According to "Organizational Reform Plan of the State Council", State Intellectual Property Office （SIPO）is restructured to take charge of the registration and administrative adjudications related to trademarks, patents, and GI. With all transformation work completed recently, SIPO announced the following changes effective from June 8th, 2018:

1.Trademark registration certificates shall be stamped with the SIPO official seal; The procedures and documents for trademark application, acceptance, examination, opposition, review and administrative litigation remain unchanged for the time being, and the relevant documents shall still be stamped with the seals of the original authorities (Trademark Office, Trademark Review and Adjudication Board); the procedure and documents for trademark administrative reconsideration remain unchanged for the time being, but the relevant documents shall be stamped with SIPO’s administrative reconsideration special seal.

2.The acceptance, approval and publication of GIs shall be stamped with the SIPO official seal.

3.Patent certificates shall be stamped with the SIPO official seal; the procedures and documents for patent application, acceptance, examination, reexamination, invalidation, administrative reconsideration and administrative litigation remain unchanged for the time being, and the documents shall be stamped with the SIPO seals for respective units.

4.Registration certificates for integrated circuits layout design shall be stamped with the SIPO official seal; the procedures and documents for application, acceptance, examination, registration and cancellation of integrated circuits layout design remain unchanged for the time being, and the documents shall be stamped with the SIPO seals for respective units.

Recently, the first 10 GI product protection applications received by the restructured SIPO were published. Since the launching in 1996, the GI product protection in China scaled up year by year with prominent results achieved, with 2,359 GI products protected including 2,298 from domestic and 61 from international applicants. A total of 24 national GI protection demonstration zones have been established, 8091 busineses are approved for use of GI labels, and the relevant output value has exceeded 1 trillion yuan, benefiting tens of millions of people. (Source: www.sipo.cn)

According to the result of the 2018 Global Software Survey released by the Business Software Alliance (BSA), the global piracy rate of PC software has declined, and the piracy rate has decreased by 2% to 37%, as compared with 2016. Among them, China's PC software piracy rate dropped the most.

According to the report, between 2014 and 2016, the piracy rate in China fell by 4%. This year, the piracy rate has again dropped by 4%. China’s unlicensed software usage has fallen by 8 percentage points in four years, making it the most visible improvement in this global survey.

BSA claims that this decline shows China's progress in intellectual property protection. The decline in the use rate of unlicensed software, on the other hand, is also due to the positive changes in consumer perceptions and behaviors promoted by the gradual popularization of cloud computing technology and cloud-based subscription-based software payment models in enterprises as well as the increase in the numbers of free software.

Land-well is a company leading in R&D, production, sales and after-sales service of high tech security products. It constantly innovates and introduces high-quality products under its own IP rights to the market. It is also a member of China Security Association and the leading composer of " National Industry Standards for Electronic Inspection". At the same time, Land-well attaches great importance to the protection of intellectual property rights. Over years, it has successfully developed a comprehensive protection mechanism covering all IP rights such as patents, trademarks and software.

The defendant (name not to be disclosed) is a large company who first reached a strategic partnership and concluded a framework agreement with Landell. The two parties agreed that a large volume of product purchase and sales contract will be concluded future. During this course, the defendant acquired a few products involved in this case through sample and purchase, followed by progress stalled. After some time, Land-well found in the defendant’s store a large number of products infringing on Land-well’s intellectual property rights. Under the assistance of Unitalen lawyers, Land-well evaluated the enforcement chance, set up a thorough plan, conducted on-site evidence preservation, and filed a case against the Defendant before Shanghai IP Court in August 2017. The Defendant proposed to settle the case. In consideration of the potential huge business opportunity for both parties, Unitalen helped Lan-well to reach a settlement with defendant and obtained a favorable amount of compensation amount without affecting future cooperation with the Defendant.

Land-well is a company leading in R&D, production, sales and after-sales service of high tech security products. It constantly innovates and introduces high-quality products under its own IP rights to the market. It is also a member of China Security Association and the leading composer of " National Industry Standards for Electronic Inspection". At the same time, Land-well attaches great importance to the protection of intellectual property rights. Over years, it has successfully developed a comprehensive protection mechanism covering all IP rights such as patents, trademarks and software.

