JULY

State Council Planned on Further Strengthening Protection of Intellectual Property Rights

On July 17, Premier Li Keqiang of the State Council presided over an executive meeting of the State Council, which made arrangements for further strengthening the protection of intellectual property rights and effectively protecting the legitimate rights and interests of various market entities. It would be necessary to continuously strengthen law enforcement of intellectual property rights and protect the legitimate rights and interests of all kinds of market entities equally, to speed up the formulation and improvement of relevant standards such as patent, trademark and copyright infringement counterfeiting judgment, inspection and appraisal, to highlight key points and strengthen rectification, deepen special actions to crack down on violations of intellectual property rights, and severely punish all kinds of violations of intellectual property rights. International cooperation would be strengthened to protect intellectual property rights and facilitate the protection of overseas rights of enterprises. The process of amending the Patent Law and Copyright Law, a new round of comprehensive revision of the Trademark Law, the detailed rules for the implementation of the Patent Law and the regulations on the Protection of New Plant varieties, should be promoted to substantially increase the cost of breaking the law. It would be necessary to continue to improve the quality and efficiency of intellectual property examination, speed up the construction of an intelligent system for patent examination and trademark registration, ensure that by the end of 2019, the goal of reducing the examination cycle of high-value patents to 17.5 months and the average cycle of trademark registration to less than five months would be reached. At the same time, the quality of intellectual property authorization and registration should be improved, and the increase of patents in high-value and core areas should be promoted. This was the ninth time that the key word "intellectual property" had been mentioned at executive meetings of the State Council since 2018. This executive meeting made comprehensive arrangements for the protection of intellectual property rights from the perspectives of enforcing intellectual property rights, punishment mechanism for infringement, and promotion of the use of intellectual property rights.

Intellectual Property Court of SPC Started Circuit Trial

On July 23, the Intellectual Property Court of the Supreme People's Court went to Nanjing to try a series of disputes over infringement of invention patent rights. This was the first circuit trial carried out by the Intellectual Property Court of the Supreme People's Court. Earlier, the Supreme People's Court revealed that in view of the fact that its scope of jurisdiction covers the whole country, the Intellectual Property Court of the Supreme People's Court would specially establish the circuit trial system and, according to the circumstances of cases, go to the court where the case is located or the seat of the original court to hear the case. This aimed to facilitate litigation by the parties and at the same time promote the rule of law of intellectual property rights.

Adjust Conditions for Reducing Patent Fees

The Ministry of Finance and the National Development and Reform Commission issued the Notice on Reduction and Exemption of Some Administrative and Administrative Charges, stipulating that reduction would be implemented from July 1, 2019. The notice adjusted the conditions for reduction of patent fees as follows: the conditions of patent applicants and patentees who may apply for reduction of patent fees are adjusted from individuals with an average monthly income of less than 3500 Yuan (42,000 Yuan per year) in the previous year to individuals with an average monthly income of less than 5000 Yuan (60,000 Yuan per year) in the previous year; Enterprises with taxable income of less than 300,000 Yuan in the previous year are adjusted to enterprises with taxable income of less than 1 million Yuan in the previous year.

Overseas Guidance

On July 10, the National Overseas Intellectual Property Dispute Response & Guidance Center established under the guidance of the Intellectual Property Protection Department of the CNIPA was inaugurated. The center aimed to focus on the difficulties in dealing with overseas intellectual property disputes, to build channels for the collection and release of information on overseas intellectual property disputes at the national level, to establish a guidance and assistance mechanism for Chinese enterprises to deal with overseas intellectual property disputes, to improve enterprises' awareness and ability to deal with intellectual property disputes in the process of "going out". Lu Pengqi, vice chairman of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, said that competition through legal means such as intellectual property rights and compliance had increasingly become a common practice of international competitors, especially multinational corporations in developed countries. The CCPIT attached great importance to and looks forward to strengthening in-depth cooperation with the CNIPA to jointly serve the overseas protection of intellectual property rights and disputes of Chinese enterprises.

