On May 24, 2021, the Judicial Committee of the Supreme People's Court of China adopted at the 1839^th meeting the Provisions of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in the Trial of Civil Cases Concerning Patent Disputes Related to Drugs Applying for Registration, which came into effect on July 5, 2021.

Attached: Provisions of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in the Trial of Civil Cases Concerning Patent Disputes Related to Drugs Applying for Registration

The Supreme People's Court

July 4, 2021

The China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) and the European Patent Office (EPO) have reached a consensus. Beginning from July 1, 2021, there will be no need to submit a copy of the prior application search report made by the CNIPA when filing with the EPO an European patent application, or an application under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) enters the European phase, claiming priority from an earlier application in China. Refer to the website of the EPO (website: www.epo.org) for specific operational guidance.

The smooth cooperation between the CNIPA and the EPO in data exchange over the years has provided an important technical guarantee for the implementation of this policy. This policy will further simplify the application process and improve the efficiency of patent application in Europe. It is also another latest achievement of comprehensive strategic cooperation of the CNIPA and the EPO, following the launch of a pilot project of International Searching Authority (ISA) under the PCT.

The EPO was one of the first patent offices to establish a partnership with the CNIPA. For 36 years, the two offices have maintained friendly and cooperative relations and elevated their cooperation to a comprehensive strategic partnership in 2017.

(Source: the website of the CNIPA)

The 14^th session of the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) Working Group of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) was held in Geneva, Switzerland. Dong Cheng, Director of the Patent Examination Cooperation Guangdong Center of Patent Office, CNIPA was re-elected as the chairman of the meeting and presided over the meeting through online means.

This meeting continues to be held in a hybrid format with both physical presence and remote participation. The working group mainly discussed issues regarding the improvement of PCT system and its future development, including the amendments to the PCT Regulations, the integration of the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) into the PCT system, and the transfer of PCT fees. With the full support of the working team of the CNIPA, WIPO China Office and WIPO Secretariat, a consensus on the proposed amendments to the PCT Regulations has been reached at the meeting. According to the proposal, in case of a large disruption of PCT services caused by, for example, COVID-19, the competent authorities, international authorities and international bureaus can provide the mechanism of guarantees including pardon for non-compliance with the deadlines and extension of deadlines for the applicants. The above amendments provide for the coordination of PCT Member States to take relief measures for applicants during the pandemic.

(Source: CHINA Official WeChat Account)

From June 22-23, 2021, the 14^th IP5 Heads of Offices (the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA), the European Patent Office (EPO), the Japan Patent Office (JPO), the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO), and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)) Meeting was held via video conference, hosted by the JPO in rotation. The CNIPA Commissioner Shen Changyu led a delegation to attend the meeting. The JPO Commissioner Kasutani Toshihide presided over the meeting. The EPO President António Campinos, the KIPO Commissioner Kim Yong-rae and the USPTO Director Drew Hirschfeld also led delegations to participate in the meeting. Lisa Jorgensen, Deputy Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), attended the meeting as an observer.

The meeting adopted the 2021 Joint Statement of the IP5 Offices. The heads of the IP5 offices adopted a number of cooperative projects including, the new topics of the Patent Harmonization Experts Panel (PHEP), roadmap on cooperation in the fields of new emerging technologies and AI, the indicators of the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH), and the timeliness management of the patent application cycle, and the future work plan.

(Source: the website of China Intellectual Property News)

Brief of the case:

Kingdee is a well-known business management software provider, leading the industry with strong technical strength. The software KIS and software K/3 developed by Kingdee for enterprises of different sizes are well received by the market.

In 2020, Kingdee received successively two end users' requests for confirming whether the software KIS and software K/3 are genuine. After Kingdee's inspection, the relevant pieces of software were pirated software sold by Longdi.

