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.
Category: Patents
China’s Supreme People’s Court Issues Law Interpretation for Intellectual Property Infringement
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
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%).
China National IP Administration (CNIPA) Extends Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) Pilot Program with Austria and Germany
According to a joint decision of the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) and the Austrian Patent Office, the China-Austria Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) pilot project will be extended for another five years from March 1, 2021, until February 28, 2026. The PPH enables accelerated examination of Chinese patent applications based on an allowance of an earlier-examined patent application. The relevant requirements and procedures for submitting PPH requests in the two offices remain unchanged. The China-Austria (regional) PPH pilot program …