以下文章来源于中伦文德律师事务所 ，作者ZLWD

Hong Kong applicants to receive Prioritised Patent Examinations by Chinese Patent Office (CNIPA) in new Pilot Program

In order to fully implement the central Government's decision and deployment on promoting the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and support Hong Kong residents in more conveniently and effectively protecting IPproperty in the mainland, the State Intellectual Property Office will make convenient arrangements for the priority examination of Hong Kong SAR applicants for invention patents in the mainland in the form of pilot projects.

According to the pilot project, since January 1, 2023, permanent residents of the Hong Kong SAR, on the basis of the Hong Kong SAR company regulations established the company and other legal entities of the Hong Kong special administrative zone or organization, through the agencies state intellectual property office of in Guangzhou and Shenzhen to submit relevant application materials, meet the relevant conditions of application for invention patent can get the priority review in the mainland.

The Chinese and Hong Kong IP offices (CNIPA and HKIPD) have announced a pilot project for prioritised examination of mainland Chinese invention patent applications filed by Hong Kong SAR applicants. The pilot project started on 1 January 2023 and will apply to invention patent applications in the substantive examination stage and which belong in the classifications listed in the technical fields specified in the “Administrative Measures for Priority Examination of Patents” (Decree No. 76 of the State Intellectual Property Office) – these generally relate to identified strategic emerging industries.

Permanent residents of HK, companies established in accordance with the Companies Ordinance of HK, and other legal entities or organizations in HK filing as applicants or co-applicants are eligible. 

ZLWD Commentary:

With the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Hong Kong and Macau are more closely connected with the Mainland. The implementation of this pilot project for HKSAR applicants to apply for priority examination of patents for inventions in the Mainland is a powerful initiative for HKSAR residents to protect intellectual property rights.

In 2021, the added value of patent-intensive industries accounted 

for 12.44% of GDP

Announcement of the added value data of national patent-intensive industries in 2021

No. 509

According to the calculation, the added value of patent-intensive industries nationwide in 2021 was RMB 1,429.83 billion, an increase of 17.9% over the previous year (before deducting price factors, the same below), 4.5 percentage points higher than the growth rate of gross domestic product (GDP) at current prices in the same period; the proportion of GDP was 12.44%, an increase of 0.47 percentage points over the previous year.

From the internal structure, the new equipment manufacturing industry is the largest, with an added value of 3,845.2 billion yuan, accounting for 26.9% of the added value of patent-intensive industries; followed by the information and communication technology service industry, with an added value of 3,063.6 billion yuan, accounting for 21.4%; again the information and communication technology manufacturing industry, with an added value of 2,854.6 billion yuan, accounting for 20.0%; the smallest scale is Environmental protection industry, added value of 322.8 billion yuan, accounting for 2.3% of the proportion.

From the growth rate, by the domestic and international demand for epidemic prevention products and other factors, the pharmaceutical and medical industry continued to accelerate the growth rate of 40.9%, an increase of 30.8 percentage points over the previous year, the fastest growth. Followed by the information and communication technology manufacturing industry, with a growth rate of 18.1%; in addition, the environmental protection industry and new materials manufacturing industry also achieved faster growth, with a growth rate of 17.5% and 17.1% respectively.

ZLWD Commentary:   

According to statistics, the growth rate of added value of patent-intensive industries is higher than the growth rate of GDP, while the proportion of GDP has increased, which shows that the development prospect of patent-intensive industries is better, reflecting China's support for patent industries and the importance of various industries to patents.

The full text of the Patent Classification System on Green and Low-Carbon Technology has been issued

In order to thoroughly implement the Party's 20th spirit on accelerating the green transformation of the development mode and actively yet prudently promoting the carbon peak and carbon neutral, To implement major strategic decisions such as the Opinions of the CPC Central Committee and The State Council on Complete, Accurate and Comprehensively Implementing the New Development Concept and China has been active in patent transfer licensing of green new energy and other low-carbon industries; The Patent Classification System on Green and Low-Carbon Technology has been issued to promote technology innovation and patent industrialization of green and low-carbon industry; China's total installed capacity combining hydro, wind, photovoltaic and biomaterial power generation has been at the top spot in the world for years with smooth uptick of power output. Driven by government actions, renewable energy development in China has been transitioning from being resource-oriented to innovation-oriented. The impact caused by adjustment of energy structure and carbon reduction is beginning to materialize. The renewable energy industry itself has leapfrogged from being small, through big to strong. In the first three quarters, according to latest data, newly installed capacity of renewable energy grossed 90.36 million kw, accounting for 78.8% of installed capacity of all purposes in the country. Power output generated by renewable energy gently climbed to 1.94 trillion kwh.

