No.102¡¡Aug.28, 2014 |
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| Jiuzhaigou Ravine in SiChuan |
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 China to establish intellectual property courts in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou |
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The decision on the establishment of intellectual property courts in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou made by the Standing Committee of National People's Congress was adopted at the Tenth Meeting of the Twelfth National People's Congress Standing Committee on August 31, 2014, and the full text was released at the website of "Chinese National People's Congress", as follows:
The decision on the establishment of intellectual property courts in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou by the Standing Committee of National People's Congress
(adopted at the Tenth Meeting of the Twelfth National People's Congress Standing Committee on August 31, 2014£©
To promote the implementation of the national strategy of innovation-driven development, further strengthen judicial protection of IPR, protect legitimate interests of the right-owner by law, and safeguard public interests, it is hereby decided as follows in accordance with the Constitution and the Organization Law of the People's Court:
1. Intellectual property courts will be set up in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.
The establishment of courtrooms of intellectual property courts is determined by the Supreme People's Court according to the types and quantity of intellectual property cases.
2. The jurisdiction of an intellectual property court covers the first instance of civil and administrative IPR cases related to patents, new plant varieties, integrated circuit design, technology secrets and other professional technologies.
The first instance of administrative cases of IPR authorization and ownership determination due to refusal of the verdict or decision of the administrative organs of the State Council is under the jurisdiction of Beijing intellectual property court.
The cases in the first paragraph are under inter-regional jurisdiction of intellectual property courts. Within three years after the intellectual property court is established, inter-regional jurisdiction can be implemented in the province (municipality) where it is located.
3. Appealed cases of civil and administrative judgments or verdicts of the first instance copyrights, trademarks and other intellectual property rights by the regional people's court in the city where the Intellectual property court is located, are heard by the intellectual property court.
4. Appealed cases of the first instance judgments and verdicts by the intellectual property court, is heard by the Higher People¡¯s Court in the province (municipality) where the intellectual property court is located.
5. Trials by the intellectual property court is under supervision of the Supreme Court and the Higher People's Court in the province (municipality) where it is located. The intellectual property court shall be subject to legal supervision of People's Procuratorate.
6. The president of an intellectual property court shall be proposed by the Meeting of Directors of municipal People's Congress Standing Committee for appointment and dismissal by the People's Congress Standing Committee in the province (municipality) where it is located.
Vice president, president of the tribunal, judges and judicial committee members of the intellectual property court, are proposed by the president of intellectual property court for appointment and dismissal by the Municipal People's Congress Standing Committee in the province (municipality) where it is located.
The intellectual property court takes responsibility and reports to the Municipal People's Congress Standing Committee in the province (municipality) where it is located.
7. After three years of implementation of this Decision, the Supreme Court shall report to the National People's Congress Standing Committee on its implementation.
8. This Decision shall be implemented from the date of announcement. |
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| Statistics of international patent applications accepted by China in the first half of 2014 |
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China Intellectual Property Office website announced on August 13 that, in the first half of this year, China accepted a total of 11,243 international patent applications submitted through "Patent Cooperation Treaty" (PCT), representing an increase of 20.5% against the same period of last year. Among them, 10,283 were from within the country, accounting for 91.5%, with a year-on-year increase of 23%.
In the first half, there were ten provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) who have more than 100 PCT international patent applications accepted by China Intellectual Property Office. Among them, Guangdong ranked first, with 5,937 applications; followed by Beijing, Jiangsu, Shanghai and Zhejiang. Applications from these five provinces accounted for 80% in the national total.
In terms of PCT international patent applicants, Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd., ZTE Corporation and BOE Technology Group Co., Ltd. ranked the top three. Among the top ten applicants were some science and technology companies with Internet background, such as Tencent Technology (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. and Millet Technology Co., Ltd.
