On August 24, 2023, the Beijing Intellectual Property Court announced a ruling for Belgian artist Christian Silvain against Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts Professor Ye Yongqing. The Court ruled that Ye infringed the copyright of Silvain in his paintings and ordered Ye to pay Silvain 5 million RMB, publish an apology in the Global Times newspaper and cease infringement. This is believed to be the highest damages award in China in a fine-arts case.
Category: Case
China’s National Intellectual Property Administration Releases Typical Cases of Abnormal Patent Applications
On September 4, 2023, China’s National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) released the Typical Cases of Abnormal Patent Applications (非正常专利申请典型案例). These Typical Cases “warn irregular patent application actors, and promote the improvement of patent application quality” per CNIPA. As China moves from quantity to quality, China’s National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) has been rejecting patent applications for being irregular or abnormal, including almost 1 million patent applications in 2022. This move from quantity to quality may also be behind the 25% …
4-Year Prison Term and 1.8 Million RMB Fine for Counterfeiting Registered Trademarks of Western Cosmetics in China
In yet another tough criminal sentence for counterfeiting of registered trademarks, the People’s Court of Hecheng, Hunan, China sentenced He XX to a 4-year prison sentence and 1.8 million RMB fine for counterfeiting registered trademarks of Western cosmetic brands including Dior, Hermes, Lancome, and SK-II. Since December 2021, He XX purchased, at low prices, perfume, lipstick, face masks and other foreign-branded cosmetics from unknown sources. Without obtaining the permission of the aforesaid registered trademark owner, He XX instructed employees to …
China Prosecutes 11,675 People for IP Crimes in 2023 H1
According to a press release dated August 4, 2023 from the China’s Supreme People’s Procuratorate (SPP) 11,675 people were prosecuted for IP Crimes in the first half 2023, up 36.1% year-on-year. Criminal trademark infringement made up the majority of IP crimes with 10,384 people prosecuted accounting for 88.9% of the total. Copyright was second with 1,122 persons prosecuted. Trade secret misappropriation was third with 167 people prosecuted, up 89.8% year-on-year.