The China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) will close from October 1 through October 8, 2020 for a combination of Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holidays. All patent and trademark deadlines that fall within this period are postponed to October 9, 2020.
China’s Draft Measures for the Administration of Trademark Agencies Should Further Reduce Trademark Squatting
On September 24, 2020, the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) issued the Administrative Measures for Trademark Agencies (Draft for Comment) (商标代理管理办法 (征求意见稿)). While the measures mostly address the management of Chinese trademark agencies, several articles in the measures will be beneficial to foreign brands that have been and continue to be at risk of trademark squatting in China.
China Releases Antitrust Guidelines for Intellectual Property
China’s State Administration for Market Regulation released the Antitrust (also referred to as Anti-Monopoly) Guidelines of the Antitrust Committee of the State Council on the Field of Intellectual Property (国务院反垄断委员会关于知识产权领域的反垄断指南). The guidelines are dated January 4, 2019 but only officially released on September 18, 2020. The guidelines cover Intellectual Property Agreements That May Exclude or Restrict Competition; Abuse of Dominant Market Position Involving Intellectual Property Rights; Concentration of Operators Involving Intellectual Property Rights; and other Circumstances, such as patent pooling.
China Issues Draft Provisions on the Protection of Geographical Indications
In follow up to the signing of an agreement with the European Union on Graphical Indications (GIs), on September 24, 2020, the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) issued the Provisions on the Protection of Geographical Indications (Draft for Comment) (商标代理管理办法 (征求意见稿)). GIs are, per the 1995 Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), “indications which identify a good as originating in the territory of a Member, or a region or locality in that territory, where a …