China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) organised and edited a guideline about procedures of the  same-day applications for trademark registration.

In order to thoroughly implement the “14th Five-Year Plan” for the Protection and Utilisation of National Intellectual Property Right, strengthening the source of protections and the supervision of the quality of intellectual property rights applications, CNIPA has prepared the guidelines about procedures of Same-day applications for trademark registration for reference by some relevant business entities, which will help business entities understand the relevant legal provisions and examination process of Same-day applications for trademark registration, guide trademark applicants to follow the principle of honesty and credit, and reasonably make applications for trademark registration.“Same-day Applications for Trademark Registration” refers to the situation where two or more applicants, in respect of the same or similar goods or services, file applications for registration on the same day with identical or similar trademarks.

The Guideline clarifies the examination procedures for same-day applications for trademark registration, exceptions to the examination procedures, and precautions to be taken with respect to the procedures for same-day applications for trademark registration, etc. The Guideline aims to resolve the uncertainty of the right to file a trademark application. It aims to solve the problem of uncertainty of the right to file a trademark application, at the same time, to provide the applicant with a reasonable expectation of registrability by conducting a pre-examination of the trademark application at this stage.

situation where two or more applicants, in respect of the same or similar goods or services, file applications for registration on the same day with identical or similar trademarks. The Guideline clarifies the examination procedures for same-day applications for trademark registration, exceptions to the examination procedures, and precautions to be taken with respect to the procedures for same-day applications for trademark registration, etc. The Guideline aims to resolve the uncertainty of the right to file a trademark application. It aims to solve the problem of uncertainty of the right to file a trademark application, at the same time, to provide the applicant with a reasonable expectation of registrability by conducting a pre-examination of the trademark application at this stage.

ZLWD Commentary：

The enactment of the Guideline clarifies the procedures for same-day applications for trademark registration and helps trademark applicants to understand the rules and procedures for examination of same-day applications for trademark registration and to reasonably file applications for trademark registration. The problem of uncertainty of the right to file a trademark application is effectively addressed.

General Office of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China enacted the Plan on Patent Transformation and Utilisation 

The General Office of the State Council of the People’ Republic of China issued the Special Action Programme for Patent Transformation and Utilisation (2023-2025), which makes specific deployment of special action for patent transformation and utilisation in three aspects. Firstly, vigorously promote the industrialisation of patents and accelerate the realisation of patent value. Sorting out and revitalising the stock of patents in universities and scientific research institutions, promoting the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises through patent industrialization, promoting the strong chain of intellectual property rights in key industries to increase efficiency, and cultivating and promoting patent-intensive products. 

The second is to open the key blockage of transformation and stimulate the use of endogenous momentum. The General Office will strengthen the incentives for universities and scientific research institutions to transform patents, enhance the policy orientation of improving the quality of patents and promoting the industrialisation of patents, and strengthen the protection of intellectual property rights to promote the transformation and application of intellectual property rights. Thirdly, cultivate the intellectual property factor market and build a good service ecology. The General Office will build a high-standard intellectual property market system, promote diversified financial support for intellectual property, improve the service chain of patent transformation and application, and smooth the international circulation of intellectual property factors.

ZLWD Commentary：

The Special Action Programme for the Transformation and Application of Patents (2023-2025) focuses on vigorously promoting the industrialisation of patents, making special arrangements for vigorously promoting the industrialisation of patents in China, accelerating the transformation of innovative achievements into real-life productive forces, and effectively promoting the creation of a favourable atmosphere conducive to the transformation and application of patents.

WIPO’s Global Innovation Index for 2023 ranks the most innovative economies, China ranked 12th

On September 27, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) released its latest Global Innovation Index (GII). China slips one place from 2022 and ranked 12th. According to the WIPO Global Innovation Index (GII), Switzerland, Sweden, the United States, the United Kingdom and Singapore were the most innovative economies in the world in 2023, with a group of middle-income economies becoming the fastest rising countries in the past decade.

The GII uses 80 indicators to track global innovation trends in 130-plus economies, guiding policy makers and business leaders in stimulating human ingenuity. This year, the report’s findings are unveiled against a background of slow economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, high interest rates and geopolitical conflict.

The 2023 edition identifies an increasingly uncertain outlook for the venture capital (VC) that helps transform human ingenuity into new products and services, with the global value of VC funding marking a significant plunge last year.

