On December 21, 2023, the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) issued the final version of the revised Implementing Rules for the Patent Law and the Guidelines for Patent Examination, which will become effective on January 20, 2024. These Regulations complete legislative efforts on changes to the Chinese patent system introduced by the 4th amendment…
By Jill (Yijun) Ge and Benjamin Bai We discussed when an IP owner might become an IP abuser previously (http://kluwerpatentblog.com/2016/03/08/crossing-the-rubicon-when-does-ip-owner-become-ip-abuser/). For standard essential patent (“SEP”) holders, one lingering question is whether they can still seek and enforce injunctions. Some take the view that the act of seeking injunctive relief is inherently inconsistent with an SEP…
By Benjamin Bai and Jill (Yijun) Ge Consider this hypothetical: a company discovered a new compound and obtained a patent on the compound. Later, this compound was discovered to be ten times harder than diamond. Soon, cutting tools made with this new compound replaced all other types of cutting tools, including diamond tools. Two years…
By Benjamin Bai and Tyler Xiu The Chinese inventor remuneration laws have been in flux for the last several years. Uncertainties are abundant. The first remuneration case involving a foreign company, Zhang v. 3M, has exacerbated the uncertainties – it seems to call into question if any remuneration policy short of 2% profit sharing would…
By Charles Pommiès, François Renard, Jie Tong, and Benjamin Bai Speed read In April 2015, China’s SAIC released its long-awaited guidelines on curbing abuses of intellectual property rights (“IPRs”). It introduces a new basis for forced licensing of IPRs where such rights constitute an “essential facility”. Therefore, assessing market position and reviewing licensing policies under…
Introduction It used to be an excellent strategy to obtain patents on industry standards. The idea was rather simple: a patent covering an industry standard would mean that such a patent could be enforced against the entire industry. However, recent developments in the law on standard essential patents (“SEPs”) have called this strategy into question….
by Dylan Ding and Benjamin Bai Since we last visited this subject in December 2014, the specialized IP courts in China have moved with a speed that is more often observed in some areas of Chinese development but is perhaps unfamiliar to others. The progress so far has been so significant that it warrants an…
Call them “junk patents” or “low quality patents”, however you’d label China’s utility model patents; earlier this year, a utility model patent owner obtained a damages award of USD6 million and a permanent injunction for the infringement of such a patent. This is likely to be the second largest damages award after the famous USD48.5m…
On August 31, 2014 the Chinese legislature approved a resolution to establish specialized IP courts in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. By early November, the Beijing IP Court was operational and had begun to take cases, with 28 being filed in the first four working days. The Guangzhou IP Court is expected to be operational around…
Preliminary injunctions are powerful weapons in patent infringement suits. A successful application – and sometimes even an unsuccessful application – for a preliminary injunction (“PI”) will often lead to an early resolution of litigation. Chinese law authorizes courts to issue PIs, either before or during an infringement action. As such, there are two kinds of…
