The CNIPA Issues Annual Work Guidelines for Promoting High-Quality Development of Intellectual Property (2024)

To further improve and accelerate the high-quality development of intellectual property in 2024, the CNIPA has issued the Annual Work Guideline for Promoting High-Quality Development of Intellectual Property (2024). The guide includes five parts: overall requirements, strengthening the guidance of high-quality development indicators for intellectual property, optimizing the policy system for high-quality development of intellectual property, improving the statistical monitoring of high-quality development of intellectual property and requirements. 

The main objectives are to establish and improve incentive policies and mechanisms for improving the quality of patent applications oriented by utilization; comprehensively promote the special action of patent transformation and utilization, strive to achieve full coverage of the inventory of untransformed valid patents in universities and research institutions across the country by the end of the year, rapidly transform a number of high-value patents, increase the scale of intellectual property pledge financing and the number of small and medium-sized enterprises benefiting from it by more than 10%, and steadily increase the proportion of the added value of patent-intensive industries in the gross domestic product;

further improve the intellectual property protection system, continuously deepen the construction of protection demonstration zones, establish a new batch of intellectual property protection centers and rapid rights protection centers, improve the overseas intellectual property dispute response guidance network, and maintain a high level of satisfaction with intellectual property protection; further promote the construction of strong intellectual property provinces and cities, continuously optimize the coordinated linkage work mechanism of the bureau, provinces and cities, and further improve the local intellectual property management system; steadily push forward the reform of the division of fiscal powers and expenditure responsibilities between the central and local governments in the field of intellectual property; deeply implement the inclusive project of intellectual property public services, and expand the scale of comprehensive intellectual property public service institutions at the prefecture level and important national intellectual property service outlets to 172 and 460 respectively; complete the construction of the national intellectual property protection information platform; and newly establish about 10 national intellectual property service industry clusters.

ZLWD Commentary：

The guideline provides clear guidance and direction for intellectual property work in 2024. It sets out specific goals and requirements for intellectual property creation, protection, utilization, and management, which will help all governments, enterprises and institutions carry out intellectual property work more targetedly and promote the deep integration of intellectual property with economic and social development.

The 2024 National Intellectual Property Rights  Prmotion Week in 2024 was launched online

On April 20th, the National Intellectual Property Rights Promotion Week in 2024 was launched online. This theme of this year is "Promoting High-Quality Development through the Transformation and Utilization of Intellectual Property Rights." The CNIPA, the Propaganda Department of the Central Committee, and the State Administration for Market Regulation jointly held a press conference to introduce the situation related to China's intellectual property rights powerhouse construction in 2023. 

The Propaganda Department of the Central Committee will organize a forum on reading rights protection and jointly issue a "Head-to-Head" mechanism for copyright dispute mediation with the Supreme People's Court. The Supreme People's Court will release the overall situation of intellectual property judicial protection in 2023, the top ten intellectual property cases of 2023, and fifty typical cases. The Supreme People's Procuratorate will release the "White Paper on Intellectual Property Prosecution Work (2021-2023)" and typical cases of intellectual property prosecution protection. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will hold a seminar on the empowerment of industrial development through intellectual property rights in new-generation artificial intelligence. 

The Ministry of Public Security will release typical cases of "strictly enforcing the law against intellectual property infringement crimes and fully serving and safeguarding high-quality development." The Ministry of Justice will organize thematic activities for intellectual property rights legal propaganda and education. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs will release the top ten typical cases of agricultural plant variety protection in 2024. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism, together with the Palace Museum, will hold a series of themed activities titled "Inheritance, Protection, and Creation."

The General Administration of Customs will release the "2023 Report on the Protection of Intellectual Property Rights by China Customs" and typical cases. The Office of the National Quality Power Construction Coordination and Promotion Leadership Group will release the "Annual Report on China's Anti-infringement and Anti-fakes Work (2023)." The State Administration for Market Regulation will release typical cases of intellectual property law enforcement in 2023. The CNIPA will hold an open day event, releasing typical cases of intellectual property administrative protection, patent reexamination and invalidation, trademark opposition and revision in 2023. The National Forestry and Grassland Administration will release the "2023 AnnualReport on Forestry and Grassland Intellectual Property Rights in China." The China Council for the Promotion of InternationalTrade will hold the 2024 Forum on Intellectual Property Dispute Resolution and release the "Annual Report on China's International Intellectual Property Arbitration (2023)."