In the annual ranking, China – the only middle-income economy in the GII top 30 – ranks 12th followed by Japan in the 13th position. Israel (14th) is back among the GII top 15, gaining two steps. Finland (6th) is on an upward trend along with Denmark (9th), Sweden (2nd) and the Baltic economies (Estonia 16th, Lithuania 34th and Latvia 37th).

In the past 10 years, Indonesia (61st) joins China, Turkey (39th), India (40th), Vietnam (46th), the Philippines (56th), and the Iran (62nd) in the group of middle-income economies to have climbed the GII rankings fastest. In the last four years, and since the pandemic started, Mauritius (57th), Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Brazil and Pakistan have risen the most in rank (in order of rank progression). A total of 21 economies outperformed on innovation as expected relative to their level of development, the majority located in sub-Saharan Africa and South East Asia, East Asia, and Oceania. India, Moldova and Vietnam are each innovation overperformers for 13 years in a row. Indonesia, Pakistan and Uzbekistan maintain their overperformer status for a second year and Brazil for a third consecutive year.

A group of emerging economies are consistently climbing the GII ranks, showing how a focus on the innovation ecosystem can make a difference. Globally, despite a downturn in venture capital funding, the GII 2023 should reassure us that innovative activity currently continues to run strong but that innovative activity should continue to shift from quantity to quality. With the GII, policymakers across the world continue to have a rich and trusted source of data and information to craft pro-innovation policies to unleash the innovative potential of their people.

ZLWD Commentary：

The release of the GII reflects the rise of some middle-income economies, such as China and Japan, as important forces in global innovation, as well as the decline in venture capital in some sectors, reflecting increased uncertainty in the innovation environment.

The China Property Rights Association has established a Intellectual (Technology) Property Rights Trading Branch

The Association of State-owned Property Rights Trading Institutions of Chinese Enterprises (China Property Rights Association) recently held a meeting in Beijing and formally established the Intellectual (Technology) Property Rights Trading Branch. The China Association of Enterprise State-owned Property Rights Trading Institutions (China Property Rights Association) recently held a meeting in Beijing to formally establish the China Property Rights Association Knowledge (Technology) Property Rights Trading Branch.

Intellectual property rights are an important means to stimulate social innovation. XIA Zhongren, Secretary of the Party Committee and Secretary General of China Property Rights Association, said at the meeting that the property rights market is an important platform to serve the reform of state-owned enterprises and the supervision of state-owned assets, and to realise the optimal allocation of elemental resources, and that serving intellectual property rights trading is an important duty and task of China Property Rights Association.

It is understood that the establishment of the intellectual (technology) property rights trading branch will perform the functions of self-regulation, rights protection, coordination and service, focusing on three aspects of work: first, optimise the transaction standards, cultivate the intellectual property service ecology; second, regulate the market order, improve the capacity of intellectual property services; third, promote the dissemination of information, build the integrity of intellectual property rights system. Statistics from China Property Rights Association show that in 2022, China's property rights market completed a total of 18,692 intellectual property transactions (including registration of technology contracts), with a turnover of 107.345 billion yuan. The annual transaction scale of intellectual (technical) property rights in the property rights market and the data resources owned by the market have shown a strong development trend.

ZLWD Commentary：

China Property Rights Association plays an important role in serving the reform of state-owned assets and state-owned enterprises, the supervision of state-owned assets, and realizing the optimal allocation of factor resources, especially for the service function of intellectual property transactions. The establishment of knowledge (Technology) Property Rights Trading Branch reflects the determination and responsibility of China Property Rights Association to promote the intellectual property rights trading market.

China has successfully developed a quantum computer control system with independent intellectual property rights

Based on long-term research on semiconductor and superconducting quantum bits, the team of academician Guo Guangcan of the University of Science and Technology of China has recently successfully developed a set of streamlined and efficient quantum computer control system, which can realise the manipulation of the quantum chip and take advantage of its performance. The system, named the Origin Quantum Measurement and Control Integrated Machine, was officially unveiled to the public on 6 December.

Quantum computer is the current international academic research hotspot areas, the control system is one of the technical difficulties. China's traditional quantum computer control system is mostly built using imported equipment, there are expensive, functional redundancy, compatibility and poor integration and other issues.

