China To Upgrade Status of the China National Intellectual Property Administration

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On March 7, 2023, China released the 2023 State Council Institutional Reform Plan (Plan) (国务院机构改革方案). The National People’s Congress (NPC) is set to approve the Plan on March 9. The Plan will remove the China National Intellectual Property Administration from the State Administration of Market Regulation (SAMR) and make it a top-level agency under the State Council.  The SAMR will continue its enforcement of IP rights.

China’s Supreme People’s Court Releases Report on the Judicial Reform of Chinese Courts (2013-2022)

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On February 21, 2023, China’s Supreme People’s Court (SPC) released the Report on the Judicial Reform of Chinese Courts (2013-2022) (中国法院的司法改革(2013—2022)). With respect to intellectual property, the Report discusses the establishing of new mechanisms (e.g., patent linkage), establishing of the IP Tribunal of the Supreme People’s Court and the establishing of IP Courts and IP Tribunals in several jurisdictions, etc. However, note that any judicial reform will occur in a Chinese context. For example, the State Council stated  a few …

Forbidden: China Geo-Blocking Americans from Accessing Supreme People’s Court Website and Published Decisions

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Update: A hearty thank you to China for making these sites accessible as of November 20, 2022!  Update 2: The SPC website is again geoblocked as of September 2023. Recently, China has started geo-blocking Americans and other foreigners from accessing the Supreme People’s Court (SPC) website and China Judgements Online.  Attempting to access these sites leads to a 403 Forbidden error message with “reason:GeoBL.” However, the more-limited English version of the SPC’s website remains available, making it appear not to …

President Xi at the 20th National Congress of the CPC: Strengthen Legal Protection of Intellectual Property Rights

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At the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, President Xi Jinping delivered an almost 2-hour work report, which is somewhat analogous to the U.S. President’s annual State of the Union Address.  President Xi also issued a much longer written work report that goes into more detail on the many of the topics he covered, including technology development and intellectual property.