China IP SME Helpdesk Newsletter

In January 2022, the Standards for Determining General Trademark Violations came to force. The Standards identify concrete guidelines for judging trade mark violations and impose stricter requirements for trade marks. In this article, China IP SME Helpdesk external expert Mr. Jian Xu provides a detailed overview of the Standards.

In March 2022, the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) issued the Annual Guidelines for Facilitating High-Quality Development of Intellectual Property 2022. The guidelines aim to improve the overall quality of China’s utility model patents. It is proposed to introduce stricter utility model examination rules to improve the quality of utility models, however, the level of inventive step required for a utility model is expeted to be lower than the one for invention patents.

Yazhou Bay Seed Laboratory in Sanya has developed a method to identify seed varieties at the molecular level to identify and fight counterfeit seeds. The method is called MNP marker which according to the Laboratory “can obtain identifications for crop varieties with much higher efficiency and 99.98 percent accuracy”. The method can be used to “help detect counterfeits and quickly clarify the intellectual property owners of imported germ plasm resources”. It is certainly an interesting invention for SMEs engaged in the developmet of new plant varieties.

In May 2022, the “Certain Provisions for the Hierarchy of Courts of Original Jurisdiction over Civil and Administrative IP Litigation” came to force. These Provisions aim to streamline the structure of the courts where disputes over intellectual property rights are adjudicated for the first time. According to the Provisions, “specialized intellectual property courts, intermediate people’s courts at capitals of provinces, autonomous regions, and special municipalities, and intermediate people’s courts purposefully assigned by the SPC shall have original jurisdiction over seven types of civil and administrative IP disputes involving intense scientific and technical elements, such as invention patents, utility model patents, new plant varieties, layout designs of integrated circuits, trade secrets, computer software copyrights, and monopolistic practices.”

In May 2022, the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired or Otherwise Print Disabled came to force in China. The Treaty aims to eliminate copyright-related obstacles for visually impaired people. According to China’s National Copyright Administration, “the enforcement of the treaty will substantially enrich the cultural life of the print-disabled population, and improve the quality of their education”.