Updated July 14, 2020 to reflect Mark Cohen’s thoughts. China’s National People’s Congress has released the Criminal Law Amendment (Eleven) (Draft) for comments. Perhaps because of the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) increased enforcement of the Economic Espionage Act (EEA) targeting China as a beneficiary, the Chinese draft adds a separate provision for foreign-related trade secret theft. Specifically, Article 219 will have a new paragraph, “For stealing, spying, buying, or illegally providing trade secrets to foreign institutions, organizations, and personnel, …
Defendant in China Wind Turbine Trade Secret Theft Case Sentenced to 3-Year Prison Term
As reported by the Guangdong Higher People’s Court, the People’s Court of Huilai County of Jieyang City sentenced defendant Liu Zhongyan to three years’ imprisonment and 1 million RMB fine for criminal trade secret theft on June 29, 2020. Liu had stolen trade secrets relating to Mingyang Smart Energy Group Co., Ltd.’s first 7.25MW offshore wind turbine.
China’s National People’s Congress Latest Work Plan Includes Patent and Copyright Law Amendments in 2020
On June 20, 2020, the National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China released their NPC Standing Committee 2020 Legislation Work Plan. The plan includes amendments to the Copyright law, a draft of which was already released earlier this year, and the Patent law, a draft of which was released over a year ago. Additional legislative projects relating to intellectual property law include promulgating a new personal information protection law and a new data security law.
China’s Copyright Administration Issues Notice on Photographic Works
On June 11, 2020, the National Copyright Administration of the People’s Republic of China published the “Notice of the National Copyright Administration on Regulating the Copyright Order of Photographic Works.” The Notice confirms photographs are protected by the copyright law and specifically the exception to copyright protection under Article 5(2) for news does not apply to news-related photographs.