China's renewable energy industry has now entered a new stage of high-quality leapfrog development. According to the 14th Five-Year Plan for Renewable Energy Development, China will adhere to innovation-driven and high-quality development of renewable energy and continue to consolidate and enhance the industry's competitiveness by strengthening technology innovation, cultivating new development models, improving innovation chain and other measures.

ZLWD Commentary：

Under the guidance of the dual carbon policy, all provinces, departments and industries have made changes. The release of the "Patent Classification System on Green and Low-Carbon Technology" provides a basis and standard for green technology patents, which is conducive to promoting green low carbon technology innovation and adding bricks to the national goal of achieving dual carbon.

Pre-judgment resolution of patent disputes! The first medicine patent link lawsuit in China

On December 20, the online voting on the "Top Ten Cases of Promoting the Rule of law in 2022" jointly sponsored by the Supreme People's Court and the China Media Group was officially launched. Forty cases that attracted wide attention from the society were displayed online and accepted for public vote. Since December 26, the China Media Group has shown typical cases to witness the progress of the rule of law in the new era.

The newly amended Patent Law in 2020 formally established China's medicine patent linkage system with the aim of early resolution of medicine patent disputes.

What is medicine patent link system? The new era to promote the rule of law process 2022 annual top ten cases candidate cases, together with the first national medicine patent linkage litigation case.

“Aldescalcitol soft capsules” is a medicine for the treatment of osteoporosis developed by Japan Chuai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., which has the relevant Chinese invention patent, and has registered the above medicines and patents on the patent information registration platform of listed medicines in China. Wenzhou Haihe Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. applied to the National medicine Administration for the marketing license of the generic medicines of the original medicines, and made a statement that its generic medicines were not included in the scope of patent protection related to the generic medicines included in the registration platform.

The Japan Chuai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. filed a lawsuit with the Beijing Intellectual Property Court, claiming that the generic medicine technical scheme of the generic medicine involved falls within the scope of protection of the patent claims involved. The first-instance court determined that the technical scheme of the generic medicine involved did not fall into the scope of patent protection of the case, and rejected the lawsuit request of Japan Chuai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd..

Japan Chuai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.s appealed against the judgment of the first instance. The second instance of the Supreme People's Court held that the Company did not make a statement regarding the claim of the largest scope of protection and did not criticize the behavior of the claim to determine whether the technical scheme of the generic medicine falls into the scope of patent protection, the application data of the generic medicine applicant, after comparison, the technical scheme of the generic medicine involved did not fall into the scope of patent protection. The second trial verdict rejected the appeal and upheld the original verdict.

CUI Ning, presiding judge of the Intellectual Property Court of the Supreme People's Court The judgment of the first trial and the second trial of this case made an exploratory application of the law to the new issues arising in medicine patent linkage litigation. In view of the fact that the medicine patent linkage system is still a new thing in China, in order to promote the enterprises' comprehensive and accurate understanding of the relevant system, the second trial of this case criticized the related obvious improper acts of generic medicine enterprises in the reasons of decision, prompted the generic medicine applicants to abide by the principle of honesty and credit when making statements, and gave full play to the regulatory guidance of judicial decisions; at the same time, the relevant rules of adjudication of such disputes were clarified through the substantive trial. At the same time, it clarified the rules of adjudication of such disputes through substantive trials, which is of exemplary significance in promoting the implementation of China's medicine patent linkage system, promoting the full play of the system, encouraging medicine R&D innovation and enhancing medicine accessibility.

CUI Ning, presiding judge of the Intellectual Property Court of the Supreme People's Court The establishment of the medicine patent linkage system is, on the one hand, conducive to the judgment of the original medicine enterprises on the certainty of the medicine market, enhancing the confidence to continuously increase the investment in medicine research and development, and promoting the development of innovation in the industry; on the other hand, it is conducive to the generic medicine enterprises to evaluate the risk of generic medicines listed in advance, avoiding the blind listing of products leading to high litigation compensation, and thus promoting the high-quality development of generic medicines. By balancing the interests of original medicine companies and generic medicine companies, we can maximize the accessibility of medicines while protecting innovation, so that the people can have good medicines and cheap medicines.

