In decision (2019）最高法民再268号 dated December 16, 2019 and just recently published, the Supreme People’s Court of China (SPC) held that customer lists are not trade secrets even with signed confidentiality agreements. One of the defendants, former employees of the plaintiff, Huayang Xinxing Technology (Tianjin) Group Co., Ltd. , left Huayang to start Mai Da Keer (Tianjin) Technology Co., Ltd. after almost 20 years at Huayang. With their departure, the defendants took a customer list containing 43 customers’ data including the …
Author: Aaron Wininger
Aaron Wininger is a Principal and Director of the China Intellectual Property at Schwegman Lundberg & Woessner.
The China National Intellectual Property Administration Announces Top 10 Patent Invalidation Cases of 2019
The China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) has announced the top 10 patent invalidation and reexamination cases of 2019. Technologies include pharmaceuticals, light emitting diodes (LEDs), software and other technologies. While none of the petitioners were foreign, several of the patentees were foreign and their patents all survived invalidation.
China National Intellectual Property Administration to Close for Dragon Boat Festival
The China National Intellectual Property Administration (“CNIPA”) will be closed from June 25, 2020 to 27 June 27, 2020 for the Dragon Boat Festival. Note that CNIPA will be open on Sunday, June 28, 2020. All patent deadlines falling in the period of June 25 through and including June 28 are postponed to June 29, 2020. However, trademark deadlines will only be extended to Sunday, June 28, 2020 and not to Monday, June 29, 2020.
Chinese Patent Application for Coronavirus Vaccine Published
The China National Intellectual Property Administration published on June 2, 2020 what may be the first patent application covering a vaccine for the COVID-19 virus. The Institute of Military Medicine, Chinese Academy of Military Sciences in conjunction with CanSinoBIO, a Chinese vaccine maker, filed application CN202010193587.8 on March 18, 2020 and is entitled “A new recombinant coronavirus vaccine using human replication-deficient adenovirus as a vector.” The patent application is based on research later published in the Lancet showing their Ad5 …