In the first half of the year, there were 20 countries that submitted PCT international patent applications to the State Intellectual Property Office. Among them, the United States ranked first with 482 applications, Japan ranked second with 94, and the two countries accounted for 60% of total foreign applications. |
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| Announcement on instruction for split business application for trademark registration and application considerations by the Trademark Office of State Administration for Industry and Commerce |
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According to the provisions of Article 22 of the "People's Republic of China Trademark Law Implementing Regulations", related matters on split business application for trademark registration are announced as follows:
¢ñ. Procedures
1. The Trademark Office sends the "Notice of partial refusal application for trademark registration" to the applicant, together with the "Split application form for trademark registration application".
2. To apply for the split, the original form provided by the Trademark Office shall be filled out and signed and sealed by the applicant based on specific requirements in the "Remarks" of "Split application form of trademark registration application".
3. The applicant or his/her agent shall submit the original application form directly or send back to the Trademark Office by post, within 15 days after receiving the "Split application form of trademark registration application" supplied with "Notice of partial refusal of application for trademark registration". It is not necessary to submit in case of no application for split.
4. The Trademark Office reviews the "Split application form of trademark registration application" and related documents submitted by the applicant or his/her agent.
If the requirements are satisfied, the applicant's original application for registration will be divided into two parts, with a new application number generated for the validated part, retaining the original filing date and preliminary approval notice published; the original application number will be retained for the part to be rejected, and the applicant can continue to advocate his/her rights through re-examination and other follow-up procedures of rejection.
If the requirements are not satisfied, the applicant is deemed as not accepting to split, after the conclusion of statutory procedures for the decision of partial rejection, the validated part will then be announced.
5. No fee shall be charged for the split application.
¢ò. Requirements for filling
1. For the application submitted directly by the applicant, a stamp or signature shall be presented in the column of ¡°Applicant seal (signature)¡± of the "Split application form of trademark registration application"; for the application submitted through an agency, the agency shall stamp in the column of "Agency seal", and the employee of the trademark agency shall sign in the column of "Agent signature".
2. Relevant documentary evidences shall be provided in following circumstances:
(1) In case of any changes of the name of applicant, the relevant original documentary evidence of change or the notarized copy shall be attached;
(2) In case of any changes of the agency, relevant evidence of the application for the change and acceptance by the Trademark Office shall be attached, which is usually a copy of the acceptance notification issued by the Office.
¢ó. Instructions
1. Each application for registration can be split only once, and only applies to some designated goods or services that are allowed for refusal procedures by the Trademark Office in one application for trademark registration, but no split in other procedures.
2. The "Split application form of trademark registration application" submitted by the applicant shall be the original form supplied by the Trademark Office, and the contents in any column cannot be altered, otherwise it is deemed as non-consent to split.
3. The applicant shall fill out, sign and stamp the "Split application for of trademark registration application" in strict accordance with requirements in Remarks. Any failure of filling out, signing or stamping will be deemed as non-consent to split.
4. The applicant shall submit an application for split within the statutory period. Any failure of submission within the period will be deemed as non-consent to split.
5. Once the split application is submitted, it cannot be withdrawn.
Trademark Office of The State Administration for Industry & Commerce
August 20, 2014 |
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| UI and payment platform for China PCT international patent application CE-PCT system is launched online in mid-August |
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The international stage review and procedure management system of China PCT international patent applications (shortened as ¡°CE-PCT System¡±) has been put into use since March 31, 2014. Recently, the State Intellectual Property Office issued a notice that CE-PCT offline UI has been officially launched on August 18, 2014.
The applicant may submit the application documents for PCT international stage through offline UI . Meanwhile, the online payment platform for PCT international stage application has also been opened on the same day, the users can make payments needed for the international stage through the platform.
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| 2014 China Patent Information Annual Conference held in Beijing |
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Asia's largest annual gathering of the patent information circle - China Patent Information Annual Conference (PIAC) is held in Beijing on September 11 this year. The two-day annual conference will bring together government authorities of intellectual property from major countries, industry-leading companies and research institutions as well as representatives of numerous patent information service providers. Under the theme of ¡°Fusion of Patent Strategy and Economic Development¡±, profound interpretations will be made on patent strategies of domestic and foreign enterprises in China as well as the current situation and prospects of "going abroad" of Chinese enterprises, so as to provide a brilliant patent feast for all the participants.
