China IP SME Helpdesk Newsletter

China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) has announced joining the "PPH (the Patent Prosecution Highway) Improvement Initiative".The initiative aims at providing PPH users with a more predictable examination cycle. It aims at speeding up patent examination and achieving an average duration of 3 months both from the grant of a PPH request to issuance of a first office action and for an average response time from examiner to applicant.

Many SMEs might realize that their China market entry plans will take longer than initially expected and after 3 years of very limited use of the trademark in China, they may find themselves in a situation where their trademark is being challenged due to “non-use”. In this article, the China IP SME Helpdesk external expert Dr Jian Xu explains how SMEs can organize the evidence of use of the trademark in China to defend themselves against such challenges.

China will focus on strengthening the judicial protection of IPR in newly emerging industries such as AI, biotechnology, green energy, and information and communication technology, Gong Ming, deputy procurator-general of the Supreme People's Procuratorate said one day before World Intellectual Property Day. Gong Ming also mentioned that equal protection has been provided for domestic and foreign rights holders, and supervision efforts have been intensified in anti-monopoly and unfair competition to maintain market order.

China is working to further enhance the efficiency of its patent application review process, with the goal of reducing the examination time to 15.5 months this year. The average period spent reviewing a trademark application remained at four months. The newly effected rules for the implementation of the Patent Law in January 2024, encompassed several new measures aimed at enhancing the patent examination system and improving the quality of patent review.

Wang Peizhang, an official from the China National Intellectual Property Administration said that patent examination standards will be facilitated in emerging sectors such as big data, artificial intelligence and gene technology, and the average time spent reviewing an invention patent is expected to be reduced to 15.5 months.

The China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) leads a week-long activities “Promoting High-Quality Development by Facilitating" from April 20 to April 26. During the Publicity Week, the three major organizers (China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA), the Publicity Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC)) will jointly hold a press conference to introduce the progress of China's 2023 work in building an IP Powerhouse.

Recently, Chinese courts have taken a tougher stance towards trademark coexistence agreements. China IP SME Helpdesk external expert Charles Feng explains the legal basis for the trademark coexistence agreements as well as the implications of the evolving legal practice in this area to SMEs.

The European Union has approved an artificial intelligence law that aims to ensure safety, fundamental rights, and innovation. The legislation received significant support from lawmakers in the European Parliament, with 523 votes in favor, 46 against, and 49 abstentions. This act can serve as a reference to other countries to better regulate the use of AI.

At a minister's passage interview after the 14th National People's Congress, Shen Changyu, head of the National Intellectual Property Administration highlighted the equal protection to enterprises, regardless of whether they are State-owned, private or foreign, CNIPA will accelerate the steps to revise the Trademark Law and fully implementing the newly amended Patent Law, explores to formulate IP protection rules in the field of data.