China IP SME Helpdesk Newsletter

Last month, the Supreme People’s Court of China awarded its highest amount of compensation to date in a trade secret case. The infringer, Wanglong Group, was asked to compensate the rightful trade secret holder of RMB 159 million (about EUR 20.5 million). While this case did not involve foreign companies and EU SMEs should not expect exceptionally high awards of damages or easy trade secret litigation cases, it is still a sign of encouragement to EU SMEs that cases of trade secret infringement can be successfully won in Chinese courts.

In recent years, China collaborated with several IP offices around the world to facilitate inventors with patent applications to go to China. This includes the PCT CSE program, that allows the IP offices in the five participating regions (EU, China, US, Japan, Korea) to complete the PCT international search report followed by a written opinion. It can thus help the applicant learn about the existing technology in the five regions relevant to their invention and better determine the prospect of authorization for the application in the regions before their investment.

On 1 March, the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) issued the approval of GI protection for 96 EU products, which were listed in the EU-China Agreement on Geographical Indications. The first batch of GI products approved by the CNIPA included GI products from many EU Members States such as Ceske Budejovice Beer, Irish whiskey, and Aceto balsamico di Modena. Another 175 EU GIs will be considered by the CNIPA in the next four years. This is good news for the SMEs producing GI products, as some of their products will now have another layer of protection in China.