In what is believed to be a case of first impression in China, on March 31, 2025, the Beijing IP Court, on appeal, ruled that Douyin (TikTok) was entitled to protection of its artificial intelligence (AI) transformation model under Article 2 of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law but not under Copyright Law. Specifically, the Beijing IP Court upheld the original judgement against the defendant/appellant Yiruike Information Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd. (亿睿科信息技术（北京）有限公司) for violating Douyin’s competitive interest in its transformation model with the …
Shenzhen Releases Patent Subsidy Data – Huawei Received Over 35 Million RMB for Foreign Patent Grants
On April 14, 2025, the Shenzhen Municipal Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) released the List of recipients of the second batch of special funds for intellectual property rights in Shenzhen in 2023 for foreign invention patent authorization (深圳市2023年第二批知识产权领域专项资金国外发明专利授权资助领款名单). Combined with the List of recipients of Shenzhen’s 2023 special fund for intellectual property rights for foreign invention patent authorization (深圳市2023年知识产权领域专项资金国外发明专利授权资助领款名单) published on March 28, 2024 Shenzhen’s SAMR has subsidized Huawei a total of 35,168,904 RMB for foreign patents granted in 2023. …
Chinese Invention Patent Grants Down Almost 21% in First Quarter of 2025; Trademark Registrations Down Almost 15%
Per statistics released by China’s Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) on April 15, 2025, Chinese invention patent grants are down 20.99% in the first quarter of 2025 versus the first quarter of 2024. Specifically, the number of invention patents granted decreased by 52,870 to 199,012 grants. Utility model grants also dropped slightly by 2.33% year-on-year to 408,419 grants (down by 11,032 grants). However, design patent grants increased by 10.11% year-on-year to 161,058 grants (up by 14,788 grants). The number of trademark registrations …
CNIPA Reminds Applicants Not to Include Political Content in Patent Applications
On April 11, 2025, China’s National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) issued the Business Reminder on Further Standardizing the Requirements for Drafting Patent Application Documents (关于进一步规范专利申请文件撰写要求的业务提醒). The Reminder states that the background section of the specification specifically should not introduce political content not directly related to the technology and only use official maps from China’s Ministry of Natural Resources “to ensure accuracy, legality and authority of the map.” However, this represents difficulties for foreign applicants as the Ministry’s map website appears …