On December 26, 2020, China’s National People’s Congress (NPC) approved the formation of an Intellectual Property Court at the Hainan Free Trade Port per the “Decision of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress on the Establishment of the Hainan Free Trade Port Intellectual Property Court” (全国人民代表大会常务委员会关于设立海南自由贸易港知识产权法院的决定). This will be China’s fourth intellectual property court. The decision goes into effect January 1, 2021.
China to Allow Foreign Patent Firms to Open in 3-Year Pilot Program
On December 25, 2020, the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) announced (国知办函运字〔2020〕1154号) a 3-year pilot program to allow foreign patent firms to open up representative offices in Beijing and Jiangsu province. This is somewhat similar to what is already permitted for foreign law firms.
Beijing Intellectual Property Court Fines Three Litigants for Forging Evidence in Trademark Cases
On December 21, 2020, the Beijing Intellectual Property Court announced that on December 18, 2020, the Court ruled in several administrative trademark cases that the trademark registrants forged evidence to prove use in trademark cancellation proceedings. The registrants had provided fake tax invoices to prove use via the sales. However, the tax invoices didn’t match queries with the National Value-Added Tax Invoice Inspection Platform of the State Administration of Taxation. Accordingly, the Court reversed the earlier rulings based on the …
Chinese Patent Application Filings Jump Almost 33% in November 2020 Month-on-Month
According to statistics released December 18, 2020, November 2020 Chinese invention patent applications filings jumped 32.7% versus October 2020. Similarly, utility model patent applications filings were up 28%. The number of cumulative invention patent applications filings in 2020 already exceed last year’s total filings and will make up for last year’s 9% drop in filings.