023, January 2022, and March 2021. This fourth batch listed 57 institutions and individuals in 13 provinces, with fines and confiscation of profits totaling 5.29 million RMB (~$746 thousand USD).