Academician Guo Guangcan team of the Chinese Academy of Sciences was established last year, the transformation of scientific and technological achievements of the platform Hefei Origin Quantum Company, so far in the quantum computer hardware and software has applied for more than 60 patents. Recently, their innovative approach to successfully break through the quantum computer control system of this technical challenge, and will be integrated into the function of a machine that can fully realise the control of the quantum chip, named Benyuan quantum measurement and control of an integrated machine. "If the quantum chip is compared to the human brain, the quantum computer control system is equivalent to the human skeleton, and the quantum software is the flesh and blood." Guo Guangchan introduced that the Origin Quantum Measurement and Control All-in-One Machine can not only maximise the performance of the quantum chip, but can also be applied to a wider range of scientific research fields such as precision measurement.

ZLWD Commentary：

Quantum computer is a hot research field in the international academia, and China's research in this field has been in the forefront of the world. This not only demonstrates China's strength and determination in scientific and technological innovation, but also reflects China's great importance to and investment in the development of science and technology. The research and development and application of quantum computer will lay a solid foundation for the future development of science and technology.

Industry experts to discuss the governance of intellectual property litigation sources

Recently, the Working Committee on Science and Technology Integration and Legal Protection of China International Association for the Promotion of Science and Technology held a symposium on the experience of governance of intellectual property litigation sources and exchange of industry hotspots in Beijing. At the meeting, through experience sharing and empirical analysis of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms, combined with the current practice, it looked forward to the future development of IPR alternative dispute resolution mechanisms, and proposed that the quality and efficiency of IPR alternative dispute resolution mechanisms can be effectively improved through multi-party collaborative governance.

In the session of experience exchange, Judge Yi Jun, member of the Trial Committee of Beijing IP Court and President of the Filing Division of Beijing IP Court, shared his experience in litigation governance, introduced the case intake of Beijing IP Court and the highlights of litigation governance such as diversified settlement + speedy adjudication that have been adopted, and put forward the idea of socialisation, rule of law, intelligence, specialisation and materialisation of litigation governance with four directions to promote the construction of a new pattern of IP litigation governance. He also put forward the idea of socialisation, rule of law, intelligence, specialisation and materialisation of litigation governance and four directions to promote the construction of a new pattern of intellectual property litigation governance. Professor Cui Guobin, Professor of Tsinghua University Law School and Director of Intellectual Property Law Research Centre, analysed the legal attributes of intellectual property licensing. 

Judge Feng Gang, member of the Trial Committee and President of the Trial Supervision Division of the Beijing Intellectual Property Court, analysed the protection and balance of interests between the licensor and the licensee in the exclusive copyright licence from the perspective of the application of law. Professor Wang Hongyou, Director of the Intellectual Property Department of the Law School of Southwest University of Science and Technology, shared his views on the diversified choices of paths for protection of works in the IPTV business.

Industry insiders believe that the conference provides new ideas and methods for the development of IP alternative dispute resolution mechanism, and believe that through experience sharing and multi-party collaborative governance, it can better promote the resolution of IP disputes and the overall development of IP protection.

ZLWD Commentary：

Through empirical analyses and experience sharing, industry experts explored the development trend of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms and proposed effective ways of multi-party collaborative governance, contributing to the construction of a new pattern of more just and efficient governance of intellectual property litigation sources for the protection and development of intellectual property.

EPO-CNIPA Joint Communiqué: Chinese Applicants May Continue to Designate EPO as ISA

Nationals and residents of the People's Republic of China will continue to have the option to select the EPO as their International Searching Authority (ISA) for international patent applications filed in English under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) until 30 November 2026. This follows the success of the pilot scheme first started in December 2020, which is being extended for a further three years as mutually agreed between the European Patent Office (EPO) and the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA).

This extension enables nationals and residents of the People's Republic of China to continue to obtain international searches and written opinions from the EPO, supporting their strategic objectives when considering patent protection in Europe. By using the EPO as their ISA, applicants can speed up the European patent grant process and save even more prosecution time if they request early entry into the European phase. Furthermore, they can save costs as neither a supplementary European search nor a translation of the PCT application would be required and the examination fee payable on entry into the European phase would be reduced by 75% when requesting international preliminary examination under PCT Chapter II with the EPO.

The decision to extend the scheme follows the pilot's favourable evaluation by applicants, including enterprises, universities, research institutes, and private individuals. The capacity of the pilot remains set at 3 000 applications per year. CNIPA Commissioner Dr Shen Changyu commented: "The success of the pilot is another milestone in EPO-CNIPA comprehensive strategic cooperation. Over the past three years, the widely praised pilot has benefited more than 420 innovation entities. We welcome its extension and expect that it will provide greater convenience to Chinese users applying for IP and seeking patent protection in Europe."

