The country’s patent laws have been changed, with local IP enforcement “enhance[d]” for exhibitions and online retail, and case guidelines changed for local offices.
Lexology (registration required) hosted an article from Guo Xaiojun of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) Patent and Trademark Law Office, in which he notes that “patent administrative law enforcement measures” in China have been “amended”. As of 1 July, local IP enforcement offices’ “function and power” will be improved “against patent infringement and patent counterfeiting”, specifically at trade shows and in “e-business”, which both “involve more and more patent disputes nowadays”.
Xaiojun gives the example of a local IP office now being able to “order the exhibitor of infringing or counterfeit products to immediately [remove] exhibits from the exhibition, destroy or seal related propaganda materials, and change or cover the display boards”. With e-commerce, once an office has “found patent infringement or patent counterfeiting on any e-commerce platform”, it will “inform the provider of the e-business platform and ask them to delete or disconnect the relevant webpages”.
Another advantage of the new laws and measures is that they improve “the proceedings in actions taken” by enforcement, such as “shortening the duration of investigation[s] for patent infringement disputes from four months to three months with a one-month extension at most for complicated cases”. In turn, a “definite deadline of five or 10 working days for file opening for complaints against patent counterfeiting” has been introduced, making the complaint “publicly available within 20 working days after administrative decisions” on IP infringement or counterfeiting.
Xaiojun concludes by noting that patent owners “may take administrative proceedings” against patent infringers or counterfeiters, which are “different from judicial proceedings” and are “recommended when a simplified, cheap and quick action is preferred”. He also points out that “the amendments to the measures reflect the consistent policy of the government: that is, to strengthen patent protection more efficiently”.