According to the organizer, China's Patent Information Annual Conference this year set up five forums, namely, "Intellectual Property Management Practices of Enterprises", "Patent Operations", "Patent Issues on Chinese Enterprises ¡®Going Abroad¡¯ ", "Patent Information Products and Services" and "Patent Protection", with roundtable discussion, patent information services and products demonstrations, to publicize regulations on patents and promote the exchanges of patent information.
It is told that the China Patent Information Annual Conference was founded in 2010, first held by the China Intellectual Property Publishing House, with the purpose of "building a platform of international exchange and cooperation on patent information", to meet the needs of information innovation of domestic and foreign enterprises in China, and grasp the direction and trend of industry development. It is estimated that more than 1500 people will attend the conference. |
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| Tensar China wins at the first instance of patent administrative litigation against the Patent Reexamination Board |
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Recently, Tensar China won in the first instance of patent invalidity administrative litigation against the Patent Reexamination Board ([2014] Y.Z.Z.X.C.Z. No.384); the case was acted by Sun Changlong and Li Zhaolinng, lawyers from Beijing Unitalen Attorneyes at Law.
Background£º
Tensar China owns the Chinese invention patent of "grid and grid manufacture method" (ZL03154700.1). Based on this patent, Tensar China entrusted Unitalen for matters related to ownership protection. During the process of ownership protection, Tensar China found that the Chinese utility model patent No. 201120246315.6(referred to as "target patent in the case") had at least part of its technical solutions same to those disclosed in Tensar Group's Chinese invention patent ZL03154700.1; on May 23, 2012, Tensar China made a request to the Patent Reexamination Board for invalidation, with the reason that the target patent in this case does not comply with the relevant provisions of the Patent Law. Ultimately, the Patent Reexamination Board considered that: claim 1 and claim 2 of the target patent in this case were not inventative; meanwhile, Tensar Group's Chinese invention patent ZL03154700.1 did not disclose additional technical features of claim 3, which was inventative.
Tensar China filed the patent administrative lawsuit to Beijing First Intermediate People's Court on December 23, 2013.
Key points£º
The Issue: Additional technical features in claim 3 disclosed by Tensar Group's Chinese invention patent ZL03154700.1 or not: the aforesaid longitudinally parallel ribs in the triangle mesh grid have greater width and thickness than ribs of the other two groups.
In order to obtain support from the court, Tensar China¡¯s agent focused its work on the following two aspects:
First, in-depth study was conducted to get familiar with the technical contents, and efforts were made to display and elaborate them in a more audience-friendly way. The lawyers from Unitalen had an in-depth understanding of technical background and technical contents related to the patent, and conducted repeated simulations and rigorous deduction based on the technical features of the target patent in the case; through graphic and visual presentation, it is easier for the judge to understand the technology involved and the claims of Tensar China.
Second, take the characteristics of patent administrative litigation into consideration, it is difficult for the court to overturn the assertion of inventativeness in claim 3 by the Patent Reexamination Board based merely on "logical verification". Therefore, on the foundation of considerable investigation, the lawyers from Unitalen Attorneyes at Law found a series of documents (including invalidation decision of the Patent Reexamination Board, the first instance judgment, second instance judgment and retrial judgment) of the invalidating procedures of patent No. 17334 (invalidating procedures of another patent ). This series of documents basically unanimously found: Tensar Group's Chinese patent ZL03154700.1 has disclosed the additional technical features in claim 3.
After the trial, the lawyers from Unitalen Attorneyes at Law provided a detailed statement as required by the judge, elaborating the relationship between the invalidating procedures of the two cases, reasons to use the procedures as a reference for partial identification of the fact, specific contents in each file useful for fact-finding and reasons why the decision of the invalidating request No. 21261 was unreasonable.
