On June 5, 2022, China’s Supreme People’s Procuratorate and the Ministry of Public Security jointly issued the Typical Cases of Punishing the Crime of Obstructing the Prevention and Control of the Epidemic in Accordance With the Law (依法惩治妨害疫情防控保障犯罪典型案例). Worryingly, two of the cases involved counterfeiting trademarks for medical products including protective clothing and COVID tests. No mention was made if any of the counterfeits were exported.
Author: Aaron Wininger
Aaron Wininger is a Senior Attorney and Director of China Intellectual Property at Schwegman Lundberg & Woessner.
China’s National Intellectual Property Administration Issues 2021 Annual Report: Invention Patent Application Filings Reached 1.586 Million!
On June 1, 2022, China’s National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) released its 2021 Annual Report (2021年度报告). Highlights of the report include invention patent applications have increased 5.9% year-on-year to 1.586 million; utility model patent application filings decreased 2.5% to 2.852 million; design applications increased 4.6% to 806,000. China’s invention authorization rate was 55% in 2021.
Shijiazhuang Market Supervision Bureau Fines Trademark Agency 50,000 RMB for Attempting to Trademark Olympic Gold Medalist’s Social Media Account
On May 18, 2022, the Shijiazhuang Yuhua District Market Supervision Administration issued an Administrative Penalty Decision against a Shijiazhuang trademark agency for attempting to trademark the name of Eileen Gu’s Douyin account (TikTok’s sister app in China). Eileen Gu won three medals in the Beijing Winter Olympics earlier this year and has become extremely popular in China.
Beijing IP Court Dismisses First Trademark Case Under New Supreme People’s Court Jurisdictional Rules
On May 23, 2022, the Beijing Intellectual Property (IP) Court announced for the first time that it had dismissed a trademark case for lack of jurisdiction under the Supreme People’s Court’s new “Several Provisions of the Supreme People’s Court on Jurisdiction of Civil and Administrative Cases of Intellectual Property Rights of First Instance” released April 21, 2022. The proper Court for trademark infringement cases are basic People’s Courts and not the specialized IP Court. The Beijing IP Court, however, retains …