On October 27, 2023, the Hangzhou Municipal Administration for Market Regulation issued the “Implementation Rules of Hangzhou Municipal Intellectual Property Special Fund Allocation Factors.” The Rules are effective immediately and provide funding for domestic and foreign IP litigation, IP financing, whistleblower rewards for reporting IP violations, monetary rewards for winning national and provincial patent medals, etc.
4.5-Year Prison Sentence in Shanghai for Counterfeiting of Anchor Butter
On October 24, 2023, the Shanghai Jinshan Primary People’s Court announced the sentencing of Wang XX to 4.5 years in prison and a 2 million RMB fine for the crime of counterfeiting registered trademarks for Anchor and Fonterra after a year on the run. A co-defendant Wang YY received a suspended sentence. Over several years they sold about 8 million RMB of butter and other dairy products bearing counterfeited trademarks.
China’s Quantity to Quality Shift in Patents Continues Trend in 2023 Q3
Per recently released statistics from the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA), a total of 698,822 invention patents were granted, 1,596,992 utility models were granted, and 487,977 design patents were granted cumulatively through the the third quarter of 2023. Compared with the third quarter of 2022, this represents an almost 14% increase in invention patents granted versus an over 25% drop in utility model grants and an over 8% drop in design patent grants.
Supreme People’s Court Releases Typical Cases Involving Personality Rights
On the afternoon of October 16, 2023, China’s Supreme People’s Court released typical cases involving the protection of personality rights of private enterprises and private entrepreneurs and answered reporters’ questions. While the typical cases mostly relate to defamation, one relates to trademark registration of another’s name, which may be useful in invalidating trademark registrations of eponymous corporations made by squatters.