On January 20, 2022, the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) released the 14th Five-Year Plan for Patent and Trademark Examination (专利和商标审查“十四五”规划). The Plan specifies development goals and indicator to reach by 2025. Of particular note for patent practitioners is the goal to reduce the patent examination cycle from an average of 20 months to 15 months and the potential adding of a preliminary examination for inventiveness in utility models.
China’s National Intellectual Property Administration Announces Rapid 20-Day Trademark Application Examination Program
On January 18, 2022, the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) released the Measures for Rapid Examination of Trademark Applications (for Trial Implementation) (商标注册申请快速审查办法（试行)) that provides for examination of certain trademark applications within 20 days of approval of a request to participate. The Measures are effective immediately.
Guest Post: TACKLING BAD FAITH TRADEMARK APPLICATIONS OR REGISTRATIONS IN CHINA – PART III
This is the third guest post in a 4-part series regarding defeating bad faith marks in China from Beijing East IP authors Yan Zhang, Miao Tian, & Austin Chang. Previously, we shared our insights on the application of bad faith clause with exemplary cases. This time, we are going to share cases to show how we identify the bad faith and how we present the evidence to convince the CNIPA and the courts to achieve favorable outcomes! Devil lies in the details …
Foreign Patent Firms Can Now Open Representative Offices in China
The China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) released the Administrative Measures for the Establishment of Resident Representative Offices in China by Foreign Patent Agencies (外国专利代理机构在华设立常驻代表机构管理办法) on January 11, 2022 allowing foreign patent firms to open representative offices in China effective immediately. However, foreign patent firms’ representative offices will not be able to prosecute Chinese patent applications.