On May 7, 2024, China’s Supreme People’s Court (SPC) released the Working Procedures for the Construction and Operation of the People’s Court Case Database (人民法院案例库建设运行工作规程). While China is not a common law country, the SPC stated that judges must search the database and rule in alignment with similar cases in the database to avoid different rulings in cases having the same facts.  The Working Procedures explain how cases are added to the database and how judges should use the database ... The post China’s Supreme People’s Court Releases Working Procedures for the Construction and Operati ..read more

On April 22, 2024, the Shanghai No. 3 Intermediate People’s Court affirmed the Shanghai Huangpu District People’s Court earlier ruling against principal defendants Long XX Company, Chen XX and Chen YY in a case of criminal copyright infringement of Lego sets.  The Court sentenced Long XX Company to a fine of RMB 600 million RMB; sentenced the principal defendant Chen XX to nine years in prison and a fine of RMB 20 million RMB; sentenced the principal defendant Chen YY  ... The post 9-Year Prison Sentence and 600 Million RMB Fine for Criminal Copyright Infringement of Lego Sets appear ..read more

On April 26, 2024, China’s National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) released the 2023 Typical Cases of Administrative Enforcement (2023年度知识产权行政保护典型案例). The 30 cases covers patents, trademarks and geographical indications. Administrative enforcement in China provides an alternative to enforcement through the court system and can be faster and less expensive than going to trial. However, while damages are unavailable defendants can be fined.  Note though fines can be quite high as the 12 million RMB fine in the first case below indicates. ... The post China’s National Intellect ..read more

On April 24, 2024, China’s Supreme People’s Court (SPC) released the Summary of the Supreme People’s Court’s Annual Report on Legal Application in Intellectual Property Cases (2023) (最高人民法院知识产权案件法律适用问题年度报告（2023）摘要).  The annual report “sorts out the following 41 legal application issues from the intellectual property cases concluded by the Supreme People’s Court in 2023.”  While not black letter law in the common law sense, the judgements may be intended to be influential among lower courts. As explained by the SPC:  1. Determination ... The post China’s Supreme People’s Court R ..read more

On April 26, 2024, China’s National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) released the 2023 Typical Cases of Administrative Enforcement (2023年度知识产权行政保护典型案例). The 30 cases covers patents, trademarks and geographical indications. Administrative enforcement in China provides an alternative to enforcement through the court system and can be faster and less expensive than going to trial. However, while damages are unavailable defendants can be fined. CNIPA provided case briefs for the typical administrative patent cases as follows: I. Typical cases of administrative protection of ... The pos ..read more

In an announcement dated April 23, 2024, the Beijing Internet Court of China ruled against a defendant that used a dubber’s voice to train a generative AI. Specifically, the Court held that the defendant use of dubber’s voice to train an AI voice generator infringed the dubber’s personality rights due to similarity of the voice generator output to the dubber’s voice.  This same Court earlier held there is copyright in AI-generated images. As the Beijing Internet Court explained, the plaintiff ... The post China’s Beijing Internet Court Recognizes Personality Rights in Generative AI Case a ..read more

On April 22, 2024, China’s Supreme People’s Court (SPC) released the Top 10 Intellectual Property Cases of 2023 and 50 Typical IP Cases of 2023. While not officially a common law jurisdiction, these cases have “demonstration and guidance functions” for lower courts.  The SPC also released the Top 10 Influential Cases earlier this year. As explained by the SPC:  1. Case involving “Siemens” trademark infringement and unfair competition disputes 最高人民法院（2022）最高法民终312号民事判决书 [Case Summary] Xi AA Joint Stock Company and Xi AA ... The post China’s Supreme People’s Court Releases Top 10 IP Ca ..read more

On April 22, 2024, the Pudong District of Shanghai, China released the Pudong New Area Science and Technology Development Fund Intellectual Property Funding Special 2024 Application Guide (浦东新区科技发展基金知识产权资助专项2024年度申报指南), which includes funding for the establishment of standard essential patent (SEP) pools. Fourteen other funding measures are also available including up to 2 million RMB for foreign invention patent funding/entity and foreign intellectual property rights enforcement. The requirements for the SEP pool subsidy follows: 13) Subsidy for the construction of standard essential ... The ..read more

On April 22, 2024, China’s Supreme People’s Court (SPC) held a press conference for Intellectual Property Publicity Week, introducing the overall situation of judicial protection of intellectual property rights in courts across the country in 2023. The SPC also released the Status of Judicial Protection of Intellectual Property Rights in Chinese Courts (2023) (中国法院知识产权司法保护状况(2023年)). Some highlights from the press conference and report follow. A total of 544,126 IPR cases in various types were newly received in 2023, with 544,112 concluded. ... The post China’s Supreme People’s Court Hold IP P ..read more

China’s National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) recently released first quarter grant data for 2024. For the first quarter, the number of invention patents granted was 251,882 , a year-on-year increase of 54.6%. The number of utility model grants was 419,451 , a year-on-year decrease of 30.1%. The number of authorized designs was 146,270 , a year-on-year decrease of 20.2%. Note that utility model grants in 2023 Q1 were already down over 21% year-on-year and utility model grants were down 25.5% ... The post Chinese Utility Model Grants Down 30%, Invention Patent Grants Up Almost 5 ..read more