ZLWD Commentary： 

The establishment of the medicine patent link system, the original medicine and generic medicine dispute resolution from the medicine ramification approval stage earlier to the medicine review and approval stage, is not only conducive to enterprises to understand the current state of the market, to promote the development of medicine innovation, but also conducive to generic medicine enterprises to timely assessment of medicine production and market risk, and more to promote competition in the medicine industry.

The Shanghai Third Intermediate People's Court made a final ruling on the case of counterfeiting the collective trademark of "BORDEAUX" of Bordeaux, France

The Shanghai Third Intermediate People's Court recently rejected an appeal against a case suspected of counterfeiting the collective trademark of “BORDEAUX” and other geographical indications, and upheld the final ruling.

•Facts

In December 2015, the defendant Wang, Zhao invested a wine company in Yantai.

Since March 2019, Wang and Zhao hired Qing as the sales manager during the operation of the company, in order to seek illegal benefits, the production of fake French Bordeaux geographical indication trademark wine without authorization. In the meantime, Jiang (another case) with the "BORDEAUX" registered trademark wine label processing, Wang, Zhao purchase wine juice and accessories, organize staff to fill wine, paste wine label, Jiang bought the above fake Bordeaux wine sales to Zhao Yue (another case) of the winery and other places.

From March 2019 to April 2021, after the audit, the company produced more than 60,000 bottles of counterfeit Bordeaux wine for Jiang, with a value of more than 880,000 yuan. In addition, Wang, Zhao during the operation of the defendant unit, also organized employees to produce with "BORDEAUX" registered trademark of the series of wine totaling more than RMB 250,000, Qing organized employees to sell the above counterfeit Bordeaux wine.

On April 27,2021, the police arrested Wang while inspecting the company and its warehouse, and seized more than 16,000 bottles of wine with the fake "BORDEAUX" trademark, with a value of more than RM 260,000 and mobile phones. Wang to the case, in the review and prosecution stage truthfully confessed the criminal facts. In September of the same year, the company compensated the right owner of RMB 1.28 million.

•Decision

The court of first instance sentenced the defendant to a Yantai wine Co., Ltd., fined RMB 450,000 yuan for the crime of counterfeiting a registered trademark; the defendant Wang was sentenced to 3 years in prison and fined RMB 100,000 yuan; the illegal gains were recovered, and the seized commodities and criminal tools were confiscated. After the first instance judgment, Wang refused to accept, to the Shanghai three middle court appeal. Wang and his defense to the wine involved in the case meets the national standards, there is no endanger the health of consumers' rights and interests on the grounds, request to Wang in accordance with the law.

•The Shanghai Third Intermediate People's Court held that

The defendant in the original trial used the same trademark with the registered trademark on the same commodity without the permission of the registered trademark owner. The circumstances are particularly serious, and his behavior has constituted the crime of counterfeiting the registered trademark, and should be punished according to law. In the joint crime, the appellant Wang plays a major role, is the main criminal, should be punished according to all the crimes he participated in. Appellant Wang to the case in the examination and prosecution stage truthfully confessed his crime, according to the law can be given a lighter punishment. The appellant Wang actively compensate the right holder and obtain understanding, as appropriate light punishment; voluntary confession, can be lenient treatment. The first-instance court in comprehensive consideration of Wang criminal facts, production amount, sales amount, frank, confessed forfeit, compensation, on the basis of understanding, has a lighter punishment and lenient treatment, to the appellant Wang penalty within the range of the law, sentencing and not improper, so the appellant Wang and his defenders appeal reason and defense opinions will not be adopted, then make the judgment in accordance with the law.

"BORDEAUX" registered trademark belongs to the "monitoring of origin named", is the joint committee to the French wine and agricultural products awarded the French official logo, under the protection of geographical indications, the characteristics of the product from its geographical scope, and the production, processing, appearance design is completed within a specific geographical scope, the product characteristics of natural factors (climate, soil, etc.) and human factors (process). According to the records of China's trademark registration certificate, "Bordeaux", "BORDEAUX", "Bordeaux Superieur" and other collective trademarks of geographical indications are within the validity period and are protected by China's laws.

