China’s Supreme People’s Court Releases 46 Adjudication Rules Based on 55 Example Intellectual Property Cases from 2020

Posted on Categories Case, Patents, Trade Secrets

On February 27, 2021, the Intellectual Property Tribunal of China’s Supreme People’s Court released a set of 46 rules based on a selection of 55 example cases from the 2,787 technical intellectual property (IP) cases concluded by the Court in 2020.  From these 55 cases, the Tribunal refined them into 46 adjudication rules covering the trial of patent civil cases, the trial of patent administrative cases, the trial of new plant variety cases, trial of trade secret cases, trial of computer …

The Intellectual Property Tribunal of China’s Supreme People’s Court Released Top 10 Cases of Technical Intellectual Property Rights in 2020

Posted on Categories Case, Copyright, Patents, Trade Secrets, Utility Model

On February 26, 2021, the Intellectual Property Tribunal of the Supreme People’s Court released a list of top 10 cases of technical intellectual property rights for 2020 that the tribunal ruled on.  The list covers anti-suit injunctions, trade secret theft, punitive damages, software copyright infringement, utility model infringement, invention patent invalidation, dueling administrative and civil enforcement appeals of patents, integrated circuit layout design infringement, affirmative injunctions and antitrust.

China’s Supreme People’s Court Issues Law Interpretation for Intellectual Property Infringement

Posted on Categories Copyright, New Law, Rule or Implementing Regulation, Patents, Trademarks

China’s Supreme People’s Court released and effective on March 3, 2021 the Interpretation of the Supreme People’s Court on the Application of Punitive Damages to the Trial of Civil Cases of Infringement of Intellectual Property Rights (最高人民法院关于审理侵害知识产权民事案件适用惩罚性赔偿的解释) (法释〔2021〕4号). The Interpretation defines when a plaintiff may request punitive damages in civil intellectual property infringement cases; how People’s Courts should determine if punitive damages should be awarded; and how People’s Courts should calculate the amount of punitive damages.  Note that no defenses …

China Remains Top Patent Cooperation Treaty Application Filer in 2020

Posted on Categories Patents

In a report by the World Intellectual Property Organization dated March 2, 2021, China remained the top user of the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) with 68,720 applications for+16.1% year-on-year growth.  Last year (2019), China had 59,193 PCT applications. Other top users of the PCT system were the U.S. (59,230 applications, +3%), Japan (50,520 applications, -4.1%), the Republic of Korea (20,060 applications, +5.2%) and Germany (18,643 applications, -3.7%).