Kingdee entrusted Unitalen to bring infringement proceedings in court. Before the filing of lawsuit, Longdi was deregistered to evade legal liability. Unitalen comprehensively analyzed the case, filed a lawsuit against Longdi's shareholders and members of the liquidation team, and collected evidence. Recently, the Kunming Intermediate People's Court determined that Longdi's infringement was true, and that Longdi's members of the liquidation team shall be liable for the compensation. Kingdee won the first instance of the case!

Main points of the case:

In this case, Unitalen's attorneys divided the infringements involved in the case into two parts, and instituted proceedings on the ground of software copyright infringement in combination with trademark infringement.

Under the situation that the infringer was deregistered, Unitalen acquired the business archives of Longdi and discovered the evidence that the company was not deregistered according to law. Based on this, the court supported Kingdee's claim that the members of the liquidation team of Longdi shall be liable for compensation for the infringements of Longdi.

Longdi, the infringer in this case, was once a licensed distributor of Kingdee, and thus the defendant made a non-infringement defense on the basis that Longdi was a licensed distributor of Kingdee. In the hearing of the case, Unitalen's attorneys elaborated on the distribution system and sales method of the genuine software, and denied the defendant's non-infringement defense.

In software infringement cases, right holders often rely on end users' reports to discover the infringements, and the corresponding evidence of the infringement profits is usually limited to the contract between the infringer and the specific end user reporting the infringement. However, the contract for selling the pirated software that had been found is usually a very small part of all the sales contracts of pirated software, which restricts the amount of compensation determined in the case to the limited contract amount and thus prevents the right holder from being adequately compensated. In this case, Unitalen's attorneys successfully acquired the tax information of Longdi, and broke the restriction of the limited contract amount of the case with the support of the tax information.

For the infringement profits from the infringing software that can be evidenced clearly, they were included in the claimed compensation for infringement of the software copyright; for the infringement profits from the infringing software that cannot be evidenced clearly, they were included in the claimed compensation for the trademark infringement. The combined proceedings ensured that the right holder can be adequately compensated.

Recently, Philippe Baechtold, Senior Director of the PCT Services Department of the International Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) sent a letter of thanks to Yu Zehui, President of Unitalen and Chairman of the partners meeting of Unitalen, expressing sincere gratitude to Unitalen staff who assisted the PCT Services Department to perfectly solve the issues related to the unavailability of WIPO ePCT system in China.

Recently, Asia IP, a media authority on IP, published the list of winners of 2021 China IP Awards, and Unitalen Attorneys at Law won again the awards of "Trademark Prosecution Firms of the Year", "Trademark Litigation Firms of the Year", "Patent Prosecution Firms of the Year", and "Regional Firms of the Year (Beijing)", for its outstanding performance in the IP field, high-quality professional services, and outstanding industry reputation.

Intellectual Asset Management (IAM), an international IP media authority, recentlypublished the list of "2021 IAM Patent 1000". Unitalen, for its outstanding service over the years and wide recognition from customers, once again was selected into the Recommended Firms of the Year in the fields of patent right confirmation and patent litigation. Meanwhile, LI Deshan, Ph.D., and PAN Wei, Ph.D., partners at Unitalen, as the trusted experts in the field of patent right confirmation, once again appeared in the list of Distinguished Individuals.

The list represents a recognition of Unitalen's professional achievementand pioneering spirit. The patent law services provided by Unitalen were highly apprecitated and evaluations of clients in the survey were cited:

“More than 200 patent attorneys join forces to make Unitalen one of the single biggest sources of Chinese patent applications. The firm churns out grants in every significant technical area, with part of its secret being a network of branches that are able to service local clients from all over the country.” “Their processes are finely tuned and always timely, with communication that is second-to-none.” One local practitioner observes that Unitalen has “expanded greatly in China and also become very much an international firm.” “A well-populated legal department enables the group to handle dozens of civil litigation cases simultaneously, on top of its heavy administrative docket. Vice president Deshan Li is a superb advisor on patent strategy in the round and a thought leader respected throughout the industry. Wei Pan adroitly handles both incoming and outgoing work related to Europe: automobiles, aircraft, appliances and other mechanical apparatuses are his bread and butter.”