In that case, The defendant in the original trial, Yantai a wine Co., Ltd. and the appellant Wang in knowing without authorization, Without the import or use of Bordeaux wine region (i. e., AOP, AOC grade), Use other regions imported wine juice or domestic wine juice mixed in different proportions, To of bottled wine with registered trademarks such as "BORDEAUX", By falsifying the origin of wine juice grade in the customs declaration form, repeatedly using the one-time procedures of AOP grade original bottle wine imported from Bordeaux producing area in 2017, and purchasing the procedures of Bordeaux producing area wine imported by other peers, Cheating on consumers and evading administrative supervision, when the circumstances are particularly serious, Has infringes upon the legitimate rights and interests of the registered trademark owner, Disrupted the order of the socialist market economy, It has great social harm, Therefore, the court made the above judgment in accordance with the law.

ZLWD Commentary：

"BORDEAUX" trademark, as an obvious geographical indication of trademark, would affect the consumer purchase intention, the defendant in the case without the corresponding authorization counterfeit trademark use, is not only to the legitimate rights and interests of the registered trademark holder, also easy to cause misleading to consumers, violate the legitimate rights and interests of consumers.

The Fifth IP Expo highlights the geographical indications

One big quality of the Regulation is building a GI protection system that seamlessly links with relevant national rules. On the one hand, the linkage aims to refine the GI protection system, effectively connects the national-level authority with local legislation and elevate the quality of legislative coverage of GI protection. On the other hand, in an effort to ramp up deterrence to GI violations, the Regulation emulates the Product Quality Law, providing for liabilities of GI violations. IP administrations above county level are vested with the authority to order rectification on a given time frame, seize products produced or sold illegally and impose fines under the equivalent value of the goods produced or sold. Illegal gains, if there is any, shall be seized. If the violation runs counter to the Trademark Law, Anti-Unfair Competition Law or other laws or regulations, the involved legislation shall be applied. If a criminal offense is triggered, criminal prosecution shall be sought.

In addition, in an effort to solve those popular and difficult problems impeding industry development, the Regulation plays up Guangdong's strength of a highly open market and dynamic external trade, conduct censuses of GI resources and bolster protection, build and improve a full GI industry development system, boost elevation of quality and efficiency of the industry, perform international cooperation, use multiple measures to refine the GI use system and upgrade GI products' market competitiveness and international influence.

Upgrade across the board and industry develops well "Supporting and guiding the development of the industry with local distinctiveness" is what the Regulation lives for. In a bid to shift the industry's heavy focus from registration to use and protection and from quantity to quality, the Regulation uses rearing trade markets, innovation, promotion of GIs and brand nurturing, integrated industry development as penetration points to inspire various players in the province to drive up added value and brand influence of GI products.

At the recent Sixth China-South Asia Expo, a slew of GI products with Guangdong signature caught the eyeballs of Chinese and foreign visitors immediately after their showing. Huazhou pummelo peel is one of the them. "Since our pummelo peel was awarded GI protection in 2006, the pertinent industry has been booming, so have brand reputation and thousands of farmers' bank accounts," said Li Feng, Chair of the Board of Huazhou Pummelo Peel Medicine Materials Development Company - one of the authorized users of the Huazhou pummelo peel GI special symbol. The release and enactment of the Regulation, according to Li, has drawn a baseline for our line of business to operate within the confines of the law with liabilities for GI violations clearly provided as well, which is crucial for regulating the order of Huazhou pummelo peel GI product market.

Home to 162 GI products and 118 GI trademarks; 10 GI products selected into the China-EU GI mutual protection list; 4 national-level GI protection model areas... Guangdong has been playing the distinctiveness card, digging up the cultural meaning of GI products and turning resource edge to economic edge. With the drive of the Regulation, Guangdong is striding down the road that adds value to GI industry through transformation from product to industry as well as from quantity to efficiency.

ZLWD Commentary：

The inclusion of geographical indications into the main body of the IP exchange and the integration of geographical indications with the rural revitalization strategy are conducive to promoting regional products with Chinese characteristics internationally, enhancing the influence of China's geographical indication brands and the added value of products, thus promoting the development of intellectual property rights, especially the geographical indication industry.

