On June 5, 2020 China’s State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), which regulates market competition, monopolies, intellectual property, and drug safety, released a national plan to combat intellectual property infringement. The plan is officially entitled “Key Points of the National Work to Crack Down on Intellectual Property Infringement and the Production and Sale of Counterfeit and Inferior Commodities in 2020.” The plan lists 35 points in 6 areas covering trademark, patent, copyright, and trade secret protection and makes special emphasis …
Category: Copyright
China’s New Civil Code Includes Punitive Damages in Intentional Intellectual Property Infringement
The Third Session of the 13th National People’s Congress (NPC) voted and passed the “Civil Code of the People’s Republic of China” on May 28, 2020. This law will come into effect on January 1, 2021. While referred to by the Chinese press as the Encyclopedia of Social Life, the new Civil Law includes many provisions related to intellectual property (IP). At first read, the most striking IP provision is for punitive damages for intentional infringement, which will be potentially …
China Releases Draft Amended Copyright Law With Punitive Damages and Digital Rights Management Articles
The National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China has recently released Copyright Law of the People’s Republic of China (Draft Amendment) for comment. Of particular is the availability of punitive damages of up to five times actual damages, an exponential increase in the maximum statutory damages from 500,000 RMB to 5,000,000 RMB (about $708,000 USD), and switching the burden of proof for proving damages.
3 Chinese Online Markets Listed in 2019 Notorious Markets List
The United States Trade Representative (USTR) released their annual Review of Notorious Markets for Counterfeiting and Piracy for 2019 on April 29, 2020 and included three mainland Chinese online markets in the online market section of the list. Markets on the list are reported to engage in or facilitate substantial trademark counterfeiting and copyright piracy. There is no penalty for being listed but the list has been used to encourage foreign companies and countries to crack down on piracy and …