Patent Amendments ©(Part II of II)

The Greater China IP Updates – October 2022

By Lyndon

China Issues Notice on Accelerating the Launch of More Effective IP Policies to Promote Steady and Healthy Economic Growth

The China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) has recently announced the above-titled measure to help enterprises out of difficulties through various policies as follows:

1.      The CNIPA will postpone the collection of annual patent fees.
2.      Mechanisms to enable priority examination of patents and rapid examination of trademark registrations will be put in place and promoted.
3.      The IP Protection Centers throughout the country will be tasked with settling disputes efficiently and promptly.
4.      The Hague Agreement will be publicized and assistance given to those who need it.
5.      Financial services will be offered to those businesses that can provide IP as pledges.
6.      Financial support will also be given to SMEs who want to capitalize on their IP.

Due to the economic headwinds being felt globally, it is hoped these measures will help businesses to keep innovating by making the most effective use of their IP resources. From the data released for the January to June 2022 period, it seems that applications for patents, trademarks and other IPRs maintained a stable growth rate. CNIPA received 33,000 PCT international patent applications, and Chinese applicants submitted 353 international design applications via the Hague Agreement. Also, in the same period, Chinese applicants obtained 46,000 patents in foreign countries, which was an increase of 14.1% year-on-year.

China Holds the First Global Geographical Indications Products Expo and Forum on the China-EU Agreement on Geographical Indications

Luzhou City, Sichuan Province recently hosted the abovementioned event which attracted over 600 geographical indication (GI) enterprises from more than 20 countries and regions showcasing more than 1,000 GI products. Investment cooperation in 12 GI products were facilitated and 200 bulk order contracts were signed. As the first Expo of its kind after the China-EU Agreement on Geographical Indications entered into force, the Expo was a significant opportunity for both sides to learn about global GI products. In the year to late June 2022, China has approved a total of 2,493 GI products, certified 6,927 GIs to be registered as collective and certification marks, and authorized about 19,400 market entities to use GI symbols. While China’s GI industry is taking off, Sino-EU cooperation has also attracted attention in this field. China and the EU launched the pilot project of 10+10 mutual recognition of GIs as long ago as 2007 with the Agreement finally being signed in March 2021. Currently, China and the EU have seen a total of 110 Chinese GIs protected in the EU and 134 EU GIs protected in China through separate applications and pilot mutual recognition agreements.

IP Rights Boosted in China

Policies that China recently adopted in order to strengthen the protection of intellectual property rights will increase confidence of foreign companies in China. Mei Gechlik, founder and chief executive of the Sinotalks website and an IP industry expert, said that China’s five-year plan on improving IPR protection is substantial enough to improve the state of judicial protection of intellectual property rights as CNIPA rolls out new measures in the interim. One notable development is the development of the intellectual property adjudication guidance system. As part of that development, China’s Supreme People’s Court has issued more than 30 intellectual property-related Guiding Cases over the past decade. Each Guiding Case establishes clear principles about how to apply the various newly-introduced IP laws. In 2021, the Outline of Construction of an IP Powerhouse Country was established, and it sets out targets for China’s IPR system. One aspect of the plan is to improve the protection of designs as well as tangible products in order to follow the international trends in IPR. While the global economy is facing enormous challenges, China is hoping that, by these measures, foreign businesses will feel confident in making further inward investment.