On February 17, 2022 the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) released the findings of its 2021 Review of Notorious Markets for Counterfeiting and Piracy (the Notorious Markets List). The Notorious Markets List highlights online and physical markets that reportedly engage in or facilitate substantial trademark counterfeiting or copyright piracy. There is no penalty for being listed but the list has been used to encourage foreign companies and countries to crack down on piracy and counterfeiting. Of the 42 …
China Cracks Down on Olympic Trademark Squatters Including Marks for Olympic Gold Medalist and Fashion Model Eileen Gu
On February 14, 2022, the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) has announced a crackdown on the malicious filing of trademarks for Olympic mascots and athletes for “infringing on the personality rights and other legitimate rights and interests of others, has caused significant adverse social impact, and damaged the good image of China’s strict protection of intellectual property rights.” CNIPA rejected 429 trademark applications, including those for Eileen Gu (谷爱凌 and homonyms). CNIPA also cancelled, ex officio, 43 trademarks, 20 …
China to Cease Issuing Paper Patent Certificates – Request Them Before March 1, 2022
While the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) ceased automatically issuing paper patent certificates in 2020, patentees could still request a paper certificate. However, per CNIPA announcement 472 released February 11, 2022, CNIPA will no longer accept requests for paper certificates as of March 1, 2022. Accordingly, patentees looking for “old school” hard copy patent certificates need to request them by the end of February 2022. Similarly, the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) proposed to cease issuing paper patent …
China Remains Top Patent Cooperation Treaty Filer in 2021
Per statistics released February 10, 2022 by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), China remains the top filer of Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) applications for the third year in a row. Chinese applicants filed 69,540 PCT applications in 2021, an increase of 0.9% versus 2020. This was followed by the U.S. (59,570 applications, +1.9%), Japan (50,260 applications, –0.6%), the Republic of Korea (20,678 applications, +3.2%) and Germany (17,322 applications, –6.4%). A PCT application is a single international application that gives …