On November 10, 2020, the Chinese National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) released the Draft Revised Patent Examination Guidelines (Second Draft for Solicitation of Comments) (专利审查指南修改草案(第二批征求意见稿)). The Patent Examination Guidelines are the Chinese equivalent of the USPTO’s Manual of Patent Examining Procedure. Highlights include: excluding artificial intelligence entities from inventorship; clarifies patentable subject matter for diagnostic methods; clarifies prior art found on the Internet; clarifies technical means for inventions related to computer programs; and adds involuntary deferred examination for invention patent …
Author: Aaron Wininger
China’s National People’s Congress Passes Amendments to Copyright Law Increasing Damages
On November 11, 2020, China’s National People’s Congress approved amendments to the Copyright Law. The amendments will become effective June 1, 2021. Some of the highlights include punitive damages for intentional infringement, an increase in statutory damages, and an increase in civil fines for copyright infringement.
Artificial Intelligence Cannot Be Patent Inventor in China’s Draft Amended Patent Examination Guidelines
In China’s Draft Revised Patent Examination Guidelines (Second Draft for Solicitation of Comments) (专利审查指南修改草案(第二批征求意见稿)), Artificial Intelligences (AIs) cannot be listed as inventors for Chinese patent applications. (The draft Patent Examination Guidelines are similar to the Manual of Patent Examining Procedure in the U.S.) The current draft was released by the Chinese National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) on November 10, 2020 with comments due by December 10, 2020.
China’s Blue Sky Intellectual Property Industry Rectification Campaign Shows 45% of Violations are for Trademark Squatting and Less Than Half of TM Agencies Signed a Commitment to Abide by the Law
In a notice issued November 9, 2020, the China National Intellectual Property Administration announced that it organized a comprehensive review of the 47,000 trademark agencies registered with CNIPA under the Blue Sky IP industry rectification campaign. Through self-examination, the top violation of trademark law and regulation by trademark agencies was the malicious squatting and hoarding of trademarks with 858 cases (44.94% of all violations); unlicensed practice of patent law 561 (29.4% of the total) was second; third, worryingly, was forging …