During the Promotion Week, various exciting activities will also be held across the country. This year, the organizing committee of the Promotion Week has selected and established 10 branch venues for the Week's activities in Liaoning, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, Henan, Hubei, Chongqing, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, and Guangzhou, jointly creating an intellectual property cultural atmosphere of "respecting knowledge, advocating innovation, abiding by integrity and the law, and maintaining fair competition."

ZLWD Commentary：

The various activities of the National Intellectual Property Publicity Week not only will be helpful to enhance the society's awareness and protection consciousness of intellectual property, but also to promote the transformation and application of intellectual property, to enhance China's influence in the international intellectual property field, to strengthen the cooperation among different departments, and to provide a platform for the public to learn and communication.

The China National Intellectual Property Administration and the United States Patent and Trademark Office Held Bilateral Talks and Signed a New Memorandum of Understanding for Cooperation

On April 15, Shen Changyu, Director of the CNIPA, met with a delegation led by Katie Vidal, Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office in Beijing. At the meeting, both sides introduced the latest progress of intellectual property work in their respective countries, exchanged views in depth on issues of mutual concern, and jointly signed a new version of the Memorandum of Understanding for Cooperation between the two administrations.

Shen Changyu said that intellectual property cooperation is an important area of cooperation between China and the United States. In recent years, the two administrations have adhered to an open, pragmatic, and mutually beneficial attitude, actively promoted the continuous development of intellectual property exchanges and cooperation between China and the United States, and achieved fruitful results in multiple areas. Last year, President Xi Jinping met with President Biden and outlined the "San Francisco Vision" for cooperation between the two countries. 

China attaches great importance to intellectual property cooperation with the United States. Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang met with you, which strongly guided and promoted intellectual property cooperation between China and the United States. We hope that the two administrations can take the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding for Cooperation as an opportunity to jointly promote the in-depth development of intellectual property cooperation between the two sides, implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, and provide more convenient and efficient services for enterprises and rights holders of the two countries.

Katie Vidal said that the United States attaches great importance to intellectual property cooperation with China. The signing of this Memorandum of Understanding for Cooperation marks the further expansion of cooperation between the two sides. She looks forward to continuing to strengthen dialogue and exchanges through multilateral and bilateral channels in the future, promoting mutual benefit and win-win results, and better serving the innovation entities of the two countries.

Under the framework of the new version of the Memorandum of Understanding for Cooperation, the two administrations will further expand cooperation areas and deepen practical cooperation in information exchange, patent and trademark examination, automation, and industry outreach.

ZLWD Commentary：

This move strengthens the cooperation between China and the United States in the field of intellectual property. Through the signing of a new Memorandum of Understanding for Cooperation, both sides will carry out practical cooperation in a wider range of areas, including information exchange, patent and trademark examination, automation and industrial outreach. This will help improve the level of intellectual property protection and management in both countries and promote the transformation and application of innovative achievements.

2024 Report on the Development of Intellectual Property in Key Cities of the Yangtze River Delta Region

The "2024 Report on the Development of Intellectual Property in Key Cities of the Yangtze River Delta Region" has been released, with Shanghai, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Nanjing, and Ningbo ranking among the top five cities in terms of overall strength in intellectual property development.

According to the report, in 2023, the Yangtze River Delta continued to play a leading role in regional cooperation and development, pioneering new paths, demonstrating exemplary practices, and driving radiation effects. The number of high-value patents per 10,000 people in the 27 key cities further increased to 19.6, nearly 1.7 times the national average. The cumulative number of patent agencies accounted for 25.25% of the national total, and the amount of patent and trademark pledge financing accounted for 45.92% of the national total. The number of national-level intellectual property protection centers and intellectual property rapid rights protection centers accounted for 26.80% of the national total. Multiple data points are leading positions among the country and the three major national strategic regions.

The report points out that the three provinces and one city in the Yangtze River Delta region have fully leveraged the important role of intellectual property in internally stimulating innovation and externally promoting openness, and have created an integrated development of intellectual property with joint discussion, joint advancement of layout, joint protection, shared services, and joint environmental construction. The standard deviation value of the comprehensive strength index of intellectual property development in the three provinces and one city has narrowed by 5% compared to the previous year's report, indicating significant achievements in regional coordinated development and continuously increasing regional development coordination and balance.

