On June 1, 2022, China’s National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) released its 2021 Annual Report (2021年度报告). Highlights of the report include invention patent applications have increased 5.9% year-on-year to 1.586 million; utility model patent application filings decreased 2.5% to 2.852 million; design applications increased 4.6% to 806,000. China’s invention authorization rate was 55% in 2021.
Shijiazhuang Market Supervision Bureau Fines Trademark Agency 50,000 RMB for Attempting to Trademark Olympic Gold Medalist’s Social Media Account
On May 18, 2022, the Shijiazhuang Yuhua District Market Supervision Administration issued an Administrative Penalty Decision against a Shijiazhuang trademark agency for attempting to trademark the name of Eileen Gu’s Douyin account (TikTok’s sister app in China). Eileen Gu won three medals in the Beijing Winter Olympics earlier this year and has become extremely popular in China.
Beijing IP Court: Suing others with a trademark not obtained in good faith constitutes an abuse of rights
Recently, the Beijing Intellectual Property Court upheld a lower court’s decision and ruled that Appellee Shenzhen Chow Tai Fook Online Media Co., Ltd. (hereinafter, “Chow Tai Fook”) and Defendant Beijing Jingdong Century Commerce Co., Ltd. (hereinafter, “Jingdong”) did not infringe Appellant/Plaintiff Jun Zheng Ma’s trademark because Ma’s action of suing Chow Tai Fook with a trademark not registered in good faith constituted an abuse of rights. Background Chow Tai Fook created the brand “骄人” (pronounced jiao ren) in 2006 and …
Beijing IP Court Dismisses First Trademark Case Under New Supreme People’s Court Jurisdictional Rules
On May 23, 2022, the Beijing Intellectual Property (IP) Court announced for the first time that it had dismissed a trademark case for lack of jurisdiction under the Supreme People’s Court’s new “Several Provisions of the Supreme People’s Court on Jurisdiction of Civil and Administrative Cases of Intellectual Property Rights of First Instance” released April 21, 2022. The proper Court for trademark infringement cases are basic People’s Courts and not the specialized IP Court. The Beijing IP Court, however, retains …