The defendant (name not to be disclosed) is a large company who first reached a strategic partnership and concluded a framework agreement with Landell. The two parties agreed that a large volume of product purchase and sales contract will be concluded future. During this course, the defendant acquired a few products involved in this case through sample and purchase, followed by progress stalled. After some time, Land-well found in the defendant’s store a large number of products infringing on Land-well’s intellectual property rights. Under the assistance of Unitalen lawyers, Land-well evaluated the enforcement chance, set up a thorough plan, conducted on-site evidence preservation, and filed a case against the Defendant before Shanghai IP Court in August 2017. The Defendant proposed to settle the case. In consideration of the potential huge business opportunity for both parties, Unitalen helped Lan-well to reach a settlement with defendant and obtained a favorable amount of compensation amount without affecting future cooperation with the Defendant.

On May 22, representatives from Hope Elementary Division of China Youth Fund and Unitalen visited a Unitalen Hope School and delivered 30 computers donated by Unitalen.

This Unitalen Hope School was re-built in July 2015 with the fund of RMB 400,000 provided by Unitalen. The new building entering into use in June 2016 has provided much better education environment and helped relieve the difficulty of accepting more students from the surrounding villages.

By far this year Unitalen has donated more than 100 computers to several Unitalen Hope Schools.

With the growing prosperity, online game industry has become a new growth point for the cultural and innovation industries. Meanwhile, the exponentially rapid growth of online game players has brought about chaotic order among businesses and large number of infringements on IP rights.

In this context, the “2nd Internet Game Infringement and Prevention Forum”, hosted by China Intellectual Property Magazine and co-hosted by Unitalen, was held in Beijing on May 22. The Forum focused on recent hot cases of online game infringement, the ideological expression in game design, anti-unfair competition protection for online games, and the application of online game patents. More than 100 corporate legal representatives attended the meeting.

In addition to Unitalen lawyers specialized in online game IP protection, the forum has also invited experienced judge, representatives from Tencent Game Enforcement Group and other well-known businesses legal teams to attend and deliver speeches.

Recently, the international authoritative IP business media "Intellectual Asset Management" (IAM) announced the latest rankings in 2018, and Unitalen was selected into "2018 IAM Global Patent 1000", and, by the virtue of distinguished advantages in the fields of patent procurement, patent litigation and patent transactions, again included in the list of recommended firms. In addition, Unitalen Deputy Director Deshan Li, as a trusted expert in the field of patent prosecution, once again won the honor of outstanding figures.

IAM Ranking made the following comment on Unitalen:

Twenty-one offices across mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan guarantee market mainstay Unitalen a commanding presence on the regional patent scene. With no technical discipline out of reach and the ability to work seamlessly across English, French, German and Spanish, its 180 attorneys are a huge draw for major multinational clients seeking protection. The exceptional professionals are au fait with US and Japanese dispute resolution procedures, so rights holders from both these countries and within China can count on a strong contentious offering to protect their assets. Vice president Deshan Li oversees the international side of the practice. Armed with a background in physics, he is an adroit operator in both prosecution and litigation.

The IAM Global Patent 1000 is ranked annually after in-depth researches on IP litigation and non-litigation practicing lawyers and firms in the major global jurisdictions in their respective fields of expertise, recommending leading patent firms and patent experts worldwide. The book has been published for seven years and its analytical data provides an authoritative value of reference for patent practitioners.

Recently, Director of International Exchange Department of Singapore Intellectual Property Office visited Unitalen. 　　 　

Amid the communication, the two sides conducted extensive and in-depth exchanges on the needs of Chine applying for patents in Southeast Asian countries, the methods of patent searches in Singapore and ASEAN countries, and how to enforce patent rights in Singapore and ASEAN. This visit shall lead to more constructive cooperation with the Unitalen’s feedback on Chinese applicants’ requirements to help improve Singapore patent system and case handling methods.