On 1 June 2021, the Amended Patent Law took effect and introduced patent term extension (“PTE“) and patent linkage (“PL“), which are closely related to the pharmaceutical industry. The legislative amendment reflects China’s determination to promote the research and development of innovative drugs in the pharmaceutical industry. The China National Intellectual Property Administration (“CNIPA“), the…

A recent dispute over standard essential patent (SEP) between Inter Digital, Inc. and its affiliates (collectively “IDC“) and Xiaomi Communication Technology Co., Ltd. and its affiliates (collectively “Xiaomi“) before the Wuhan Intermediate People’s Court (“WIPC China“) has drawn wide public attention.  The concerned technologies involve SEPs related to 3G and 4G standards. It is a…

In Linklinear Development Co., Ltd. v. Shanghai Baoye Group Corp., Ltd., [(2019) SPC. IP. Civil. Jur. Fin. No. 2] (November 1, 2019), the IP Tribunal of the Supreme People’s Court (“SPC”) affirmed a lower court’s decision denying the transfer of Linklinear’s later-filed infringement action to another court that hears a first-filed declaratory judgment action, holding…

The IP Tribunal of the Supreme People’s Court (SPC) recently issued a decision in Dunjun v. Tengda ((2019) SPC IP Civil No. 147), holding that the manufacturer’s making and selling of routers directly infringed a telecommunication method-of-use patent even though the manufacturer itself did not perform one single step of the patented method. This article…

On 5 December 2019, the IP Tribunal of the Supreme People’s Court (SPC) handed down two decisions in which – in a first for China, the SPC heard and decided on both the patent validity and infringement disputes in one consolidated proceeding.  Background The two actions arose out of a patent infringement dispute between the…

Chinese courts heavily rely on evidence to rule a case, and conventionally, notarization is basically the only option when a party collects evidence by itself. However, conventional notarization has its limitations and is not always an efficient approach. With the development of technology, some new forensics methods are emerging and are being explored in trials…

After several rounds of revisions, the latest draft of the 4th amendment of the Patent Law was released by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (“NPC”) after its first reading in December 2018. This version is expected to be very close to the final amendment. As a response to the “Opinions on strengthening…