China Utility Model Patent Application Filings Up 29% in 2020; Foreign-Originated Chinese Invention Patent Application Filings Down 3%

Posted on Categories Design Patent, Patents, Trademarks, Utility Model

In the newly released China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) 2020 Annual Report (国家知识产权局2020年度报告)  the number of invention patent applications filed in China in 2020 was 1.497 million, a year-on-year increase of 6.9%. Among them, there were 1.345 million domestic invention patent applications filed, accounting for 89.8% of the total, a year-on-year increase of 8.1%; there were 152,000 foreign invention patent applications filed in China, accounting for 10.2% of the total, a year-on-year decrease of 3.0%.  Note China had ceased …

The Intellectual Property Tribunal of China’s Supreme People’s Court Released Top 10 Cases of Technical Intellectual Property Rights in 2020

Posted on Categories Case, Copyright, Patents, Trade Secrets, Utility Model

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.

Prison for over 200 fraudulent Chinese patent applications yielding 900,000 RMB in government awards

Posted on Categories Case, Utility Model

According to a news report by 知识产权界, on December 3, 2020, the People’s Court of Shehong City, Sichuan heard the corruption and bribery case of defendant Guo, and the corruption case of defendants Chen, Wu, and Wu . The court of first instance sentenced Guo to 6 years and 8 months imprisonment, fined Guo 400,000 yuan, and ordered him to refund the economic losses caused by his corruption. Guo had fraudulently filed and obtained 231 utility model patents and then …

Chinese Utility Model Patent That Survived 19 Invalidation Attempts Leads to 1 Million RMB in Damages

Posted on Categories Case, Utility Model

In decision (2020)最高法知民终357号 released August 10, 2020, China’s Supreme People’s Court affirmed an earlier award of 1 million RMB (~$145 thousand USD) for infringement of utility model (UM) patent no. ZL201420522729.0.  The UM relates to a selfie stick and has already survived 19 attempts at invalidation.