The Greater China IP Updates ¡V May 2022

By Lyndon 

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China Maintains Anti-Squatting Efforts against Winter Olympics Trademark Applications

The China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA), on March 21, 2022, sent out a pronounced message, rejecting 1,270 trademark applications in connection with the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympic Games.  Although the games are over, CNIPA continues to be vigilant about the malicious squatting of Olympic-related trademarks including mascots, slogans, athlete¡¦s names and venue names.  The CNIPA had already placed IP protection for the Beijing 2022 Games high on its agenda by giving an all-around protection package to relevant IPRs, constantly waging special campaigns on malicious trademark squatting, and listing the Beijing 2022 symbols for the Winter Olympics and the Paralympics as special symbols.  For example, in a February official circular, 429 trademark applications were rejected under the Regulations on the Protection of Olympic Symbols and Item 8 under Paragraph 1 of Article 10 of the Trademark Law.  43 already registered trademarks were declared invalid under the Trademark Law Paragraph 1 of Article 44.  The CNIPA campaign will be maintained as long as necessary so that those who choose malicious squatting of such trademarks with bad faith and the firms that represent them are eliminated.

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CNIPA Hosts 2022 National IP Publicity Week

The China National Intellectual Property Administration held a press conference on March 30, to promote the National IP Publicity Week activities that will be held online and on site from April 20 to 26.  The aim is to bring more awareness to the importance of protecting intellectual property by respecting knowledge, advocating innovation, integrity and respect for the rules and regulations in order to build up the country into an IP leader.  There will be exhibitions in celebration of recent IP achievements as well as dissemination of the Outlines for Building an Intellectual Property Power (an outline of plans between 2021 and 2035).  The main on site venue will be in Beijing, but there will be parallel sessions in Hubei, Inner Mongolia, Jiangsu and Guangzhou linked by live streaming.  Because the theme of World Intellectual Property Day 2022 is IP and Youth ¡V Innovating for a Better Future, the CNIPA will invite young representatives to share their IP work experience.  In addition, the CNIPA will interact with overseas IP institutions and media to publicize IP developments in China.  It was revealed that currently there are 690,000 IP professionals in China, and there is a plan to increase the number to 1 million by 2025.  There are 50 universities across China which have established IP colleges and there are hundreds of universities that offer IP majors with more expected to come.

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China Amends Measures for Registration of Pledge on Patent Rights

China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) recently released amended Measures for the Registration of Pledge of Patent Rights as a follow up to the 14^th Five-Year Plan for the Protection and Use of Intellectual Property Rights.  Under the Chinese legal framework, IPR owners can pledge the property rights as security for financing and other transactions.  The pledge must be legally valid and registered with the CNIPA, and the owner will no longer be free to assign or license the same without the pledgee¡¦s consent.  The amended measures mean that the CNIPA will reduce the processing time from 7 to 5 days, while the review period for online registration, modification and cancellation is reduced to 2 working days.  Registration can be made using the online platform and parties may use electronic copies of the relevant documents with the originals to follow.  If the pledged patent is invalid or terminated, if the pledger failed to pay the annuity on time, or if there is a dispute about the ownership of the patent leading to a freeze in the procedures, CNIPA is obliged to notify the pledgee.

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