Professional Title

On July 1, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security issued the Guiding Opinions on Deepening the Reform of the Professional Title System for Economic Professionals in an all-round way. The Guiding Opinions emphasizes the addition of intellectual property professional titles, which are directly named after the profession. According to the Special Technical Department of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, at present, the primary and intermediate titles of economic professionals were acquired through examination, while senior professional titles are mainly obtained through evaluation. The Guiding Opinions proposed that the titles of intellectual property professionals at all levels are: "assistant intellectual property specialist", "intellectual property specialist", "associate senior intellectual property specialist" and "senior intellectual property specialist". The addition of intellectual property professional titles would further promote the development of China's intellectual property industry.

IPO Dilemma

On July 3, the CNIPA issued a document and announced the written decision of the request for examination of invalidation No. 40759 and 40829. The decision showed that two patents of General Protecht "ZL201020681902.3, power outlet safety protection device" and "ZL201010297882.4, support sliding safety door" had all been declared invalid. In December 2018, General Protecht sued the Bull Group and Nanjing Central Jincheng Storage and Supermarket Co., Ltd. as co-defendants, filed a patent infringement lawsuit with the Nanjing Intermediate People's Court, involving the above two patents, one of which was an invention patent, the other was a utility model patent. The lawsuit between General Protecht and Bull Group was divided into 10 cases, and the amount of compensation claimed by General Protecht reached an astonishing amount of 1 billion Yuan in this series of cases. Two patents related to General Protecht had been invalidated, alleviating the IPO dilemma of Bull Group, which may usher in the most important turning point in its development history.

Parallel Import

On July 9, the Nansha District People's Court of Guangdong Free Trade Zone publicly sentenced the first batch of parallel import trademark infringement and unfair competition cases in Guangdong Free Trade Zone. The plaintiff Opel claimed that its "OBO" series of brand lightning protectors sold in mainland China were imported from Germany and sold by itself or through regional authorized distributors, and that the lightning protectors sold by Shifu Company with the trademark involved were not sold by Opel or its dealers. Defendant Shifu said that the products involved were all produced by enterprises authorized by the German company OBO, which were imported from legitimate dealers in Singapore through legal customs declaration procedures, and that the products involved were authentic rather than counterfeit. The court found that Shifu's parallel import of the products involved was not illegal and rejected all the claims of the plaintiff. The nature of intellectual property disputes over parallel imports had always been controversial in judicial practice. The handling of these cases would not only provide valuable trial experience for similar cases, but also play a guiding role in the business model of related industries.

Block Chain Certificate

On July 15, the intellectual property service platform built by Hangzhou Internet Notarization Office based on judicial alliance chain was officially launched. Based on block chain technology, the platform provided electronic data online depositing and issuing services, and docks with Hangzhou Internet Court, Judicial Expertise Center, Internet Notarization Office and other judicial departments, to effectively shorten the time for collection and issuance of evidence, improve the credibility of storage data, and give full play to notarization functions. In May 2019, the Ministry of Justice revised and promulgated the Rules on Notarization Procedure (Revised Draft for Soliciting Opinions), adding provisions on online notarization and electronic notarization, advocating and encouraging notarization organizations to implement paperless network services, to enhance the experience of notarization services. For this reason, the intellectual property service platform of Hangzhou Internet Notarization Office combined blockchain technology with notarization legal services to form a blockchain electronic certificate business model.

Enterprise Anti-corruption

On July 16, 360 Company issued an internal notice: confirmed by the company's ethics committee, Huang Jing, senior director of the intellectual property department, accepted bribes from a number of agents, was suspected of crime of acceptance of bribes by a non-state functionary. Since 2019, Alibaba, Baidu, JD.com, Meituan, ByteDance, Didi, 58 Group and so on had all carried out large-scale anti-corruption work. To this end, Alibaba set up the integrity compliance department to investigate corruption, prevention and compliance management, and JD.com set up an integrity JD.com website.

