The Third Session of the 13th National People’s Congress (NPC) voted and passed the “Civil Code of the People’s Republic of China” on May 28, 2020. This law will come into effect on January 1, 2021. While referred to by the Chinese press as the Encyclopedia of Social Life, the new Civil Law includes many provisions related to intellectual property (IP). At first read, the most striking IP provision is for punitive damages for intentional infringement, which will be potentially …
Who Are the Top Grantees of Chinese Invention Patents in 2019?
According to an annual report by Incopat, Huawei had the most Chinese invention patents granted in 2019 with 4525 patents. Huawei also had a significant number of US utility patents granted – 2,418 patents putting Huawei in the #10 spot for U.S. patents in 2019 per a study by IFI Claims Patent Services. The top foreign corporate patent grantee in China for 2019 was Samsung Electronics with 1966 patents in the #7 spot. Samsung is #2 in the U.S. in …
China Issues Ruling in First 5G Criminal Intellectual Property Law Case
The People’s Court of Nanshan District of Shenzhen recently issued a ruling believed to be the first 5G criminal intellectual property law case in China. 5G is the fifth generation technology standard for cellular networks, which cellular phone companies began deploying worldwide in 2019, the planned successor to the 4G networks which provide connectivity to most current cellphones. The Court held defendants Huang Mouyu and Wang Mou guilty of trade secret theft and sentenced them to three years in jail and a 150,000 RMB fine. The …
China’s Upsurge in Patent Filings Continue Post-Coronavirus Lockdown
The China National Intellectual Property Administration released their statistics for January through April 2020 on May 20, 2020 showing a continued post-virus boom in patent filings versus 2019 after a drop at the February coronavirus peak in China. There was an almost 8% increase in invention patent filings in April 2020 versus April 2019 with 106,270 invention patent applications filed this April 2020 versus 98,529 last April 2019. Cumulative 2020 invention patent filings are almost even with 2019 with 434,682 …