China Strengthens Management on Patent Administrative Enforcement Certificates

China's State Intellectual Property Office is set to implement measures to unify the certification system for patent enforcement personnel and regulate patent administrative enforcement proceedings, according to SIPO's China IP News.

Enforcement personnel will now be required to show their certificates whilst performing their duties and ensure that they are still valid.

SIPO has been designated as the issuing and supervisory authority for patent administrative enforcement personnel certification nationwide.

The new measures will mean training of personnel can be undertaken on the job with SIPO or with SIPO-approved departments which engage in patent work and all applicants must also take a qualifying examination.

Qualified personnel will be included in a nationwide database.

1m Patent Applications in 2015 and 1m Effective Patents in China: Shen Changyu

At the opening of the 7th Patent Information Annual Conference of China in Beijing, held from September 19 to 20, the commissioner of China's State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO), Shen Changyu, stated that there had been over 1 million patent applications in the country in 2015, with another million patents currently in effect there, according to the state-run Xinhua News Agency.

The 1.1 million domestic invention patent applications put China in first place globally for the fifth year running, according to the report. China is in third place after the US and Japan in terms of the number of domestic invention patents in effect, at over 1 million, the report stated.

Shen Changyu stated that throughout the process of structural reform, intellectual property rights must be protected, according to a SIPO press release.

Representatives from the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the European Patent Office (EPO), the French National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI) and the Japanese Patent Office (JPO) were all in attendance at the conference, as well as SIPO's Communist Party representative Xiao Xingwei, the vice-governor of Guangdong Province Lan Foan, president of China Railway Construction Corporation Meng Fengchao and SIPO’s deputy commissioner He Zhimin. Lan Foan, Meng Fengchao and He Zhimin delivered keynote speeches concerning the establishment of specialist IP provinces, IP rights protections and international cooperation in intellectual property in the context of China's plans for structural reform.

This marks the seventh year the conference has been held since it was first hosted in 2010. Intellectual property protection plays a key role in China's 13th Five Year Plan, according to Shen.

Japanese Patent, Trademark and Utility Model Applications Down Year-on-Year in July: Report

The Japan Patent Office has compiled a preliminary report on patent, trademark and utility model applications for the first seven months of 2016.

Patent and utility model applications and trademark registrations for July were all down year-on-year and month-on-month.

Patent applications for July stood at 23,962, down from 27,568 in June and from 25,338 the previous year, while utility model applications stood at 544 in July, down from 640 in June and from 578 the previous year; Trademark applications in July stood at 11,463, down from 12,999 in June and down from 13,169 the previous year.

For more information visit the JPO website here.

Taiwan and US Sign Letter of Intent on 5G and IoT Cooperation

The Taiwan Association of Information and Communication Standards
(TAICS) and the US Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) signed a letter of intent on Sept. 29, at the 2016 Taipei 5G/IoT Summit, according to Taipei's Economic Daily News.

After signing the letter of intent, Taiwan and the US hope to work together to push forward the introduction of 5G and Internet of Things (IoT) standards and will cooperate on the US Advanced Wireless Research Initiative (AWRI).

The Ministry of Economic Affairs stated that it is actively cooperating with the EU, the US and Japan, in concert with the EU's Public Private Partnership (PPP) plan and Japan's Association of Radio Industries and Businesses (ARIB) and Telecommunication Technology Committee (TTC).

China Grabs the Top Spot in Microorganism Patent
Family Rankings

The World Data Centre for Microorganisms (WDCM) and the Microorganism Resource and Big Data Center of the Microorganism Research Department of the Chinese Academy of Science jointly published a report on the development of microorganism resources on Sept. 6. The report stated that China has already topped the world in the number of published patent families in the microorganism field.

China published the second largest number of papers in the microorganism field from 2001 - 2015 and citations of Chinese theses in the field have been on the rise, according to the head of the WDCM Ma Juncai.

China has 33 Culture Collection and Research Centers, according to the World Federation for Culture Collections (CCINFO), with a collective 182,235 cultures, putting China 4th in the world ranking.

Huanan Bank Granted 4 FinTech Patents

Taiwan's Huanan Bank has been granted four utility model FinTech patents by the Taiwan Intellectual Property Office, according to Taipei's China Times.

This makes Huanan Bank the first bank in which the government holds a stake to receive a FinTech patent.

The patents relate to innovations in payment mechanisms, geolocation used for security purposes and biometric security. The bank intends to apply the technology covered by the patents to their services in the near future, according to the paper.

The bank stated that it will continue to apply for both invention and utility model patents to improve its patent portfolio.

In related news, Taiwan-based insurance company Cathay Life has applied for 30 patents since receiving its first patent in 2014 relating to mobile insurance.

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