On May 8, 2021, the State Council Information Office held a briefing on intellectual property. At the briefing, He Zhimin, deputy director of the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA), stated that the CNIPA firmly opposed and promptly cracked down on malicious trademark registration and “irregular” (or abnormal) patent applications. He stated, “Since the beginning of this year, in terms of trademark substantive examination, [CNIPA] has rejected more than 10,000 malicious trademark registration applications that are not intended for use; …
Author: Aaron Wininger
Aaron Wininger is a Principal and Director of the China Intellectual Property at Schwegman Lundberg & Woessner.
China’s Supreme People’s Court Releases Top 10 Intellectual Property Cases in Chinese Courts in 2020
In follow up to the earlier release of the Top 10 Technical Intellectual Property (IP) Cases of 2020, the Supreme People’s Court of China has released the broader Top 10 Intellectual Property Cases in 2020 (2020年中国法院10大知识产权案件简介) on April 22, 2021. This list, in addition to technical IP cases, includes non-technical IP cases such as a Red Bull trademark case; a Lego criminal copyright case; as well as the Xiaoi patent invalidation case, which later led to a $1.4 billion USD …
China Utility Model Patent Application Filings Up 29% in 2020; Foreign-Originated Chinese Invention Patent Application Filings Down 3%
In the newly released China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) 2020 Annual Report (国家知识产权局2020年度报告) the number of invention patent applications filed in China in 2020 was 1.497 million, a year-on-year increase of 6.9%. Among them, there were 1.345 million domestic invention patent applications filed, accounting for 89.8% of the total, a year-on-year increase of 8.1%; there were 152,000 foreign invention patent applications filed in China, accounting for 10.2% of the total, a year-on-year decrease of 3.0%. Note China had ceased …
Upcoming May 2021 Webinar – Western Fashion Brands in China: Recent Cases in Registering and Enforcing IP
Webinar Tuesday, May 18, 2021 Time: 2:00 PM CT Cost: Free Western fashion brands have been immensely successful in China. However, with success comes the risk of imitation, and imitation may not always feel flattering: It could involve counterfeiters, squatters and hijackers. In this webinar, we’ll talk about Chinese intellectual property laws relevant to Western fashion brands and Chinese enforcement mechanisms. We’ll also discuss recent cases of Western fashion brands litigating in China to register and enforce their intellectual property rights, …