On April 21, 2022 China’s Supreme People’s Court (SPC) released the Top 10 IP Cases in Chinese Courts in 2021 (2021年中国法院10大知识产权案件). The cases cover trademark infringement, unfair competition, trade secret misappropriation, antitrust, new plant variety infringement, invention patent infringement, and copyright infringement. Of particular note was Wyeth’s win for trademark infringement that resulted in a significant punitive damages award and a vanillin trade secret misappropriation case that led to one of the highest intellectual property verdicts in China. China also …
Category: Trademarks
China Releases Typical Cases of Intellectual Property Protection by China Customs in 2021
On April 22, 2022, the General Administration of Customs China (GACC) released the Typical Cases of Intellectual Property Protection by China Customs in 2021 (2021年中国海关知识产权保护典型案例) highlighting the seizure of intellectual property infringing goods bound for both import and export. Infringing products targeted both foreign and Chinese companies including Huawei, Johnson & Johnson, automobile manufacturers, Apple, Samsung, Crocs, Disney, Ugg and more.
China’s National Intellectual Property Administration: Crackdown on 482,000 malicious registered trademarks in 2021, Rejection of 12,200 Trademark for Malicious Hoarding
The State Council Information Office held a press conference on April 24, 2022, inviting Shen Changyu, director of the State Intellectual Property Office, He Zhimin, deputy director of the State Intellectual Property Office, and Wang Zhicheng, director of the Copyright Administration to discuss the development of intellectual property rights in 2021. Some highlights from the press conference include: crackdown on 482,000 maliciously registered trademarks in the trademark examination process, of which 60,400 maliciously hoarded trademarks were voluntarily rejected, and 1,628 …
China Releases Report on Status of Judicial Protection of Intellectual Property Rights in Chinese Courts
On April 21, 2022, China’s Supreme People’s Court (SPC) released a report entitled Status of judicial protection of intellectual property rights in Chinese courts 2021 (中国法院知识产权司法保护状况（2021年）). Highlights include sections on increased quantity of intellectual property law cases in 2021; improved trademark protection including the awarding of treble punitive damages; and impartial trial of foreign-related cases.