On December 19, 2023, China’s Supreme People’s Court (SPC, currently geoblocked) released the 39th Batch of Guiding Cases (关于发布第39批指导性案例的通知) covering intellectual property law. While China’s legal system is not a common law system, China nonetheless issues guiding cases “for reference when trying similar cases.” This batch of Guiding Cases covers invention patents, utility models, trade secrets and other intellectual property matters.
Category: Utility Model
China’s National Intellectual Property Administration Releases Guidelines on Subject Matter Eligibility of Utility Model Patents
On November 2, 2023, China’s National Intellectual Property Administration released the Guidelines on Subject Matter Eligibility of Utility Model Patents (关于实用新型专利保护客体判断的指引). Utility model patents (UMs) are one of the three types of patents in China, the others being design and invention (similar to U.S. utility patents). UMs do not undergo substantive examination and therefore tend to grant quickly. However, the subject matter of UMs is limited to the “shape, structure or combination of a product that is suitable for practical …
Drop in Chinese Utility Model Grants Accelerates in April 2023 in Shift from Quantity to Quality
Recently released data for April 2023 from China’s National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) shows an acceleration in the drop of utility model grants. Cumulatively (from January through April 2023), utility model grants were down almost 37% year-on-year to 757,817 grants and down over 70% in April 2023 to 268,331 grants versus April 2022. Utility model grants were down 21.7% to 600,206 grants in the first quarter of 2023 versus a year ago. This drop, combined with an almost 3% increase …
Intellectual Property Tribunal of China’s Supreme People’s Court Releases ‘Typical Cases’ of 2022 List
On March 30, 2023, the Intellectual Property Tribunal of China’s Supreme People’s Court (SPC) released the “Typical Cases of the Intellectual Property Tribunal of the Supreme People’s Court (2022)” (最高人民法院知识产权法庭典型案例(2022)). The SPC selected 20 cases from the 3,468 technology-related intellectual property and monopoly cases it concluded in 2022 to “summarize and give full play to the positive role of typical cases, effectively increase the protection of intellectual property rights, and maintain a fair competition order in the market.” Per the …