In terms of intellectual property competitiveness, from the four secondary indicators of intellectual property creation, service, management, and talent, the rankings are Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Anhui. However, in the two secondary indicators of intellectual property utilization and protection, Zhejiang performs better than Jiangsu. Among the 27 key cities, the top five in intellectual property development competitiveness are Shanghai, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Suzhou, and Hefei.

In terms of the supporting power of intellectual property industries, the development competitiveness of intellectual property and the supporting power index of industries in the 27 cities in the Yangtze River Delta region show a linear positive correlation distribution. The scores of intellectual property development supporting industrial high-end, internationalization, and green development indices all show a good distribution pattern. In the two secondary indicators of industrial high-end and green development, the rankings are Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Anhui. However, in the indicator of industrial internationalization, Zhejiang performs better than Jiangsu. Among the 27 key cities, the top five cities in intellectual property industry supporting power are Shanghai, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Nanjing, and Ningbo.

Finally, the report proposes several development suggestions to further advance the integrated development of intellectual property in the Yangtze River Delta region, strengthen the application and utilization of patents to promote new productive forces, continuously improve the training system for professional and applied intellectual property talents, and vigorously promote the empowerment of intellectual property to build a modern industrial system tailored to local conditions, which will support the integrated development of intellectual property in the Yangtze River Delta region.

ZLWD Commentary：

The report comprehensively and deeply analyzes the current situation and trends of intellectual property development in key cities in the Yangtze River Delta region through multiple dimensions such as urban intellectual property development competitiveness and industrial supporting power. It systematically evaluates and summarizes the intellectual property work in the Yangtze River Delta region, which not only helps cities in the region better understand their own advantages and disadvantages but also provides useful references and lessons for other regions.

The State Intellectual Property Office and other five departments jointly issued the Implementation  Plan for Patent Industrialization to Promote the Growth of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises

The Implementation Plan clearly arranges a number of key tasks, among them, in the aspect of "financing innovation chain", the Implementation Plan strengthens the cooperation between supply and demand of patent technology, guides innovative small and medium-sized enterprises (hereinafter referred to as "SME") to deeply participate in the revitalization of stock patents in universities and scientific research institutions, accelerate the cultivation of high-value patents or patent combinations, and helps enterprises to efficiently obtain innovation resources and reduce the innovation cost; in the aspect of brand building, the Implementation Plan proposes the use of new modes such as patent pool and patent open source, accelerate the formation of a coordinated development mechanism of intellectual property of the industrial chain, and guides and supports small and medium-sized enterprises to form patent-intensive products and create well-known trademark brands.

In addition, the Implementation Plan requires to give full pay to the value of intangible assets such as patents, and broaden the financing channels of small and medium-sized enterprises. We should improve the intellectual property evaluation system, unblock the financing channels such as intellectual property pledge, strengthen the credit enhancement function of intellectual property, and effectively improve the financing efficiency and scale, so as to solve the problem of difficult and expensive financing for such enterprises.

ZLWD Commentary：

The Implementation Plan shows the government's concern about the intellectual property protection of SME, and puts forward a series of specific measures, including strengthening patented technology docking, promoting cooperation and guiding brand building, which will help improve the innovation ability and competitiveness of SME. At the same time, measures such as broadening financing channels and strengthening intellectual property assessment have also provided support for enterprises to solve their financing problems. The implementation of these measures is expected to provide more powerful policy support for the innovative development of SME and promote the positive role of intellectual property in the economy.

Beijing has officially established a two-level urban patent administrative adjudication system

"Interpretation" of patent application procedures and transaction processing, the preliminary examination of design patent applications and design international application, review and invalid request review, Chinese medicine invention patent application review, involving computer program application for invention patent examination, the general rules of the patent compensation and preliminary examination of application for patent for invention and utility model and entering the national stage of international application review content modified to read.

In this regard, In terms of patent application procedures and transactions, The Patent Examination Guide has amended the change procedures and related costs for batch description items, The Interpretation mentions that, To simplify the procedure, To better meet the actual needs of innovation subjects, For exactly the same changes as for multiple patent applications, The party concerned may request the change of the batch description project; In the examination of applications for patents for invention involving computer programs, The Patent Examination Guide shall amend the writing of the claim, To explicitly allow the computer program product as the subject name of the claim, According to the Interpretation, Changes to this section further enrich the types of protection themes for patent applications for inventions involving computer programs, Allow the computer program products as a protected subject type, So that the protection of computer programs is no longer limited to tangible storage media, At the same time, it is clear that the computer program products also belong to the product claims.

