On July 16, the Supreme People’s Court published the Decision of the Supreme People’s Court on Revising the “Certain Provisions of the Supreme People’s Court on Issues Concerning the Application of Law in the Hearing of Patent Dispute Cases” (Draft for Soliciting Public Opinion) to solicit public opinions and suggestions.

Huawei Technology Co., Ltd (“Huawei”) has negotiated with InterDigital (IDC) for many times on standard essential patent royalty or royalty rate. During negotiations, IDC filed a lawsuit to an American court and requested the International Trade Commission of the United States to start 377 investigations and issue a complete injunction on imports, and cease and desist orders on relevant goods of Huawei.

2013 is the initial year which the people’s courts applied the principles of the 18th Party Congress. It is also a critical year to ensure continued efficient and effective implementation of the twelfth Five-Year Plan, and a year which intellectual property adjudication forges new frontiers.

1. Patent Infringement Case of Determining Equivalents of New Materials Technology
Appellate Case on Invention Patent Infringement, Hunan Corun New Energy Co., Ltd. v. Alantum Advanced Technology Materials (Dalian) Co., Ltd., etc [Jiangsu High Court Civil Judgment (2011) Su Zhi Min Zai Zhong Zi No. 1]

Beijing EAST IP Law Firm presented
English Translation for Reference Merely
1. Appellate Case on Vertical Monopoly Agreement, Beijing Rui Bang Yong He Science and Trade Co., Ltd. v. Johnson & Johnson (Shanghai) Medical Equipment Co., Ltd, Johnson & Johnson (China) Medical Equipment Co., Ltd. [Shanghai High Court Civil Judgment (2012) Hu Gao Min San (Zhi) Zhong Zi No. 63]

The Decisions on Amending the Chinese Trademark Law promulgated by the fourth meeting of the Twelfth Standing Committee of National People’s Congress shall come into effect on May 1, 2014. In order to implement the new Chinese Trademark Law, some issues of bridging the previous and new Chinese Trademark Law are hereby noticed as follows

The Interpretations of the Supreme People’s Court Concerning the Jurisdiction and Application Law in the Cases of Trademarks after the Entry into Force of the Decision Amending the Chinese Trademark Law have been adopted at the 1606th Session of the Judicial Committee of the Supreme People’s Court on February 10, 2014, and are hereby promulgated for implementation as of May 1, 2014.

On March 17, 2014, the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) issued Order No. 68 Promulgating “SIPO’s Decision on Amendments to Guidelines for Patent Examination.” Under this order, graphic user interfaces (GUI) will become eligible for design patent protection as of May 1, 2014.

In October 2013, the CTMO issued notice on an amendment to the 10th Edition of International Classification of Goods and Services. According to the notice, the Tenth Edition, Version 2014 of the Nice Classification will enter into force on January 1, 2014. Parts of the amendment are attached.

On November 8, 2013, Wei PAN, a judge at the Beijing High People’s Court posted the comment and analysis regarding the Ritz-Carlton well-known mark case on China Intellectual Property News. The English translation is for reference and research only.