AUG

Support Shenzhen to Build a Leading Demonstration Zone and Explore Intellectual Property Securitization

On Aug 18, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council issued the Opinions on Supporting Shenzhen in Building a Pioneering Demonstration Zone for Socialism with Chinese Characteristics. The Opinion supports Shenzhen in exploring the securitization of intellectual property rights, standardizes and orderly builds an intellectual property rights trading center for intellectual property rights and scientific and technological achievements, requires speeding up the implementation of the innovation-driven development strategy, supports Shenzhen's innovative advantage of strengthening the deep integration of industry and learning. Building a comprehensive national science center with Shenzhen as the main position, will play a key role in the construction of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area International Science and Technology Innovation Center. In addition, the Opinion also supports Shenzhen in building major innovation carriers such as 5G, artificial intelligence, cyberspace science and technology, life information and biomedical laboratories, and exploring the construction of an international science and technology information center and a new mechanism of the Academy of Medical Sciences, explores the securitization of intellectual property rights. In recent years, Shenzhen had formulated a series of important policies and measures around the goals of strengthening the protection and application of intellectual property rights, optimizing the comprehensive innovation ecosystem, creating an ecological zone for innovation and entrepreneurship, implementing the strictest protection of intellectual property rights, and building a strong city of intellectual property rights, which would continue to promote the improvement of the business environment and high-quality economic development.

The State Council deepens the Reform of Streamlining Administration and Optimizing Services

On Aug 12, the Chinese government website issued the Notice on the Issuance of the National Video-conference on Optimizing the Business Environment's Plan for the Division of the Key Tasks and Labor in Deepening the Reform of "Streamlining Administration and Optimizing Services". Among them, the work related to intellectual property rights is arranged as follows: promote the construction of the credit system in the field of intellectual property rights, study and formulate measures for the management of the list of objects for joint punishment of serious breach of trust in the field of intellectual property (patents); strengthen the credit supervision of trademark preemptive registration, malicious registration and abnormal patent applications; study and formulate relevant regulations to regulate trademark registration applications (CNIPA); try to establish a unified modern chattel guarantee system, and strive to integrate all kinds of chattel registration and rights guarantee registration system by the end of 2020, so as to realize the registration of enterprise guarantee on one platform, and all relevant departments shall implement background supervision according to their duties (led by the People's Bank of China).; promote electronic trademark and patent applications, the examination cycle of high-value patents will be reduced to 17.5 months by the end of 2019, the average examination cycle of trademark registration will be reduced to five months, and the backlog of invention patent examination will be reduced by 100,000 (CNIPA).

Adjust Conditions for reducing Patent Fees

On Aug 1, the Ministry of Science and Technology issued Guidelines for the Construction of National New Generation Artificial Intelligence Open and Innovation Platform. The document pointed out that it would further promote the construction of a new generation of artificial intelligence open and innovation platform, and promote China's artificial intelligence technological innovation and industrial development. The new generation of artificial intelligence open and innovation platform would be led by technological leaders in the artificial intelligence industry, and scientific research institutes and universities will be encouraged to participate in the construction and provide intellectual and technical support. In principle, each specific subdivision area should build a new generation of national artificial intelligence open and innovation platform, and different open and innovation platforms should be clearly distinguished and focused on the subdivision areas. Some industry experts said that the Guidelines show that China's new round of national artificial intelligence open innovation platform construction is about to be rolled out in an all-round way. The new generation of artificial intelligence industry would play a more extensive role in supporting the national economy, and its application scenarios could cover all fields related to the national economy and people's livelihood.

Standard Implementation Certification

On Aug 30, the Notice by the General Office of CNIPA of Regulating the Standard Implementation Certification of Intellectual Property Rights Management System was officially issued. According to the Notice, CNIPA would strengthen the accuracy of policy support for intellectual property standard inplementation certification, speed up the improvement of standard implementation certification services in the field of intellectual property rights, uniformly standardize intellectual property standard implementation certification guidance, consultation and training services, and severely crack down on intellectual property standard implementation certification incentives and arbitrage. The Notice stressed that all localities should bare zero tolerance for collusion and arbitrage in the process of intellectual property standard implementation certification, actively accept and check the clues of various complaints and reports, and focus on investigating and dealing with a number of institutions that violate the rules. and expose typical cases with strong public reaction and bad social influence.