The number of invention patents in China reached 4.212 million to support high-quality economic development

“China has always attached great importance and been actively committed to intellectual property (IP) protection, which provided effective support for improving innovation and advancing high-quality development. While stepping up its work on IP, China has been deeply engaged in international IP cooperation”, said Wang Wenbin, China's Foreign Ministry Spokesperson, at a regular press conference recently.

China continues to optimize IP protection. The proportion of patentees experiencing patent infringement sheds to a historical low. Only 7.7% of Chinese patentees had experience in infringement in 2022 - the second straight year with a sub-8% reading, according to China Patent Investigation Report 2022. Corporate patentees have a more diverse toolkit to enforce their right after being infringed. In 2022, 72.7% of them chose to respond after being infringed, maintaining on the plus side of 70% for the fourth consecutive year. In recent years, an increasing number of Chinese applicants have been making foreign countries destinations for their patent applications.

In addition, patent infringement cases with big-ticket damages awarded are mounting. In 2022, 7.0% of all patent infringement cases scored awards – whether through court decision, mediation or out-of-court settlement – bigger than 5 million yuan, sitting above 7% for the second straight year. With patentees on the way to be well versed in punitive damage system for patent infringement, the idea of strict IP protection has been finding home in people's hearts.

Innovation is booming in China with its constantly refined IP protection setting. WIPO's (World Intellectual Property Organization) Global Innovation Index 2022 ranks China 11th up from 34th in 2012. According to another WIPO finding - the World Intellectual Property Indicators 2022, China paces the world in number of valid patents in 2021.

China profoundly participates in IP international cooperation. China has officially acceded to the Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs and the Marrakesh Treaty of the copyright sector. China and the European Union (EU) concluded an agreement on geographical indications (GIs) protection and cooperation, providing mutual recognition and protection of 244 GIs. The Chinese language is one of the working languages of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants. China's IP global involvement greatly supported the Belt and Road Initiative. In 2022, 37.9% of the Chinese companies which transferred or licensed patents to overseas partners did so with countries or regions along the Belt and Road. In 2022, the global IP governance index of China stood at 114.1, up 14.1 reading points over the previous year, according to 2022 Evaluation Report on China's IP Development.

In addition, China has become an important driving force for global green, low-carbon technology innovation, and ended up being the biggest green tech patenting destination along with the United States. From 2016 to 2021, the China National Intellectual Property Administration paced all its IP5 partners from the U.S., Japan, Europe and Republic of Korea with 379,000 or 41.2% green-tech patent applications published.

"These achievements show that China's efforts have paid off in enhancing IP protection and pursuing innovation-driven development, and contributed to global innovation. China will continue to speed up efforts to implement the innovation-driven development strategy, uphold the central role of innovation in the overall modernization drive, enhance international exchange and cooperation and share China's innovation with the rest of the world," Wang added.

ZLWD Commentary：

Intellectual property innovations are in full bloom in various industries, the legal protection of intellectual property is becoming more and more perfect, and the development of intellectual property is gradually going international, which all reflect that the construction of intellectual property in China is moving towards a faster and better direction.

The Guangdong High Court issued a series of typical criminal case on intellectual property rights

On January 2, The Guangdong High Court issued  issued a series of typical criminal case on intellectual property rights. The six cases mainly involved the crimes of counterfeiting registered trademarks, infringing trade secrets, infringing copyrights, and selling counterfeit registered trademarks, covering such types as selling "second-hand refurbished" electrical appliances disguised as "original genuine products", stealing and using high-value technology secrets of enterprises, and selling counterfeit famous brand goods through live streaming, reflecting the characteristics and effectiveness of the "three-in-one" trial of intellectual property rights of Guangdong courts, and highlighting the firm determination of Guangdong courts to strictly protect intellectual property rights, equally protect innovation and entrepreneurship of various market subjects, and strictly punish new types of intellectual property crimes.

