Chengdu Intellectual Property Court Launches with Jurisdiction over Sichuan IP Cases

The Chengdu Intellectual Property Court was founded on January 9, 2017. The court will hear civil and administrative cases involving patents, plant species, integrated circuit design, trade secrets, software and anti-trust from all over Sichuan province. The court will be the fourth IP court in China, after those in Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai.

China’s court system is a four tier system comprising the Basic People’s Courts; the Intermediate People’s Courts, the High People’s Courts and the Supreme People’s Courts. In principle the courts of first instance are the Basic People’s Courts and cases on second instance are heard at the Intermediate People’s Courts and so on. But in practice, all four courts can serve as courts of first instance depending on the importance of the case. The intellectual property courts serve as equivalents to Intermediate People’s Courts.

Now the Intermediate People’s Courts of Shanghai and Beijing no longer hear cases involving intellectual property and cases of the first instance in these two cities are referred to the Intellectual Property Courts. Similar to the Chengdu court, the Guangzhou court has jurisdiction for cases from the entirety of Guangdong province for intellectual property cases with the exception of the jurisdiction of the Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court.

The Beijing Intellectual Property Court has another specialized role. As well as civil and administrative suits, it also is responsible for administrative appeals on a refusal by the State Intellectual Property Office to grant a patent.

For more details on how these courts function, you can check out our guide here.

3797 Arrests for IP Infringement in China in 2016

There were 3797 arrests in 2251 criminal cases involving intellectual property and 3863 civil suits launched against 7059 people in China in 2016, according to a press release issued by the Investigation and Supervision Office of the Supreme People's Procuratorate.

This included 1911 people arrested for unsanctioned use of a registered trademark, along with 1684 civil suits brought against 3259 people for the same; 1330 people were arrested under for selling products labeled with fake trademarks in 973 cases, while civil suits were brought in 1486 cases against 2470 people for the same; there were 36 arrests for the illegal production or sale of a trademark in 167 cases, with civil suits brought against 556 people in 294 cases; there were 97 arrests for violation of copyright in 66 cases, while civil suits were brought against 307 people in 182 cases for the same; there were 36 arrests for theft of trade secrets in 22 cases, with civil suits brought against 57 people in 25 cases.

A spokesperson from the Investigation and Supervision Office stated that China is making an effort to crack down on intellectual property violations and cited the country’s efforts to take part in international IP enforcement initiatives, including attending conferences related to the EU-China Cooperative Initiative on IP Enforcement in Spain, and roundtables with Russian prosecutors on cross-border intellectual property rights in Russia as well as receiving visits from IP units from the UK and the US.

China Supreme Court Rules Public Figures Can’t Register Their Names as Trademarks

China's Supreme People's Court recently published a judicial interpretation stating that public figures in fields including politics, culture, religion, or figures considered representative of a certain ethnic identity cannot apply for trademarks on their names, citing Section 8 of Article 10 of the Trademark Law, which states that signs that may have “[…] unwholesome influences […]” cannot be granted trademark registration.

The new interpretation will take effect on March 1, 2017.

Professor Behind Chinese Gene-editing Protein Responds to Patent Application Rejection Story

News that a controversial gene-editing patent application had been rejected in China due to a failure by the listed inventors, Han Chunyu, associate professor at Hebei University of Science and Technology, and Shen Xiao, researcher at the School of Basic Medical Science at Zhejiang University, to respond to an office action issued by the State Intellectual Property Office within the specified time limit emerged in the country in early January. The invention covered by the patent caused a stir when it was first revealed in the peer-reviewed journal Nature, however there were soon reports that the results stated in the article were not replicable. The journal subsequently launched an investigation into the claims, the results of which were originally due to be published at some point in January. The magazine later postponed this announcement, stating that they had received new data which they needed to review. The university subsequently issued a statement from Han, suggesting that he had abandoned the original application in order to apply first for an overseas patent and then apply for a Chinese patent through the PCT system.

Enzyme manufacturer Novozymes has since signed an agreement with the university to explore the possible uses of the protein, originally hyped to be better at gene-editing than CRISPR 9-Cas9, although it remains unclear whether it can be used only to silence genes or to edit them.

The experiment reportedly used Natronobacterium gregoryi Argonaute (NgAgo) to edit the genes of zebrafish. The application was filed on Dec. 21, 2015 and published on April 13, 2016, with the publication number CN105483118A. Its substantive examination was initiated on May 11, 2016.

The patent is summarized as below.

“The invention discloses a gene editing technique taking Argonaute nuclease as a core. In the presence of guide DNA (Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid), Argonaute endonuclease can cut any locus of a targeted DNA sequence, including a genome of a mammal to cause breakage of DNA double chains, thereby fulfilling an editing aim. Editing means include incision, deletion, mutagenesis induction, exogenous sequence insertion, fragment substitution and the like. Editing effects include gene inactivation, gene mutation, exogenous gene induction and the like. The protein can serve as an important tool for genome editing. A gene editing tool taking the protein as the core has the characteristics of easiness in operation, high efficiency, low target missing rate and high fidelity. Moreover, almost any genome locus can be effectively targeted and cut by the Argonaute nuclease. By using the technique, high-specificity and high-efficiency genome targeted editing is helpfully realized.”

SIPO Receives 1.3 Million Invention Patent Applications
in 2016

China's State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) received 1.3 million invention patent applications in 2016, with applications up 21.5% year on year. China has ranked top in invention patent applications for six years running.

SIPO granted 404,000 invention patents in 2016, with 302,000 of these granted to domestic applicants, up 14.5% year on year.

Huawei filed the most invention patent applications of any Chinese company in 2016, while the State Grid Corporation of China was granted the most invention patents.

SIPO received 45,000 PCT applications, up 47.3% year on year. Guangdong received the most PCT applications with 23,600.

China has also applied for 4843 patents in 18 countries involved in its Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st-century Maritime Silk Road (Belt and Road) initiatives, up 47.1% year on year. Countries involved in the Belt and Road initiatives applied for 3697 Chinese patents, up 18.2% year on year.

Japan Continues to Push Forward on TPP Readiness

Japan has continued to push forward with the implementation of a partial revision of the country’s Patent Act that covers the development of a system for extending the duration of patent rights and other rules, in line with the TPP Agreement, despite newly-elected US President Donald Trump’s rejection of the agreement, according to a press release issued by the Japan Patent Office.

The changes are aimed at developing a system for extending patent rights in cases in which patent-right holders face delays before being granted a patent due to a lengthy patent examination or other factors. This is aimed at compensating them for the shortened patent terms they receive as result of such delays.

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