The establishment of a two-level patent administrative adjudication system in Beijing is helpful to improve the efficiency and professionalism of patent dispute resolution. By clarifying the division of responsibilities of Beijing Intellectual Property Office and each district, it can more effectively deal with patent dispute cases of different levels and different nature. It is worth expecting that the establishment of the urban two-level patent administrative adjudication work system can provide enterprises with more convenient and fair patent protection services, and promote the further optimization and improvement of the intellectual property environment in Beijing.

ZLWD Commentary：

The innocence of Fujian Jinhua in the United States is a significant turnaround in the relevant legal proceedings under the "China Action Plan", which reflects the respect of the law. The outcome of this case not only removes legal obstacles for Fujian Jinhua, but also provides a new perspective for the interaction between the US and China in science, technology and trade. The ruling could have an impact on the US government's future sanctions and restrictions on Chinese companies. It will also provide a reference for other international companies to face intellectual property disputes. In addition, the ruling could open up a new avenue for dialogue between China and the United States on technology security and intellectual property protection.

The Bureau of National Knowledge held a regular press conference in March 2024

The State Intellectual Property Office held a regular press conference in March, introducing the work plan formulated by the State Administration to implement the spirit of the two sessions, including strengthening the legal protection of intellectual property and promoting the transformation and application of intellectual property. In response to reporters' questions, the bureau also mentioned that 17 provinces and cities have carried out pilot work on data intellectual property, and the pilot localities have received more than 13,000 data intellectual property registration applications and issued more than 7,000 certificates.

The bureau will further combine practical experience and expert suggestions to improve relevant protection rules. In addition, in terms of promoting the development of small and medium-sized enterprises, the Bureau and relevant departments jointly issued the Implementation Plan of the Plan for Patent Industrialization to Promote the Growth of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, which will strengthen the inclusive supply of intellectual property public services and improve the facilitation and accessibility of intellectual property public services for small and medium-sized enterprises. In addition, the bureau also gave detailed answers on the effectiveness of patent industrialization and the determination of the theme of this year's National Intellectual Property Publicity Week.

ZLWD Commentary：

At its regular press conference, the SIPO demonstrated its positive attitude and practical measures towards IPR protection and promoting the development of small and medium-sized enterprises. Especially for the implementation of the data intellectual property pilot work and the plan of the patent industrialization to promote the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises, the Bureau has put forward a series of specific work plans and achievements. This shows the continuous exploration and efforts of the national IPR protection work in deepening reform and innovative development. It is expected to further improve the legal protection and promote the transformation and application of intellectual property rights by strengthening the intellectual property protection system and promote innovative development.

MiHoYo successfully won the country's first Pre-Prosecution preservation ban against trade secrets involving an undisclosed character design

"Broken: star dome railway" operators MiHoYo Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "MiHoYo") by monitoring found that XXL in the game internal test, filming, recording the game and storage is not open game design, always leaked to others and cause the risk of great losses to the company, so to Shanghai Pudong Court before litigation behavior preservation.

After receiving the application, the Pudong Court will focus on four aspects: whether the application has a factual and legal basis, whether it will cause irreparable damage, whether it will lead to a significant imbalance of interests, and whether it damages the national and public interests. The court held that the game Collapse: Star Dome Railway and its character design legally enjoyed by MiHoYo belongs to the business information that is not known to the public, has commercial value and has been taken corresponding confidential measures by the right holder, so it belongs to the trade secret stipulated in the Anti-Unfair Competition Law. It is more likely that the respondent has indeed implemented the unauthorized recording. If not regulated, it will destroy the balance and fairness of the game, reduce the heat and attention of the game, disrupt the business and business arrangements of the game company, and degrade the business reputation and social evaluation of the game company. Therefore, the Pudong Court ordered the respondent Chen not to disclose, use, allow others to use the game content recorded in the process of participating in the game beta

This case is the first involving game not open role design of commercial secrets before litigation preservation, combined with the characteristics of the game industry development and judicial protection requirements, for the first time the game not open role design into the scope of business information business secrets, and the dangers of leak behavior network game inside a comprehensive analysis, behavior preservation ruling issued in a timely manner.

