Patent Amendments ©(Part II of II)

The Greater China IP Updates – August 2022

By Lyndon

China Releases Top 10 IPR Cases in 2021

The Supreme People’s Court released the top 10 intellectual property rights cases and 50 typical IPR cases from 2021. The reason for publicizing these cases is to inform interested parties and the general public about what constitutes infringement and the punitive damages that might be incurred. One case that was summarized was the case concerning Wyeth, the famous brand of infant milk powder. Originally, Wyeth (Shanghai) Trading Co. was licensed to use the Wyeth trademarks in China. However, the former Guangzhou Wyeth Baby Maternal and Infant Products Co. engaged in large-scale production and sales of mother and baby care products using the Wyeth logo without permission. Due to the large range of infringing acts involving trademark squatting, false advertising, on-line selling, and falsely implying that it was related to Wyeth Co., the infringers were found guilty and ordered to pay punitive damages calculated by 3 times the compensation base.

CNIPA’s Draft Amendment to Patent Law Focuses on Patent Linkage

China’s Drug Administration Law is undergoing modification with new draft amendments being considered for the Regulations for the Implementation of the Drug Administration Law. One section is entitled ‘Intellectual Property Protection for Pharmaceutical Products’ and regulates where there is a patent right dispute during the application for marketing approval of the drug, the relevant parties may file a lawsuit to the court or request an administrative adjudication to the CNIPA. The examination of the application will not pause during the legal action. The National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) will then grant or withhold marketing approval according to the court’s judgement or CNIPA’s approval. The NMPA will also run a pharmaceutical drug patent information registration platform to disclose patent status of the drug. Article 39 of the proposed amendments provides market exclusivity for the successful chemical generic drug which wins a patent linkage dispute for a period of 12 months. In Article 40, the NMPA will not make public any undisclosed experimental data and will not approve any chemical drug or biologic that cites the same data of the previous market approval for 6 years. Article 28 states that a market exclusivity of no longer than 12 months will be awarded to the first approved drug of new variety, dosage form and strength for children, derived from an existing drug. Further, to encourage the development of new pediatric drugs, the applications for market approvals of pediatric drugs will be prioritized.

CNIPA Organizes Training to Upgrade IP Services

The China National Intellectual Property Administration recently organized an online training course for the Technology and Innovation Support Centers (TISC). The course aims to develop an advanced version of the CISCs by expanding its range of services and number of clients. The lecturers at the three-day course included a dozen Chinese and overseas IP experts such as Wang Peizhang, Director General, CNIPA Public Service Department, Andrew Czajkowski, Director, WIPO Technology and Innovation Support Department, and others from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, National Library and Yangtze Delta National Technology Innovation Center. Building a global TISC network, interpretation of IP policies, patent information search and use, and IP information service practice were among the topics discussed. Nearly 1,000 representatives from provincial and city IP administrations, TISCs in China and several IP information public service network members attended the course.