Top 10 Trademark Agencies in Administrative Litigation  On January 8, 2021, Zhichanli Network Technology Co., Ltd., China’s top intellectual property media platform, published the Top 10 China Intellectual Property Agencies Rankings. Beijing East IP was ranked in the Top 10 Trademark Agencies in Administrative Litigation for the following two cases.  Case 1 – Lonely Planet is […]

Weekly China Trademark News Updates January 18, 2021 1. The first instance court fined the “Supreme” mark squatter for RMB 8.5 million On November 14, 2019, Chapter 4 Corp. (“Chapter 4”), owner of the famous “Supreme” skateboard and streetwear brand, filed an unfair competition lawsuit against Shanghai Jiao She International Trade Co., Ltd. and Zhejiang […]

“The revisions generally serve the proclaimed purposes of placing greater importance on and strengthening IP protection, optimizing enforcement of patent rights, increasing deterrence to infringement, and promoting patent utilization and commercialization of inventions.”

Appointed Translators: Jason WANG / Austin CHANG, Beijing East IP Law Firm Author: Baoqing ZANG, Trademark Review and Adjudication Board (TRAB) Original Chinese text: China Industry and Commerce Newspaper June 21, 2016

On February 28, the Beijing IP Court (“IP Court”) issued a decision in Qilu Pharmaceutical v. the PRB ((2017)京73行初字No. 5365), which reversed a ruling by the Patent Reexamination Board (“PRB”) that upholds the validity of Patent No. 200910176994.1 (the “’994 patent”) owned by Beijing Sihuan Pharmaceutical (“Sihuan”). The IP Court holds that the inauthentic experimental data presented in the original description result in the failure to satisfy the enablement requirement.

China has three types of patents, i.e., invention, utility model, and design. The utility model patent does not have the counterpart in some other jurisdictions such as the USA, so some essential aspects of the utility model patent will be introduced below for better understanding of it.

On December 20, 2017, in the Patent Reexamination Board of SIPO (PRB) v. Beijing Winsunny Harmony Science & Technology Co., Ltd. ((2016)最高法行再41号), the Supreme Court held that a Markush claim, when drawn to a class of chemical compounds, should be interpreted as a set of Markush elements rather than a set of independent specific compounds. The present case is a petition for retrial filed by the PRB, requesting the Supreme Court to review the second-instance decision made by the Beijing High People’s Court (“High Court”). In reversing the PRB’s decision in the invalidation proceedings instituted by Beijing Winsunny Harmony Science & Technology Co., Ltd. (“Winsunny”), the High Court recognized a Markush claim as claiming a set of parallel technical solutions.