1. Yan counterfeit registered trademark case

• Facts

Starting from April 2018, defendant Yan set up a stacked trading company in Foshan, successively hired defendant Wu, Wei and others, without obtaining the authorization of the trademark registrant, to purchase from Jingdong, Suning and other channels the second-hand Xiaomi TV sets returned by consumers due to different degrees of quality problems, and then purchase various accessories counterfeited by third parties. The TVs were tested, repaired, replaced with screens and accessories, and then repackaged and sold in the name of “genuine and original Xiaomi TVs” in the Xianyu App for profit. The public security authorities seized 795 sets of counterfeit TVs with replaced LCD panels, packaging and external accessories. Upon verification, the total value of the above TV sets was over RMB 529,000. It was also found that from July 2018 to April 2019, Yan Moumou purchased as many as 10,837 second-hand Xiaomi TV sets from Jingdong Pai Pai Second-hand Spare Parts Library alone.

•Judgement

The People's Court of Nanhai District of Foshan City heard that Yan and others renovated the second-hand TV purchased through legal channels itself does not constitute a crime, but the renovated Xiaomi TV is not a new original genuine, without the permission of Xiaomi company, shall not be sold in the name of the new original product. The behavior of Yan and others made consumers mistake the refurbished machine for the new original genuine machine, causing consumers to confuse the source of the goods and damaging the market goodwill of Xiaomi. Yan was sentenced to three years and six months in prison for counterfeiting registered trademarks and fined RMB 250,000, and the other five accomplices were all sentenced to one year and eight months to one year for counterfeiting registered trademarks. Foshan Intermediate People's Court upheld the original verdict.

• Typical significance

This case is a typical example of the crime of counterfeiting a registered trademark by selling genuine "second-hand refurbished" electrical appliances disguised as "genuine originals". The act of destroying the quality assurance function of the registered trademark and causing confusion to consumers about the source of the goods damaged not only the goodwill of the manufacturer but also the legitimate rights and interests of consumers. Pursuing the criminal liability of the defendant according to law is important to maintain the fair competition order in the market

2. Yang and Wang copyright infringement case

 •Facts

The defendants Yang and Wang have been employed by others since the beginning of 2017 as the editor of the "Cool Cloud Resource Station" website. Without the authorization of the right holder, Yang, Wang will download the film and television works on the Internet to the designated transfer server, and then re-edit the introduction poster of the above film and television works and put them on the "cool cloud resource station" website for others to watch for free. Yang to others to steal the latest release of the cinema film and television works, and will steal the "climber"  "after 00" and other film and television works through the same way on the "cool cloud resource station" website for others to watch free on demand. By the time of the crime, more than one had been linked to more than 21,000 films.

 •Judgement

The People's Court of Xinhui District of Jiangmen City held that Yang, Wang copied and distributed the copyright of films and TV video works without the permission of the copyright owner through information network dissemination, which constituted the crime of copyright infringement and belonged to other particularly serious circumstances. Because Yang and Wang confessed, they can be given a lighter punishment. In this case, Wang and Yang were sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of one year and four months, one year and three months respectively for the crime of copyright infringement, and were fined, and the illegal gains were recovered according to law.

 •Typical significance

The law identified the defendant as the crime of copyright infringement, and online infringement and piracy such as illegal film recording were cracked down according to law, which is conducive to standardizing the order of online copyright and purifying the environment for online copyright rights.

3. Pi infringement of trade secrets case - severely punish the crime of leaving employees to infringe on the original enterprise technical secrets

 •Facts

In October 2001, Hong Kong Niuwei Company, a subsidiary of Japan, established Niuwei motor factory in Guangzhou, mainly producing "mercury projection core" products. From June 2005 to August 2012, the defendant Pi took advantage of his position as the manufacturing department and quality department manager of Niuwei Motor Factory to obtain the production technology information of "mercury projection wick" of the factory by improper means. In 2015, after his resignation, Pi established Laituopu Company, which produced and sold the same products as Niuwei motor factory "mercury projection wick". On December 8, 2020, the public security organs seized the finished products, semi-finished products, production equipment, etc., and seized a large number of technical information with the same key production process information or identical substance as the "mercury projection wick" in the portable computer and hard disk of Pi. After audit, from April 2015 to March 2020, Hong Kong paid related products a commission fee of more than 140 million yuan; to Guangzhou Niutail more than 36 million yuan, and the technical guidance fee for related products more than 19 million yuan; From January 2017 to December 2019, China, selling 429,737 products, the gross profit of infringing products was more than 74 million yuan.

