Recently, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) released the annual report of World Intellectual Property Indicators. The report showed that several intellectual property (IP) applications worldwide rebounded and returned to growth in 2020. The China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) ranked first in the number of patent applications up to 1.5 million. Patents in force worldwide grew by 5.9% in 2020, and China saw the fastest growth, reaching 3.1 million. According to the report, nearly 13.4 million trademark applications were filed worldwide in 2020, marking an eleventh successive year of growth. China took the lead in the number of trademark applications with approximately 9.3 million.

In terms of industrial designs, about 1.1 million industrial design applications containing 1.4 million designs were filed worldwide in 2020, representing a 2% year-on-year increase, according to the report. The applications filed with the CNIPA in 2020 included 770,362 designs, accounting for 55.5% of the world's total.

There were about 58,800 protected geographical indications (GIs) in force in 2020 based on the data from 92 national and regional offices. Among them, Germany reported 14,394 valid GIs, followed by China with 8,476 valid GIs.

China's intellectual property right (IPR) industry has entered a stage of high-quality development, and China itself is transforming from a big IPR importer to a big innovator, and its IP work is rapidly shifting from the pursuit of quantity to the improvement of quality.

(Source: Official WeChat Account of China Intellectual Property News)

From November 3 to 5, 2021, the Annual Meeting of the Five Trademark Offices (TM5), consisting of trademark offices in China, the United States, Europe, Japan, and Korea, was hosted by CNIPA via video conference. CNIPA Commissioner Shen Changyu attended the opening ceremony and delivered a speech. Christian Archambeau, Executive Director of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), Kawakami Ichiro, Director-General of Trademark and Customer Relations Department of the Japan Patent Office (JPO), Mok Seong-ho, Director General of Trademark and Design Examination Bureau of the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO), and David Gooder, Commissioner for Trademarks of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), attended the meeting with their respective delegations. WANG Binying, Deputy Director General of WIPO and David Muls, Senior Director of Brands and Designs Sector, were present at the meeting as observers. During the course of the meeting, the five offices reached consensus on the content of the 2021 TM5 Joint Statement.

The 2021 TM5 Joint Statement stresses the five offices' determination in taking on challenges, enhancing cooperation in digitalization and emerging technologies, facilitating brand-building, contributing to business development and economic recovery under the continuing impact of the pandemic. The Statement will be released after the completion of ratification procedures at the respective offices.

(Source: CNIPA Official WeChat Account)

On November 2, CNIPA Commissioner Shen Changyu and Chief Executive Rena Lee of the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) had a meeting online. The two offices reviewed the major progress in bilateral cooperation in recent years and exchanged views on further deepening future cooperation.

Shen said that the two offices have conducted fruitful cooperation for a long time. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the two offices, through innovative ways of cooperation, have maintained active communication and had fruitful achievements in high-level exchanges, Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) pilot program, personnel training and the construction of China-Singapore Guangzhou Knowledge City. He also hoped that the two offices could deepen exchanges and cooperation in national IP strategies, AI IP protection and other fields, and jointly promote the development of IP causes in the two countries.

Mrs. Rena Lee said that IPOS was ready to continue to share the best experience with CNIPA, and she hoped that the two offices could strengthen cooperation and exchanges in areas like patent examination and IP training, in order to make greater contributions to the development of IP causes in the two countries.

(Source: CNIPA Official WeChat Account)

Brief of the Case:

Trademark No. 753230 " ", Trademark No. 639160 " ", and Trademark No. 1239101 " " are all registered trademarks of Meelunie B.V. on Potato flour for food, Maize flour, etc., and the periods of exclusive right to use are until June 27, 2025, April 27, 2023, and January 13, 2029, respectively.

On June 10, 2019, the Municipal Market Supervision Administration of Ma'anshan, Anhui Province, inspected Ma'anshan Shangjia Food Co., Ltd. upon complaints. After investigation, Shangjia had been involved in the production of " " brand cornstarch since September 2018, and the trademark used for the above product was similar to the registered trademarks of Meelunie B.V.

On August 7, 2019, the case-handling authority determined that Shangjia used a trademark similar to the registered trademarks of Meelunie B.V. on the same goods, which could easily lead to confusion, and constituted the act of infringement under Article 57(2) of the Trademark Law of the People's Republic of China (hereinafter referred to as the Trademark Law). According to Article 60.2 of the Trademark Law, Shangjia was ordered to immediately cease the infringement act, and the administrative penalty of confiscation of infringing goods and unused packaging mainly used to manufacture the infringing goods, and a fine of 1.504 million yuan were imposed.

Shangjia refused to accept the decision of administrative penalty and filed administrative review and administrative litigation successively. The Municipal People's Government of Ma'anshan and the People's Court of Yushan District, Ma'anshan, both upheld the decision of administrative penalty. On October 28, 2020, the Intermediate People's Court of Ma'anshan made the final judgment to reject the appeal and uphold the original judgment. On December 30, 2020, the High People's Court of Anhui Province rejected the request for retrial of Shangjia.

Expert Comments:

The goods involved in this case were foods. The investigation and handling of the case effectively prevented the infringing foods into the market and safeguarded the "safety of every bite of foods" for the people. The case-handling authority's determination is accurate, and the idea of determining the similar trademark is of reference significance for this type of case. The case went through administrative review and administrative litigation, and the decision of administrative penalty was finally upheld by the judiciary authorities. This is of positive significance for creating a favorable business environment and enhancing the investment confidence of foreign-owned enterprise in China. (WU Dongping, Secretary General of the China Trademark Association)

Brief of the case:

The Trademark No. 19564618 "BORDEAUX" is a collective geographical indication trademark registered on Wine by the Conseil Interprofessionnel du Vin de Bordeaux (CIVB). The exclusive right period is until July 20, 2027.