Centralized Examination

On Aug 30, CNIPA issued the Notice of Issuing Measures for the Administration of the Centralized Examination of Patent Applications (for Trial Implementation). The Notice pointed out that in order to implement the State Council on Issuing the Program for the Division of the Key Tasks of the Several Opinions of the State Council on Building a Powerful Intellectual Property Nation under New Conditions, it would be necessary to establish a centralized examination system for patent applications in key industries with advantages, and formulate Measures for the Administration of the Centralized Examination of Patent Applications (for Trial Implementation). According to the Notice, centralized examination refers to the patent examination mode of centralized examination around the patent application portfolio of the same key technology, at the request of the applicant or the provincial intellectual property administration department, in order to enhance the understanding of the overall technology of the patent application portfolio, improve the effectiveness of the notice of examination opinions, and improve the examination quality and efficiency.

Face Swapping

ZAO, a mobile app featuring face-swapping video, had attracted wide attention because it rainsed concerns about privacy, reputation, intellectual property and other issues. The app, developed by Changsha Deep Fusion Network Technology Co., Ltd., allows users to upload or take their facial photos to swap with faces from films and televisions. The app soon became one of the top downloads in app stores. Although the app carried out non-public figure verification and portrait rights verification, and stated in the copyright notice on the use of its material, "short videos and emoji materials, except for which ZAO cooperates with in copyright, all come from users' spontaneous uploads, and ZAO does not enjoy the commercial copyright of the materials." but the app still aroused public skepticism. Some insiders questioned the risk of infringement of video copyright and portrait rights at the product level, while more people expressed concerns about the security risks of the application.

Normative Registration

On Aug 30, the State Administration of Market Supervision issued Several Provisions on Regulating Trademark Registration Applications (Draft for Soliciting Opinions). The draft clearly defined the specific measures to regulate the malicious trademark registration application behavior that is not for the purpose of use, which is conducive to further standardizing the trademark registration behavior and maintaining the normal trademark registration management order. On Apr 23, 2019, the 10th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People's Congress adopted a decision on amending the Trademark Law, focusing on regulating malicious trademark applications and hoarding registration, and increasing penalties for violations of the exclusive right to the use of trademarks. Some provisions of the Trademark Law have been amended, and the revised provisions would come into effect on Nov 1, 2019. In order to cooperate with the revision of the Trademark Law and maintain the management order of trademark registration, according to the Trademark Law and the Regulations on the Implementation of the Trademark Law, the State Administration of Market Supervision and Administration has studied and drafted Several Provisions on Regulating Trademark Registration Applications (Draft for Soliciting Opinions), refining the contents of the revision of the Trademark Law at the operational level.

Pharmaceutical Administration

On Aug 26, the 12th Meeting of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People's Congress adopted the newly revised Pharmaceutical Administration Law, which would come into force on Dec 1, 2019. This was the first comprehensive revision of the Pharmaceutical Administration Law after 18 years. The revision includes 34 projects related to the cancellation of GMP/GSP certification, drug listing license holder system, drug traceability system, drug vigilance system, online sale of drugs and other issues of concern to the industry. The newly revised Pharmaceutical Administration Law set a number of provisions to encourage innovation, such as giving priority to the review and approval of clinically urgently needed drugs, new drugs for the prevention and treatment of major infectious diseases and rare diseases, and drugs for children. For the treatment of diseases that are seriously life-threatening and have no effective means of treatment, as well as drugs urgently needed in public health, drug clinical trials have data showing the curative effect and can predict their clinical value, it may be approved with conditions, and the relevant matters must be specified in the drug registration certificate. At present, Department of Drug and Cosmetics Registration is stepping up efforts to formulate follow-up supporting policies and documents.

Judicial Application

On Aug 17, the Beijing Internet Court held a press conference on Judicial Application of Internet Technology, issued the White Paper on Judicial Application of Internet Technology, unveiled the Center for Judicial Application of Internet Technology, hired technical experts from think tanks, and showed a number of practical judicial application scenarios of Internet technology. The White Paper introduced basic concepts, fundamental objectives, characteristic mechanisms and achievements of the informatization construction of Beijing Internet Court. It also selected and introduced ten typical technological applications in the informatization construction: legal knowledge graph, block chain, instant messaging, face recognition, image recognition, voice recognition, cloud video, micro-service construction, data security exchange and cloud computing. The press conference showed four practical judicial scenes of mobile micro-court, balance chain, screen sharing and intelligent document generation, and demonstrated the practical results achieved by Beijing Internet Court in convenient litigation, changing litigation mode, innovating certificate storage methods, and improving trial quality with the support of science and technology.