 •Judgement

After hearing, the People's Court of Baiyun District in Guangzhou held that the production process information of the "mercury projection wick" of the Niuwei Motor Factory was identified as the technical information unknown to the public, and the Niuwei Motor Factory had taken necessary confidentiality measures for the technical secret. The defendant skin so-and-so knowing employees to the company's production technology information confidentiality obligation, still use the position by improper means to obtain the technical information, leaving the company, using the technical secret to produce the same products into the market, and the amount of illegal income is particularly huge, particularly serious consequences, hence for infringement of commercial secrets was sentenced to so-and-so for six years, fine of 5 million yuan. The Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court upheld the original verdict.

 •Typical significance

This case is a typical case of severely punishing the crime of infringing on commercial secrets according to law. The defendant PI so-and-so used his tenure to obtain huge profits and refused to plead guilty, repentance, was severely investigated for criminal responsibility. It shows that the people's courts strictly protect intellectual property rights and support Hong Kong enterprises to innovate and start businesses in Guangdong in accordance with the law.

4. Dong and others counterfeit registered trademark case —— severely punish the crime of manufacturing and selling counterfeit registered trademark masks

• Facts

In May 2020, defendant Dong illegally obtained the design drawings of the packaging boxes of the masks and entrusted Zhu to make bulk shipments of the counterfeit masks to customers in Shanghai and other cities. custom-made counterfeit Metri mask packaging boxes, boxes and certificates, and then Dong packaged the counterfeit masks and shipped them from Guangzhou and other places to customers in Shanghai, Zhuhai and other cities with the assistance of Wang, with a sales value of more than RMB 16.9 million.

 •Judgement

The Court found that the defendants Dong, Wang and Zhu used the same trademark with the same registered trademark involved on the same product without the permission of the registered trademark owner, and the circumstances were particularly serious and constituted the crime of counterfeiting the registered trademark. Among them, the principal Dong is a professional engaged in mask sales operators, its knowing should obtain the holder of the registered trademark involved, to use the registered trademark or sell the registered trademark products, but still through the use of fake authorization, certificate, inspection certificate, etc., the manufacturing and sales of huge amount with fake masks, involving more than RMB 10 million. During the period, Dong also repeatedly reminded employees to place the fake cartons, packaging boxes and finished products separately to avoid inspection, their criminal intention is very obvious, should be severely punished. For the crime of counterfeiting registered trademark, Dong was sentenced to five years and ten months in prison and fined RMB 8.95 million; Wang was sentenced to three years and four months and fined RMB 1.5 million; Zhu was sentenced to two years and two months and fined RMB 70,000.

 •Typical significance

During the epidemic prevention and control period, it severely cracked down on the crime of manufad the well-known registered trademarks of Taiwan-funded enterprises, demonstrating the firm determination of Guangdong courts to protect all kinds of market subjects equally.

5. Wang sales of counterfeit registered trademark goods case

 •Facts

In 2019, the defendant, Wang, made illegal profits by selling headphones with fake registered trademark through Shenzhen Xiangyun Technology Co., LTD. In November 2019, the public security authorities arrested four people hired by Wang, including Li, as well as Li and Chen, who helped Wang to change their laser characters, and seized 611 fake Apple brand wireless headphones on the spot. Among them, there are 44 headphones with the appearance of Apple brand trademark, when connected to the device, 481 "AirPods" paired pop-up window, 81 "Yijin AirPods" paired pop-up window, 2 "Zhe Nan AirPods" paired pop-up window, and 3 "Yue AirPods" paired pop-up window, worth more than RMB 800,000.

• Judegement

However, the "AirPods" logo in the pairing pop-up window has the function of identifying the source of the goods and is a trademark use. The logo is the same as Apple's registered trademark "AirPods", which will lead to consumer confusion about the source of the product. Combined with the evidence of the case, including documentary evidence, physical evidence, witness testimony and the defendant's confession, the defendant's confession that he did not know that the Bluetooth headphones in question were counterfeit registered goods was not accepted. Wang was sentenced to two years and six months of imprisonment and a fine of RMB 320,000 for the crime of selling counterfeit registered goods. The Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court affirmed the verdict in the second instance.  

 •Typical significance

The case involved a new type of trademark crime committed through electronic pop-up windows. The People's Court found that the concealed use of another person's registered trademark by electronic pop-up windows was trademark use, and then found that the defendant sold goods that he knew were counterfeit registered trademarks in a large amount, which constituted the crime of selling counterfeit registered trademarks, reflecting the strict punishment for the new type of intellectual property crime.