EPO President António Campinos emphasised the significance of the pilot's extension, stating: "This milestone underscores the trust and value placed in the EPO's international search services. We are pleased to support the innovators who are nationals and residents of the People's Republic of China, seeking patent protection in Europe's technology markets. This extension provides better planning security for the applicants who will continue to enjoy the benefits of examination before the EPO. It fosters innovation and economic growth in Europe and China, and strengthens our strategic partnership with CNIPA." 

ZLWD Commentary：

The extension of the CNIPA-EPO’s Pilot Project on International Search Units for the Patent Cooperation Treaty reflects the in-depth co-operation between China and Europe in the field of intellectual property rights, and reflects the common emphasis of both sides on intellectual property rights protection and the common vision of promoting the development of innovation, which will have a far-reaching impact on enhancing the level of intellectual property rights protection and promoting innovation between China and Europe.

Patent Statistics Report on the 10th Anniversary of China's Partnership with Belt and Road Countries (2013-2022)" was released recently

A growing number of innovators have participated in technological exchanges and cooperation concerning the Belt and Road Initiative in the past decade, as the motivations strengthen for greater patent application in China, a recent report said.

Last year, a total of 3,982 innovation entities from BRI countries applied for patents in China, 654 more than in 2013, when the initiative was launched by China's central leadership, according to a report issued by the China National Intellectual Property Administration on Tuesday. The increase means that "with the deepening of the initiative, BRI countries have become more positive about China's IP protection environment", the report said. It reveals that patent applications were submitted in China from 115 BRI countries in the past 10 years. Most came from South Korea, followed by Italy, Singapore, Austria and Luxembourg. To date, the accumulative amount of applications from BRI countries in China reached 253,000, it said, adding that many were invention and design patents, covering technologies such as semiconductors, computer technology and digital communications. As China saw more patent applications originating from BRI countries, its market entities have also gone global to expand their businesses and strengthened IP cooperation.

The report shows that the number of patents applied for and published by Chinese enterprises in other BRI nations increased to 15,000 last year from 2,000 in 2013, representing an annual growth rate of 25.8 percent. Of the Chinese applicants, most were from Guangdong province, followed by the Yangtze River Delta region and the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, it added.

As China has become an important contributor to global innovation in green and low-carbon technologies in recent years, its patent applications in this regard in BRI countries have also seen a rise, according to the report.

From 2013 to last year, more than 3,500 invention patent applications related to low-carbon technologies were applied by Chinese entities in BRI countries, an annual increase of 16.7 percent, it said. "As the world's largest clean energy market and equipment manufacturer, China has actively leveraged its advantages in environmental technology innovation and provided strong support for promoting initiative-related green development," it added.

ZLWD Commentary：

The release of the 10th Anniversary Patent Statistical Report of China and "Belt and Road" Countries (2013-2022) summarizes the achievements and contributions and cooperation between China and "Belt and Road" countries and related organizations in the 10 years from 2013 to 2022, reflecting China's leading position in intellectual property application and protection.

The General Office of the State Council issued the Special Action Plan for The Transformation and Application of patents (2023-2025)

Recently, The General Office of the State Council issued the Special Action Plan for Patent Transformation and Application (2023-2025) (hereinafter referred to as the Plan), which made special arrangements for China to vigorously promote the industrialization of patents and accelerate the transformation of innovation achievements into real productive forces.

"Solution" pointed out that to new era to xi jinping the ideas of socialism with Chinese characteristics as a guide, fully implement the party's twenty great spirit, focus on vigorously promote the industrialization of patent, to do optimal real economy, give full play to the dual role of intellectual property system supply and technology supply, effective use of the rights and interests of patent link and information link function, promote technology, capital, talent and other resources efficient allocation and organic aggregation. To improve the quality of patent and strengthen policy incentives, strive to get through the key of patent application, optimize the market service, cultivate good ecology, stimulate all kinds of subject innovation vitality and power, to the patent system advantage into strong kinetic energy of innovation and development, help to achieve high level technology self-improvement.

The plan proposes to promote the industrialization of a number of high-value patents by 2025. The industrialization rate of patents in universities and scientific research institutions has increased significantly, and the turnover of technology contracts related to patents nationwide has reached 800 billion yuan. A number of enterprises focusing on hard science and technology and mastering patents have grown, the competitive advantage of intellectual property in key industries has accelerated, and the output value of patent-intensive products registered and recognized has exceeded one trillion yuan.

