On January 19, the State Intellectual Property Office of China （SIPO） published the statistics and other related information in 2016.

In 2016, SIPO received a total of 1.339 million invention patent applications with an increase of 21.5%, which ranks first in the world for 6 consecutive years. A total of 404,000 invention patents were granted, among which, there are 302,000 domestic invention patents, with an increase of 39,000 pieces compared to 2015, up 14.5%. Among the domestic invention patents, there are 276,000 service inventions, accounting for 91.4%; and 26,000 non-service inventions, accounting for 8.6%. (Source: SIPO website)

According to State Administration for Industry and Commerce, in 2016 trademark applications in China amounted to 3.691 million, which ranks first in the world for 15 consecutive years. The top five domestic provinces for trademark application were Guangdong, Beijing, Zhejiang, Shanghai and Jiangsu, among which, Guangdong Province were found with over 2 million valid trademark registrations for the first time. (Source: People.cn)

The European Patent Office, the Japanese Patent Office, the Korean Patent Office, the State Intellectual Property Office of the People's Republic of China and the US Patent and Trademark Office launched the five-point (IP5) Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) pilot on January 6, 2014 for a period of three years, ending on January 5, 2017.

As agreed among all the five offices, this PPH pilot will be extended for three years from January 6, 2017. Please refer to the website of each office for details in requirements and procedures. (Source: SIPO website)

In December 2016, the Supreme People’s Court of China made rulings on the ten trademark administrative disputes among Michael Jordan (the retrial petitioner), Trademark Review and Adjudication Board of State Administration for Industry & Commerce (the retrial respondent), and Qiaodan Sports Co. Ltd. (the third party of the first instance).

The 10 judgements form a clear definition on the protection scope of the personal name claimed by Michael Jordan. With respect to the three disputed “乔丹”(the Chinese translation of Jordan) marks, the Supreme People’s Court found that the registrations have infringed on Michael Jordan’s prior right of personal name; and that due to the obvious subjective malicious intent of Qiaodan Sports, their operation conditions, their publicity and use of the trademark and business name involved are not sufficient to legitimate the registration of the disputed marks. Accordingly, the three “乔丹” marks shall be revoked and the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board is ordered to make adjudications anew. But for the seven cases involving “QIAODAN”and “qiaodan”, the pinyin of the Chinese characters, the court found Michael Jordan does not enjoy name right over “QIAODAN” or “qiaodan” and reject Michael Jordan’s petitions for re-trial.

October 2016, with Guangdong Provincial Higher People's Court (Guangdong High Court) making the final verdict on the two patent infringement cases and one trade secret infringement case between Shenzhen Mindray Biomedical Electronics Co., Ltd. (Mindray) and Shenzhen Edan Instruments Co., Ltd. (Edan), the intellectual property battle between the two parties finally came to an end. In the 12 cases in which the court ruled the final verdict, Mindray won all the victories, and the total amount of compensation reached over 28 million yuan.

Since April 2011, Mindray started a series of 23 patent infringement litigations and 1 trade secrete infringement litigation against Edan, claiming for a total of more than 100 million yuan as indemnity, with over 65 million yuan for patent infringement and 41 million yuan for trade secret infringement. Several models of monitors and ultrasonic imaging equipment produced by Edan are alleged of infringing upon Mindray’s patent right.

It is reported that Mindray global sales reached nearly 10 billion yuan in 2015, with products sold to more than 190 countries and regions. Their monitor products take up more domestic market share than General Electric, Philips and other international leading brands, and have ranked No. 1 for 11 consecutive years. As known, Mindray and Edan had been long time partners before they split and went against each other due to Edan’s business expansion and subsequent impact on Mindray’s existing market, which triggered the intellectual property battle between the two parties.

In October 2016, Guangdong High Court issued final rulings on the other 10 patent infringement cases and 1 trade secret case, in which Edan is ordered to stop production of infringing products involved, and to compensate for Mindray’s economic loss for a total of around 27 million yuan, including 15 million yuan for the 10 patent infringement cases and 12 million yuan for the single trade secret case.

In 2016, a GUI design patent dispute draw public attention to Beijing Qihoo Technology Co. Ltd. and its affiliate company Qizhi Software (Beijing) Co. Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “360 Company”), as well as Beijing Jiangmin New Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Jiangmin company”), and to GUI design patent.

In April 2016, 360 company started a lawsuit at Beijing IP Court alleging that the “Jiangmin optimization expert" software launched by Jiangmin company infringes 3 of 360 company’s design patents, and requested the court to order Jiangmin company stop infringement immediately, eliminate influences, and compensate for the economic losses and reasonable costs for a total of 15 million yuan. Jiangmin company filed petitions to Patent Reexamination Board for invalidation of the three patents at issue and requested Beijing IP Court to suspend the trial. But Beijing IP Court found the three patents at issue are solid enough based on the patent right evaluation report submitted by 360 company, and rejected Jiangmin company’s suspension request. An open hearing of the case was held on September 21, 2016, while the court has not yet made the ruling so far.

In recent years, many countries have GUI into the scope of design patent protection. This is the first domestic GUI design patent infringement case since China started to grant protection to GUI in 2014. Its typical significance is "being unprecedented". The determination of the relevant facts in this case and the application of law, including the determination of liability and the amount of compensation will be of great reference significance for similar cases in future. In addition, the GUI invalidation pending at the Patent Reexamination Board will also inspire the relevant practitioners.

Recently, the 7th China International Intellectual Property New Year Forum and 2017 China Intellectual Property Manager Annual Meeting were held in Beijing. During the annual awards ceremony, Unitalen litigation team was once again named “2016 China Outstanding IP Service Team” for high-quality services, rich experiences and outstanding capability of handling complicated and disputed cases.

The selection was co-organized by "China Intellectual Property" magazine and "China Daily" , which evaluate the overall capability of the candidate teams, in a objective and thorough manner,by combining the rating on specific indexes and comprehensive coverage of interviews.

Recently, World Trademark Review (WTR) publishes the 2017 The World’s Leading Trademark Professionals rank, and Unitalen Trademark Team is among Tier 1 in the categories of “trademark application and strategy” and Tier 2 in the categories of “trademark protection and litigation”. In addition, Unitalen lawyers, Yongbo Li was selected as a distinguished lawyer in the field of "trademark protection and litigation"; and Chen Dan, Zhao Lei and Huang Ying were selected as outstanding lawyers in the field of "trademark application and strategy".

WTR comments on Unitalen as follows:

A deep bench of professionals and a web of offices across China, Japan and the United States give Unitalen the capacity to dispatch even the most taxing instructions with aplomb. The firm is a prodigious filer, processing some 10,000 applications a year. A stalwart on that side of the practice is Ying Huang, who recently successfully obtained invalidations on behalf of Chateau Lafite Rothschild. The international trademark team is captained by Ray Zhao, who lately impressed representing Ferrari in opposition proceedings. With the distilled wisdom of some 22 years’ practice, Dan Chen is a go-to professional for complex trademark management and tricky anti-counterfeiting problems. “Meticulous, thorough and trustworthy, she is our first recommendation for portfolio work,” enthuses one foreign associate. Support comes from Robert Li, another hardened trial lawyer.