ZLWD Commentary：

MiHoYo successfully obtained the country's first pre-litigation preservation prohibition of infringing trade secrets related to the unpublished character design of the game, highlighting the court's attention and innovation to the protection of intellectual property rights in the game industry. The ruling in this case is not only conducive to protecting the commercial interests and intellectual property rights of the game enterprises, but also helps to maintain the order and level the playing field in the game market. By taking timely actions, the potential risk of leaking trade secrets can be effectively prevented, and the legitimate rights and interests and business reputation of the game company are guaranteed. The ruling provides a strong judicial guarantee for the benign development of the game industry, and also provides a useful reference for handling similar cases in the future.

State Intellectual Property Office: The industrialization rate of effective invention patents of Chinese enterprises has been steadily increased

At present, in China's domestic effective invention patents, enterprises have accounted for more than 70%, the number of more than 3 million. The industrialization rate of effective invention patents in Chinese enterprises has been steadily increased, and the efficiency of patent transformation and application has been continuously improved.

"Enterprises are an important force in scientific and technological innovation and industrial innovation, as well as the main body of patent output and transformation."The relevant person in charge of the state intellectual property office, said recently, the state intellectual property office jointly with relevant departments jointly issued the patent industrialization to promote small and medium-sized enterprise growth plan implementation plan, innovation oriented small and medium-sized enterprises, take" Inclusive service + key cultivation " way, with patent industrialization to promote small and medium-sized enterprises, foster new kinetic energy for the development of high quality.

According to the relevant person in charge of the State Intellectual Property Office, in 2023, the industrialization rate of invention patents of Chinese enterprises reached 51.3%, exceeding 50% for the first time. This was 3.2 percentage points higher than the previous year, maintaining a growth trend for five consecutive years.

The patent industrialization level of high-tech enterprises is higher. In 2023, the industrialization rate of invention patents of national high-tech enterprises reached 57.6%, an increase of 1.5 percentage points over the previous year, and 19.5 percentage points higher than that of non-state high-tech enterprises.

ZLWD Commentary：

The news shows a significant increase in the patent industrialization rate of Chinese enterprises, especially the steady growth of small and medium-sized enterprises. This reflects China's positive progress in patent innovation and industrialization transformation, and also highlights the government's attention to and support for the innovation of SME. The patent industrialization level of high-tech enterprises is more prominent, further highlighting the strength and vitality of China's scientific and technological innovation. These measures are expected to drive China's economy to a higher quality and provide a better environment and opportunities for enterprises to innovate.

Shanghai Municipal Market Supervision Administration issued the Opinions on Further Strengthening the Demonstration of Commercial Secrets Protection in Shanghai to Serve the High-quality Development of Economy

In accordance with the Regulations of Shanghai Municipality on Business Environment and the requirements of the State Administration of Market Regulation, the Shanghai Municipal Administration of Market Supervision issued the Opinions on Further Strengthening the Demonstration of Commercial Secrets Protection in this Municipality and Serving the High-quality Development of Economy (Opinions).

The guidelines focus on integrated circuits, bio-medicine and artificial intelligence, Six key industries: electronic information, life and health, automobiles, high-end equipment, advanced materials, and fashion consumer goods, meta-verse, green and low-carbon, digital economy, intelligent terminal four new track industries, Future health, future intelligence, future energy, future materials and future space, To carry out targeted demonstration work of trade secret protection, Focus on cultivating and guiding the city's special new small and medium-sized enterprises, special new "little giant" enterprises and "intangible cultural heritage" traditional skills and other characteristic enterprises to carry out the construction of commercial secret protection system, Strive to build a number of business secret protection demonstration units.

At the same time, the "opinions" also determine the commercial secret protection demonstration to create evaluation mechanism, in addition to the enterprise industry, enterprise nature, enterprise scale, primary enterprise business secret protection level, including organization, system construction, classification, personnel management, classified information protection, classified area and business activities management and foreign services, and put forward to determine the enterprise business secret protection demonstration to create three years list, gradually formed the city business secret protection demonstration create echelon. In addition, the "opinions" also explicitly require the district government to strengthen the protection of commercial secrets support, strengthen the commercial secrets related propaganda training work, each unit each year to build 6-8 district commercial secret protection demonstration unit, 8-10 national commercial secret protection demonstration area, and regular review, does not conform to the acceptance criteria, cancel the commercial secret protection demonstration area, station (point) title.

ZLWD Commentary：

The opinions of the Shanghai Municipal Market Supervision Administration show that Shanghai attaches great importance to the protection of trade secrets. Focusing on emerging industries and characteristic enterprises, the opinions provide specific guidance and support for enterprises, and help to improve the protection level of trade secrets and promote economic development. At the same time, the establishment of an evaluation mechanism and a list will help to promote the implementation and deepening of the demonstration work and provide a stronger guarantee for Shanghai's business environment.