6. Gao repeatedly sales of counterfeit registered trademark goods case

• Facts

Nihao Zhuhai Culture and Media Company was established on January 6, 2020 and was approved for cancellation on April 29, 2021. Defendant Gao was the supervisor of the company responsible for selling counterfeit Korean MLB brand apparel. starting in September 2020, Gao purchased counterfeit MLB trademarked apparel from Fujian and registered a shake store in the name of Hello Zhuhai Culture Media Company to sell on the shake platform. After the store was blocked by the ShakeYin platform due to customer complaints about the sale of counterfeit goods, Gao registered a new ShakeYin store under the name of Ma Moumou to continue selling counterfeit MLB trademarked apparel. On December 23, 2020, the Xiangzhou District Market Supervision Bureau seized a batch of counterfeit MLB trademarked apparel at Hello Zhuhai Culture Media Company, valued at approximately RMB 330,000.

• Judgement

After hearing, the Zhuhai Xiangzhou District People's Court held that the defendant Gao should have known that the MLB trademarked apparel he sold was counterfeit goods after receiving returns from customers one after another and having his Shake Shop repeatedly blocked and fined. However, in order to pursue illegal profits, he instructed others to register Shake Shop under different names one after another and continued to sell counterfeit apparel. Gao was sentenced to three years' imprisonment and a fine of RMB 1 million for the crime of selling counterfeit registered goods. The Zhuhai Intermediate People's Court affirmed the conviction in the second instance.

 •Typical significance

This case involved the sale of counterfeit famous brand clothing goods through a new e-commerce marketing model of live-streaming with goods. The defendant continued to sell counterfeit registered trademark goods under a different name even after being blocked by the e-commerce platform due to repeated consumer complaints, and the amount of illegal proceeds was huge, so criminal liability was pursued in accordance with the law, which is conducive to purifying the online streaming marketing environment.

ZLWD Commentary：

The six typical criminal cases of intellectual property released by Guangdong High Court are targeted at six different illegal and criminal behaviors, reflecting the strength and determination of Guangdong High Court to protect intellectual property from an all-round, multi-level and from all angles.

China National Intellectual Property Administration solicited public comments on the Draft Amendment to the Trademark Law of the People's Republic of China (Draft for Comments)

According to the notice on the official website of the China National Intellectual Property Administration, in order to implement the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important instructions on intellectual property work and the deployment requirements of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China on "strengthening the legal protection of intellectual property rights", further improve the trademark system, solve the outstanding problems in the field of trademarks, and promote the high-quality development of the socialist market economy, the State Intellectual Property Office actively promoted the revision of the Trademark Law of the People's Republic of China and drafted the Draft Amendment to the Trademark Law of the People's Republic of China (Draft for Comments). It is now open to all sectors of the community for comments. Relevant units and people from all walks of life can submit specific opinions on the revision and improvement of the draft before February 27, 2023.

ZLWD Commentary：

The Trademark Law is one of the important laws regulating the order of commercial activities of market entities. China's current Trademark Law was amended four times in 1993, 2001, 2013 and 2019. With the in-depth development of the socialist market economy, market entities have increased their awareness of intellectual property rights in brand building, which has generated huge demand for trademarks and brought a series of problems. It is believed that this revision will further improve the intellectual property protection system and solve the outstanding problems in the current trademark field.

Opinions of 17 departments, including the China National Intellectual Property Administration, on accelerating the high-quality development of the intellectual property service industry

In order to thoroughly implement the Outline for Building an Intellectual Property Power (2021-2035) and the 14th Five-Year Plan for the Protection and Use of National Intellectual Property Rights, and accelerate the high-quality development of the intellectual property service industry, 17 departments, including the China National Intellectual Property Administration, have put forward relevant overall requirements to stimulate high-quality development momentum A series of opinions on optimizing the supply of high-quality services, optimizing the high-quality development environment, consolidating the foundation for high-quality development and development, and organizational guarantees. 

ZLWD Commentary：

The Opinions mention the functional role of lawyers in the intellectual property service industry, encourage the deepening of intellectual property legal services, and optimize the supply of high-quality services.