In July 2021, the Supreme People’s Court issued the second Judicial Interpretation on new plant varieties titled the “Several Provisions on the Specific Application of Law in the Trial of Dispute Cases of Infringement on the Right to New Plant Varieties”. The 2nd Judicial Interpretation aims at strengthening the protection of breeders’ rights, while striking a balance between the interests of farmers and the protection of the rights of the breeders. In summary, the 2nd Judicial Interpretation clarifies the exceptions to plant variety protection, reverses in some cases the burden of proof from the rights holder to the infringer, establishes the infringer’s legitimate source defense and imposes measures against tampering with evidence amongst others.
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Since a lot of businesses in China are conducted over social media, Chinese courts have ruled that social media accounts such as WeChat Official Account can be considered a valuable network virtual property. In this light, the Administrative Regulations on the Administration of Internet User Public Account Information Services were amended in 2021to strengthen the protection of official accounts against counterfeiting by increasing identity checks and authentication requirements. An important thing for EU SMEs to note is that the use of other people’s trade marks in an official account information such as the alias, avatar, and profile of the official account can be considered as trade mark violation and remedies are available for enterprises whose IP is infringed.
For those interested in statistics, the CNIPA has recently published the highlights of 2020 IPR statistics. In 2020, the CNIPA handled over 9 million trade mark applications and over 4 million patent applications. The statistics shows that majority of patent applications concerned utility model applications, a type of patent that is easy to obtain and widely used in China, but oftentimes overlooked by the EU SMEs.
In early July, the Supreme People's Court issued the new judicial explanation, which enhances plant variety rights protection. According to the judicial explanation, “those who assist others in violating a breeder's property rights by facilitating the purchase, storage, transport and processing of a new plant variety, will be punished by law”. This is good news for SMEs dealing with new plant varieties as makes the enforcement of new plant variety rights in China stronger.
On 1 June 2021, the amended Patent Law came to force. The new Patent Law brings substantial changes for the pharmaceutical companies doing business with China, as for the first time, a patent linkage system was introduced in China’s IP legislation. While everyone is still looking forward to the implementing measures of the new Patent Law, on 15 June the Supreme Court published its Stipulations on Patent Linkage Related Trials. In this article our external expert Toby Mak provides some comments on these Stipulations to help the pharmaceutical SMEs better understand the content of the Stipulations.
With COVID-19 giving a major push for the development of cross-border e-commerce across the world, China’s Ministry of Commerce is planning to evaluate their cross-border e-commerce pilot zones to create better conditions for cross-border e-commerce. According to the Ministry of Commerce, “in next steps, a new batch of pilot zones will be expanded, and guideline for the protection of cross-border e-commerce intellectual property rights will be studied and formulated to guide cross-border e-commerce platforms in mitigating intellectual property risks and preventing counterfeit and shoddy products…” These steps are thought to strengthen IP protection in cross-border e-commerce.
The EIC Greenhouse Gas Programme aims to leverage collaborative experiences between EIC companies and large European organisations.
On 22 and 23 June 2021, the digital 4th International IP Enforcement Summit gathered key actors to discuss ways to improve the protection and enforcement of IP rights globally in online and offline environments. Hosted by the European Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), the summit highlighted strategic and practical guidance and shared good practices. In case you missed it, the recordings of all of the talks are now available online. Moreover, EUIPO just published a study highlighting the risks and damages posed by IPR infringement in Europe.
The European Commission has recently launched the EU Knowledge Valorisation Platform, a digital space that provides an interactive forum to stimulate cooperation across borders and improve the broad uptake of research results in society and the economy. It also aims to co-create the development of the Code of Practice for the smart use of Intellectual Property. Also, the EC has just launched a consultation on the Guiding Principles for Knowledge Valorisation - have your say!
The European Patent Office (EPO) has recently published its Annual Review 2020. The publication, which is accompanied by a video, outlines the past year's main activities and achievements. It includes key operational results and detailed reports on specific areas such as quality, environmental sustainability, social issues, engagement, IT, data protection and communication.
The China IP SME Helpdesk just published its new IP Business Guide, 'Intellectual Propery Systems: China/Europe Comparison'. Download our new guide for insights about the similarities and differences between the IP systems in Europe and China.
Good news for the owners of luxury brands – Alibaba has recently introduced a new AI-platform, capable of recognizing counterfeit luxury items sold on the platform in 30-50 milliseconds, faster than you can blink. While luxury brand owners can rely on the help of the AI, for SMEs who do not own luxury brands, it’s still important to monitor e-commerce platforms to discover potential counterfeits.
As the new Copyright and Patent Laws entered into force this month, it’s important for SMEs to understand what these changes mean for them and for China’s IP system. This article reviews the new provisions of the Patent and Copyright Law from a judicial point of view and evaluates their potential impact on judicial practices.
The Hong Kong patent system recently underwent some major changes. Effective from 19 December 2019, it became possible to apply for a standard invention patent in 2 different ways – the old way, which included the reregistration of existing patents in Hong Kong and the new way, which allows applicants to directly apply for local original patents. In the beginning of June, the first local original patent was finally granted in Hong Kong. The new system “helps Hong Kong to meet the needs of its innovation, technology and creative industries”.
On 1 June 2021, the new Patent Law and Copyright Law came into force, so let’s take one more look at the main changes of both laws. This article nicely summarises the main changes. Since both laws underwent substantial changes such as the introduction of the open license system or the expansion of copyright subject matter, it is important for the SMEs to understand these changes.
In this article, China IP SME Helpdesk external expert Michele Ferrante explores how pharmaceutical companies can deal with generic, fake and grey market drugs and which laws and regulations the pharmaceutical companies could rely on. Mr. Ferrante also highlights the importance of brand name protection via trade marks when marketing pharmaceutical products in China, through the presentation of several case studies.
The European Innovation Council (EIC) has recently opened their so-called Pathfinder Challenges calls worth €132 million. EIC Pathfinder Challenges build on cutting-edge directions in science and technology to create new market opportunities. They call for high-risk/high-gain research and development, venturing into new interdisciplinary areas. The deadline for submission of proposals is on 27 October 2021.
On 9 June 2021, the European IP Helpdesk team joined forces with the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Research and Innovation for a virtual training session on the changes in dissemination, exploitation and IP management in the new EU research and innovation funding programme "Horizon Europe". In case you missed it: the webinar was streamed live and a recording as well as the presentations can be accessed via the event website.
In an all-digital - but nonetheless festive - ceremony on 17 June, the European Patent Office (EPO) announced the winners of this year's European Inventor Award 2021. Explore the stories of these outstanding inventors, who have been recognised for their innovative contributions in the fields of nasal drug delivery, DNA-based data storage, nano-materials in dentistry, solar cells for self-charging devices, organic semiconductors, and advances in tissue engineering.