The Bureau of China issued the Annual Work Guidelines for Promoting High-quality Development of Intellectual Property (2024)

In terms of intellectual property creation, the guidelines propose to introduce incentive policies and mechanisms to improve the quality of patent applications and improve the quality and efficiency of intellectual property review. In terms of the application of intellectual property, we will strive to achieve the full coverage of universities and research institutions across the country, and increase the financing scale of intellectual property pledge and the number of small and medium-sized enterprises by more than 10%. In terms of intellectual property protection, we will improve the protection system, deepen the construction of protection demonstration zones, build new intellectual property protection centers and rapid rights protection centers, and improve the guidance network for responding to overseas disputes. 

In terms of intellectual property management, we will improve local management, and steadily advance the reform of the division of fiscal powers and expenditure responsibilities between the central and local governments. In terms of intellectual property services, in-depth implementation of intellectual property public service project, plan municipal comprehensive intellectual property public service agencies and national intellectual property important service network scale reached 172,460 respectively, built national intellectual property protection information platform, the new construction of national intellectual property service cluster area around 10. In addition, the guidelines also call for strengthening the guidance of high quality development indicators, optimizing the high quality development policy system and improving the statistical monitoring of high quality development.

ZLWD Commentary：

The Guidelines highlight the importance and commitment of the PO to intellectual property development. A series of measures proposed in the guidelines are aimed to improve the quality of patent applications, promoting the application of intellectual property, strengthening intellectual property protection, and optimizing intellectual property management and service system, demonstrating a comprehensive consideration and planning for the high-quality development of intellectual property. The release of the guidelines has provided specific direction and policy support for promoting the high-quality development of intellectual property rights, and is expected to inject new vitality and impetus into the long-term development of China's intellectual property cause.

The Shaanxi Provincial High People's Court ruled on the country's first case of unfair competition against the malicious trademark squatting

This case the plaintiff Nanjing company in 2006 registered the "Bei" enterprise size business motor vehicle driving training program, and from 2012 to 2014, they successively registered, launched "Bei Driving Test" business website and more called "Bei Driving Test" mobile phone software, website visitors, mobile phone software downloads accumulated 238 million, 200 million times respectively, has high reputation in the industry. 

In 2014, a large number of Shanghai companies hoarding trademarks maliciously registered the "Bei" trademark. In 2021, the defendant, a technology company in Xi'an, acquired the trademark of "Bei" and the application software of "Bei Driving Test Treasure Book" from a company in Shanghai, and authorized a company in Xi'an where it held it to use it exclusively. A company in Xi'an immediately launched a mobile phone software called "Bei Driving Test" with the same name as a company in Nanjing, and complained in several mobile phone app stores that the plaintiff violated its registered trademark rights, requested the platform to be removed from the shelves, and sent a letter to acquire the plaintiff's equity. In May 2021, a plaintiff company in Nanjing filed a lawsuit against unfair competition.

The court of second instance held that a company in Shanghai applied for the registration of the influential prior commercial logo, but did not actually use it, but used it for resale. The intention of attaching goodwill and malicious squatting was obvious, so it cannot counter the claim of the interests of the prior stakeholders on the grounds of the exercise of the registered trademark right. At the same time, malicious trademark squatting itself is an act for the purpose of infringing on the rights and interests of others, which is not substantially different from the general infringement act and can constitute an unfair competition act. 

As for the question of whether the assignee of the malicious trademark squatting should bear the responsibility, the court focused on examining whether the assignee was possible to know the facts of the malicious squatting of the trademark, and whether it had fulfilled the due duty of care. In this case, the two defendants in knowing "Bei" trademark in the field of online driving test popularity under the premise of not only not reasonable avoidance, but actively seek transferring "Bei" trademark, climbing the intention of goodwill, conform to the subjective and objective conditions of acts of unfair competition, so although it is not malicious squatting, but the actual use of trademark assignee, should also bear the responsibility for unfair competition.

ZLWD Commentary：

This case is the first case of malicious registered trademark assignee. Through the trial and judgment of the case, the court sent a clear signal to the society: not only the malicious squatting of trademarks is illegal, but also the assignee who intentionally acquires and uses these trademarks should bear legal responsibility. This judgment has important exemplary significance and provides a strong legal basis and guidance for the trial and adjudication of similar cases in the future.