On June 3, 2021 and effective the same day, the Supreme People’s Court (SPC) issued the “Approval of the Supreme People’s Court on the Issue of the Defendant’s Request for Compensation for Reasonable Expenses in Intellectual Property Infringement Lawsuits on the Grounds of the Plaintiff’s Abuse of Rights” (最高人民法院关于知识产权侵权诉讼中被告以原告滥用权利为由请求赔偿合理开支问题的批复). The Approval is in response to a request for instructions from the Shanghai Higher People’s Court for a defendant’s request for compensation and allows for compensation in intellectual property infringement lawsuits …
Category: Trademarks
China Joins EUIPO’s TMview Enabling Easier Searching of Chinese Trademarks
On March 19, 2021, China’s National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) joined the European Union Intellectual Property Office’s (EUIPO) TMview trademark searching tool. TMview will include trademark data made available by CNIPA, taking the total number of trade marks in the search tool from 62 to over 90 million from 75 participating IP Offices. Over 32 million Chinese trademarks are now available in TMview to all users to search free of charge. TMview is available here: https://www.tmdn.org/tmview/#/tmview.
Chinese Customs Issues Typical Cases of Customs Seizures in 2020
On April 27, 2021, the General Administration of Customs, China, released the Typical Cases of Intellectual Property Enforcement by Chinese Customs (中国海关知识产权保护典型案例). Registration of intellectual property (IP) rights with Customs enables Customs to block both the import and export of infringing products. The 10 typical cases were for mainly for the export from China of counterfeit or infringing products including clothing, headphones, medicine, personal care products, chemicals and more.
China to Further Crack Down on Malicious Trademark Applications and Irregular Patent Applications; Potentially Raise Filing Fees
On March 11, 2021, the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) issued the on Notice on Deepening the Reform of “Delegation, Administration, and Service” in the Field of Intellectual Property, Optimizing the Innovation Environment and Business Environment (国家知识产权局关于深化知识产权领域“放管服”改革优化创新环境和营商环境的通知). The Notice has a total of 16 Articles including reducing trademark and patent examination time; improving the quality of trademark and patent applications; improving the efficiency of intellectual property (IP) public services; enhancing IP protection capabilities; strengthening the supervision of the IP …