Finally, in the first instance verdict, the Court expressly held that Annex 1 (Tensar Group¡¯s Chinese invention patent ZL03154700.1) has clearly disclosed additional technical features of claim 3 in this patent (target patent in this case); claim 1 and claim 3 in the patent were not inventative. The court decided that: a) the decision of No. 21261 invalidating request for examination made by the Patent Reexamination Board was cancelled; b) the Patent Reexamination Board should make a new decision by re-examination.
In legal practice, the court only examines the procedures of Patent Reexamination Board and identified facts, generally without specific identification of the patent validity, therefore, the judgment is somewhat unexpected. According to the provisions of Section IV, Chapter 8 of "Patent Examination Guidelines": if the decision of examination is revoked due to lack of main evidence or error in law application, a decision same to the previous one cannot be made upon the same reason and evidence. If the first instance judgment takes effect, the Patent Reexamination Board will not be able to decide that claim 3 is inventative in comparison with Tensar Group¡¯s Chinese invention patent ZL03154700.1, that is to say: in making the re-examination decision, the Patent Reexamination Board shall deny the inventativeness in claim 3, or decides that claim 3 does not comply with the provisions of Patent Law based on other grounds in comparison with Tensar Group¡¯s Chinese invention patent ZL03154700.1.
If the first instance judgment takes effect, claim 3 of the target patent in this case will be successfully invalidated. |
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| Unitalen enters the "List of technology transfer service organizations to be supported in 2014" |
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Recently, the Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission announced the list of technology transfer service organizations to be supported in 2014, including 84 organizations of well-known universities, research institutes and technology companies, and Unitalen was one of them.
Over the years, with its comprehensive strength in the patent business area, Unitalen has been providing a series of patent transfer and licensing services for enterprises, with a full range of advices given on implementation after patent identification and patent technological achievements transformation.At the same time, the abundant customer resources accumulated in the past twenty years also form a convenient and effective way for patent exchanges between enterprises. Unitalen¡¯s services in the patent transfer and licensing cover the whole process of intellectual property services and create a good reputation. Being listed as a technology transfer service organization to be supported now also shows the wide recognition of Unitalen.
In selection, the list of technology transfer services organizations to be supported in 2014 was proposed in accordance with the relevant provisions of "Beijing Technology Innovation Action Plan (2014-2017)" and "Guiding Opinions on Further Promoting the Development of Technology Services", through organization application and expert review.
Technology transfer is an important part of the implementation of China's independent innovation strategy, and the key sector for technological innovation and core competitiveness improvement of enterprises. According to relevant policies, the state will arrange special funds for technology transfer in science and technology programs, to support organizations in services promotion for technology transfer and capacity building of demonstration institutions. |
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| Zhongguancun Administrative Committee carries out 2013 annual performance assessment of intellectual property services institutions, and honors Unitalen as an "Outstanding Patent Agency" |
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Recently, the 2013 annual performance assessment of intellectual property services institutions initiated by Zhongguancun Administrative Committee was successfully concluded and the assessment results were immediately disclosed: 19 entities including Unitalen were named as ¡°Outstanding Institutions¡±.
In March 2014, according to the "Zhongguancun National Innovation Demonstration Zone Technological Innovation Capacity Building Special Fund Administrative Methods", to carry out related tasks in the 2013-2015 Zhongguancun Intellectual Property Promotion Plan, to promote the construction of Zhongguancun National IP Service Industry Development Pilot Area, and to encourage intellectual property services institutions to provide quality services of intellectual property to enterprises in Zhongguancun demonstration area, the Zhongguancun Administrative Committee decided, through research and consideration, to launch the performance assessment of 2013 Zhongguancun intellectual property services institutions.
A number of qualified intellectual property services institutions in Beijing applied for the assessment. After expert review, because of its large quantity and good quality patent applications handled in 2013 and commercial services like patent transfer, licensing, loan pledge and assessment, as well as patent advices, trainings and other intellectual property related services provided to enterprises into Zhongguancun, Unitalen was selected as an ¡°Outstanding Patent Agency¡± based on the assessment indicators. |
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