On November 19, 2021, the Shanghai No. 3 Intermediate People’s Court announced the affirmance of prison sentences for defendants that counterfeiting 3M and Dasheng (大胜) masks. Seven defendants were sentenced to imprisonment ranging from one year to four years and six months for the crime of counterfeiting registered trademarks, and fines were imposed ranging from RMB 30,000 to RMB 1.2 million (~$188 thousand USD).
How Fast is the Patent Prosecution Highway in China?
Accordingly to statistics collected by the Japanese Patent Office (JPO), participating in the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) in China will significantly speed up examination and grant of a patent application. Per the JPO data, from January to June 2021, the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) on average issued a first office action within 2.2 months of granting a PPH request. This is close to a third of the time it takes the USPTO to issue a first office action …
China to Revoke Patent Agencies’ Licenses for Filing Abnormal Patent Applications
On November 10, 2021, the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) released the Notice of the CNIPA on Further Severely Cracking Down on Abnormal Patent Application Agency Acts (国家知识产权局关于进一步严厉打击非正常专利申请代理行为的通知). CNIPA will halt new business intake or even revoke licenses of patent agencies that file relatively large amounts of abnormal (also translated as irregular) patent applications. Previously, Chinese patent agencies have been warned and fined such as a Shenzhen firm that was recently fined 50,000 RMB for filing a total of …
Beijing Intellectual Property Court Accepts China’s First Drug Patent Linkage Litigation Case
On November 10, 2021, the Beijing Intellectual Property Court announced that it accepted its first drug patent linkage litigation case. In contrast, an alternative patent linkage adjudication mechanism seems more popular with the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) announcing that as of October 27, 2021 they had accepted 12 cases. China implemented a patent linkage system in their amended patent law, which became effective June 1, 2021 (Article 76 of the Patent Law of the People’s Republic of China …