The Plan makes specific arrangements for the special action of patent transformation and application from three aspects. First, vigorously promote the patent industrialization, accelerate the realization of patent value. We will sort out and revitalize the stock patents of universities and research institutions, promote the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises through patent industrialization, promote the strong chain of intellectual property in key industries, and cultivate and promote patent-intensive products. Second, to get through the key blockage points of transformation, and stimulate the use of endogenous power. 

We will strengthen incentives for patent transformation in universities and scientific research institutions, strengthen the policy guidance of improving patent quality and promoting patent industrialization, and strengthen the protection of intellectual property rights to promote the transformation and application. Third, cultivate the market of intellectual property factors and build a good service ecology. We will build an intellectual property market system to a high standard, promote diversified financial support for intellectual property, improve the service chain for patent transformation and application, and smooth the international circulation of intellectual property elements.

The plan emphasizes the need to strengthen the organization and implementation, strengthen performance appraisal, increase investment guarantee, strengthen publicity and guidance and experience summary, create a good atmosphere conducive to the transformation and application of patents in the whole society, and ensure that the special action tasks are effective.

ZLWD Commentary：

The Special Action Plan for Patent Transformation and Application (2023-2025) puts forward action arrangements for patent transformation and application in the next two to three years, and puts forward specific requirements and task objectives for realizing the transformation of patent innovation achievements into real productive forces.

The creators of Game of Rights and others sued OpenAI for copyright infringement

John Grisham, Jodi Picoult and Game of Thrones novelist George R R Martin are among 17 authors who have sued OpenAI, the latest in a wave of legal action by writers concerned that artificial intelligence programs are using their copyrighted works without permission. The proposed class-action lawsuit filed late on Tuesday by the Authors Guild joins several others from writers, source code owners and visual artists against generative AI providers. In addition to Microsoft-backed OpenAI, similar lawsuits are pending against Meta Platforms and Stability AI over the data used to train their AI systems. In papers filed in federal court in New York, the authors alleged “flagrant and harmful infringements of plaintiffs’ registered copyrights” and called the ChatGPT program a “massive commercial enterprise” that is reliant upon “systematic theft on a mass scale”.

The suit was organised by the Authors Guild and also includes David Baldacci, Sylvia Day, Jonathan Franzen and Elin Hilderbrand, among others.

“It is imperative that we stop this theft in its tracks or we will destroy our incredible literary culture, which feeds many other creative industries in the US,” Authors Guild CEO Mary Rasenberger said in a statement. “Great books are generally written by those who spend their careers and, indeed, their lives, learning and perfecting their crafts. To preserve our literature, authors must have the ability to control if and how their works are used by generative AI.”

The lawsuit cites specific ChatGPT searches for each author, such as one for Martin that alleges the program generated “an infringing, unauthorised, and detailed outline for a prequel” to Game of Thrones that was titled A Dawn of Direwolves and used “the same characters from Martin’s existing books in the series A Song of Ice and Fire.”An OpenAI spokesperson said in the statement that the company respects “the rights of writers and authors and believes they should benefit from AI technology”.

“We’re optimistic we will continue to find mutually beneficial ways to work together to help people utilise new technology in a rich content ecosystem,” the statement reads.

Earlier this month, a handful of authors including Michael Chabon and David Henry Hwang sued OpenAI in San Francisco for “clear infringement of intellectual property”. In August, OpenAI asked a federal judge in California to dismiss two similar lawsuits, one involving comedian Sarah Silverman and another from author Paul Tremblay. In a court filing, OpenAI said the claims “misconceive the scope of copyright, failing to take into account the limitations and exceptions (including fair use) that properly leave room for innovations like the large language models now at the forefront of artificial intelligence”. 

Author objections to AI have helped lead Amazon.com, the country’s largest book retailer, to change its policies on e-books. The online giant is now asking writers who want to publish through its Kindle Direct Program to notify Amazon in advance that they are including AI-generated material. Amazon is also limiting authors to three new self-published books on Kindle Direct per day, in an effort to restrict the proliferation of AI texts.

ZLWD Commentary：

In digital era, we need to pay more attention to the balance between the applicability of copyright law and innovation. The rapid development of digital technology and the expanding use of artificial intelligence have led to dramatic changes in the scope and form of content creation, which have brought new challenges to copyright law.