On April 25, 2019, the Intellectual Property Office of Pudong New Area, Shanghai, received a clue from the Administration for Market Regulation of Chengdu that Shanghai Feitong Trading Co., Ltd., exhibited, at the China Food & Drinks Fair, the wine alleged of infringing the exclusive right to use the registered Trademark "BORDEAUX". According to the investigation, starting from July 2018, Feitong entrusted Yantai Aoweiyiman Wine Co., Ltd. to process and produce the "BURKE LAFAEL" series of dry red wines. Feitong provided wine bottles, wine caps, wine bottle labels, inner and outer boxes and other materials. Among them, the design and production of the wine bottle labels were entrusted to Shenzhen David Gospel Packaging Design & Printing Co., Ltd. based on the patterns provided by Feitong, and then the labels were handed over to Yantai Aoweiyiman Wine Co., Ltd. for labelling. Feitong used the text "BORDEAUX" on the labels of wine bottles without authorization, and obtained an illegal business revenue of 385,900 yuan.

The case-handling authority determined that the act of Feitong in production and sale of the above-mentioned infringing goods constituted an infringement under Article 57(1) of the Trademark Law. Due to the large quantity of goods involved and the high value of the case, the case had reached the standards for criminal prosecution, and the case-handling authority transferred it to the public security agency.

On June 4, 2020, the People's Court of Pudong New Area, Shanghai, made the criminal judgment in accordance with the law, and the defendant Shanghai Feitong Trading Co., Ltd. was convicted of counterfeiting registered trademarks, and a fine of 100,000 yuan was imposed; the defendant ZHUGE xx (the actual operator of Shanghai Feitong Trading Co., Ltd.) committed the crime of counterfeiting registered trademarks and was sentenced to a set term of imprisonment of 1 year and 6 months and a suspension of 1 year and 6 months, with a fine of 50,000 yuan being imposed; the seized wine with the counterfeit registered trademark was confiscated; and the defendant ZHUGE xx was prohibited from engaging in food production, sales and related activities during the probation period.

Expert Comments:

Geographical indications are precious resources and fortune of a specific area. The production and sale of goods with counterfeit geographical indications will seriously damage the reputation of geographical indications and infringe upon the legal rights and interests, such as the competitive advantage, of producers and operators in specific regions. The protection of geographical indications is not only a manifestation of China's fulfillment of its obligations under international treaties for the protection of intellectual property rights, but also an important measure to promote its rural revitalization strategy. There is a view that the infringement object of the crime of counterfeiting registered trademarks under Article 213 of the Criminal Law does not include collective trademarks and certification trademarks. The investigation and handling of this case demonstrates and clarifies that collective geographical indication trademarks belong to the infringement object of the crime of counterfeiting registered trademarks, which reflects the "equal protection" of geographical indication trademarks at home and abroad in China, and reflects the effective operation of the cross-regional cooperation mechanism for trademark administrative law enforcement and the effective connection between trademark administrative enforcement and criminal justice in China. (HUANG Pulin, the Legislative Affairs Commission of the National People's Congress, Fuzhou, Jiangxi)

Brief of the case:

Trademark No. G913774 "EagleBurgmann" is a registered trademark of EAGLEBURGMANN GERMANY GMBH & CO.KG on Machinery parts, Pumps, Compressor seals and other goods, and the exclusive right period is until August 25, 2026. Trademark No. 13760797 "GRUNDFOS" is a registered trademark of GRUNDFOS HOLDING A/S on Pumps [parts of machines, engines or motors] and other goods, and the exclusive right period is until August 20, 2025. Trademark No. 7652880 "格兰富" is a registered trademark of GRUNDFOS Pumps (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. on Bearings [parts of machines] and Engine airproof piece, and the exclusive right period is until October 20, 2025.

On June 9, 2020, upon the complaint filed by the right holder, the Market Supervision Administration of Zhangjiagang Bonded Area, Jiangsu province, together with the public security department, conducted a surprise inspection of 13 mechanical seal manufacturing and sale companies in the jurisdiction. On the spot, more than 200 sealing products of various types, over 1,000 packaging boxes, more than 30,000 counterfeit labels and certificates, and 5 sets of laser marking machines for forging the registered trademarks, all of which infringe on the exclusive rights of the registered trademarks "EagleBurgmann", "GRUNDFOS", and "格兰富", were seized. Over 20 computers involved in the case were seized, and the amount involved was more than 6.59 million yuan. Subsequently, law enforcement officers went to Haikou, Changsha, Yueyang and other places based on the transaction clues found on the spot to further investigate and collect evidence on the companies involved, and successfully destroyed a batch of counterfeit production and sales points.

The case-handling authority determined that the companies involved constituted the act of infringement under Article 57(1), (2), and (3) of the Trademark Law, and confiscated and destroyed the infringing goods in accordance with Article 60.2 of the Trademark Law. A fine of 10.3492 million yuan in total was imposed on the companies involved in the case, and 7 criminal suspects from 6 companies involved were transferred to the public security agency in accordance with the law. After the case was closed, the Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany in Shanghai and the Royal Danish Consulate General in Shanghai each sent letters of appreciation.

Expert Comments:

This case involved the entire chain of production, processing, and sales of infringing goods. From individual case investigation and thorough search to concentrated investigations in the same industry within its jurisdiction, further to a joint attack by multiple provinces across the country, the law enforcement authority finally successfully cracked down the dens of manufacture and sale of counterfeit products. Many companies and multiple trademarks within a wide range of territories were involved, and the case was complicated. The administrative law enforcement authority coordinated across regions, cracked down the whole chain, and worked closely with the public security agency, which fully demonstrated the advantages of administrative protection. (XU Shengquan, Director of the Jiangsu Trademark Brand Research Center)