The Supreme People’s Court has just issued draft regulations for comment regarding how new Article 76 will work in conjunction with civil procedure law. The period to submit comments ends December 14, 2020, and the final version will come into force June 1, 2021, together with the new Chinese Patent Law. The Backdrop: New Chinese Patent Law Adds Patent Linkage (Article 76) Linking Drug Approval to a “Clear” Patent Position In October of 2020 China passed the 4th amendment of the patent law which ushered in some sweeping changes in certain areas that are especially exciting for life science companies. One of the most important changes is the introduction of…
- Biotech, China, Patent Linkage, Patent Term Extension, Pharma, Supreme People's Court, Updates and Changes
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New Guidelines! How to Apply China’s Criminal Law in IP Infringement
New announcements have been made by the Supreme People’s Court and the Supreme People’s Procuratorate (Prosecutor General’s Office) as they jointly issued Interpretation on Applying the Law in Intellectual Property Infringement Criminal Cases, which has taken effect on 14th September 2020. As a whole, the most recent interpretations aim at enhancing efforts to protect intellectual property rights by simultaneously creating stricter rules for criminalizing offenders and increasing the scope of protection for IP rights’ owners. The new revisions further standardize and regulate parts of the legal process, providing clarity to all and building a healthy legal and business environment. Counterfeits with Minor Alternations still Infringe (Provision 1) Counterfeits have been…
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Narrow Claim Scope of a Chinese Utility Model Patent Fuels Design-Arounds by Failing to Curb Competing Products:
Learning from a 2019 China’s Top 50 Representative IP Case The number of patent applications in China is now the highest in the world, with more than half the applications filed as utility model applications (UMs). For example, there were more than 2 million UMs filed in 2018 alone (for the difference between a utility model and an invention patent in China, see here). However, less than 1% are filed by foreigners[1]. This reflects the lack of appreciation on the part of many foreign companies of what protection UMs can confer, and there is a general misunderstanding that UMs are by definition poor in quality. This misconception is fueled by…