Per the latest statistics, in the first half of 2019, China had had 3,125 patent applications filed, an increase of 13 pieces over the same period of last year, and 1,558 patents authorized in the “Belt and Road” countries. The average number of claims of granted patent is 14.8, and the average number of family members is 12, which are both key indicators of the importance of patents.

Among the Top 10 industries involved in the first half of the year, “computer, communication and other electronic equipment manufacturing” industry is mostly found in the patent application disclosure, followed by “instrumentation manufacturing”, “raw chemical materials and chemical products manufacturing”, “software and information technology services”, “general equipment manufacturing”, which ranked from second to fifth. Among the top ten industries, except for "metal products, machinery and equipment repair industry", "motor vehicle, electronic products and daily product repair industry", all are of IP (patent) intensive.

As for the number of patent applications filed by the “Belt and Road” countries in China, it was 11,683 in the first half of 2019, an increase of 3% over the same period of last year, involving 40 countries in the area, an increase of 3 countries. Meanwhile, the “Belt and Road” countries had authorized 8,029 patents in China, an increase of 16.2% over the same period of last year. Both the patent applications and authorizations from “Belt and Road” countries achieved double-digit growth in China.

(Source: CNIPA official website)

According to the joint decision of the CNIPA and the IP Office of Singapore (IPOS), the pilot program of China-Singapore PPH will be extended for another two years from September 1, 2019 to August 31, 2021. The relevant requirements and procedures for submitting PPH requests to the above offices are unchanged.

The pilot program was launched on September 1, 2013 and extended for every two years in 2015 and 2017, respectively before 2019.

(Source: CNIPA official website)

According to the "Joint Declaration of Intent on Cooperation in the Field of Patent Examination Highway (PPH) between the CNIPA of P.R. China and the National Industrial Property Office of Argentina (INPI)”, the CNIPA-INPI PPH pilot program will be launched on September 2, 2019 for a period of two years until September 1, 2021. The PPH pilot will only apply for the patent applications filed after 2009. The two offices each will receive a maximum of 300 PPH requests, of which the PPH request to INPI has a limit of 70 in the electrical field.

The applicants may submit a PPH request to CNIPA in accordance with the “Procedure for Submitting a PPH Request to the China State Intellectual Property Office (CNIPA) under the CNIPA-INPI Patent Examination Highway (PPH) Pilot Project”; and submit a PPH request to the National Institute of Industrial Property of Argentina (INPI) in accordance with the “Procedure for Submitting a PPH Request to the National Industrial Property Office of Argentina (INPI) under the CNIPA-INPI Patent Examination Highway (PPH) Pilot Project”.

(Source: China National Intellectual Property Office)

Case Summary:

Since its inception in 2003, Sunac Group （融創） has won numbers of honor such as “TOP 10 North China Real Estate Company in Brand Value” and “Top 10 China Real Estate Company in Brand Value Growth Speed”, and was recognized as one of the Top 5 China real estate companies along with Evergrande and Vanke in 2018. Its “融創”trademark series enjoys high reputation nationwide after years of use and publicity. Jiangxi Rongchuang Company (江西融創), however, registered“融創” as its business name and used it in the real estate development industry, which is considered, by Sunac, as an infringing act against their exclusive registered trademark right and constituting unfair competition. Therewith, Sunac entrusted Unitalen lawyers, Li Kefeng and Yan Chunde, to file a trademark infringement and unfair competition litigation against Jiangxi Rongchuang.

Court Ruling:

After partial victory in the first instance and then total failure in the second instance, Unitalen lawyers representing Sunac filed the request for retrial, in which all issues in the trail of second instance were addressed. It led to the final ruling made by the People’s Supreme Court in 2019 that Jiangxi Rongchuang company had put great importance in the use of “融創”logo, which shall be considered as trademark use and thus has constituted the infringement on the trademark exclusive right of Sunac; Meanwhile, Jiangxi Rongchuang company using the registered trademark of Sunac as their business name has constituted unfair competition; the indemnity amount of 1.5 million yuan requested by Sunac shall be fully supported. 　　

On August 8, a delegation of seven people from the China National IP Office (CNIPA) led by Minister Qian Mengyu visited Unitalen for study and research. Unitalen Deputy Director, Li Deshan, warmly received the guests along with other department leaders.

At the meeting, Li Deshan introduced the firm’s patent agency business and the process management to the research team. Minister Qian Mengyu consulted the relevant Unitalen attorneys on the work of handling changes of bibliographic data of patent, Unitalen attorneys also provided input on improving patent examination procedures.

On August 12th, “Tongji University and Unitalen IP Fund”(the “Fund”) celebrated its launch in Tongji University. Since 2014, Unitalen and Shanghai International IP College of Tongji University have continued close cooperation in scientific researches and academic activities in various aspects.

The “Fund” established jointly by both aims at cultivating distinguished IP talents and the further development of IP subject.

Recently, in "The Trademark Lawyer" and "The Patent Lawyer", the two global IP directories published by CTC Legal Media, Unitalen is recognized among Top 10 China firms in the "2019 Asia-Pacific Trademark Agency Rankings" and "2019 Asia Pacific Patent Agency Rankings”.

On August 30th, Unitalen partner Wei Wei, invited by the Japan Higher Education Liaison Association of “Japan Society for the Promotion of Science” (JSPS), delivered a speech on the “China Trademark Law System and University Trademark Strategy” to the heads of the Japanese universities in Beijing and the Japanese Ambassadors.

In recent years, China and Japan have maintained continuous exchanges and cooperation in the IP industry. Unitalen has also conducted many exchanges and discussions with Japanese counterparts on IP law developments, cutting-edge issues and practices.