WIPO published the statistics of the international registration of Patents, Trademarks and Industrial Designs in 2018 on this March 18.

In 2018, Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) applications had exceeded the record of 250,000 (253,000), up 3.9% over 2017; the Madrid System had accepted 61,200 international trademark applications, up 6.4%; the applications for the Hague System for Industrial Designs had increased to 5,404, up 3.7%.

More than half of the PCT applications in 2018 were from Asia, and those from China, India and South Korea had surged significantly.

China continues the strong performance with a total of 53,345 PCT applications filed in 2018, immediately after the United States (56,142), maintaining its second position in the world. In terms of Madrid trademark system, China ranked third, with 6,900 applications filed, after the United States and Germany. (Source: WIPO China)

Recently, the National Bureau of Statistics of China (NBS) issued the "Statistical Bulletin on National Economic and Social Development in 2018". It is noted that in 2018, the R&D expenditure in China was 1.9657 trillion yuan, an increase of 11.6% over the previous year, exceeding the average of the 15 EU countries. The number of domestic and foreign patent applications was 4.323 million, up 16.9%, and the number of patents granted was 2.447 million, up 33.3%, both of which ranked first in the world. It’s more obvious for science and technology to be “the first drive” for innovation-driven development in the country.

According to the bulletin, 55,000 PCT international patent applications were accepted by China last year; as of the end of 2018, there were 8.381 million effective patents in China, and 11.5 invention patents per 10,000 population; totally 412,000 technology contracts were signed with the turnover of 1,769.7 billion yuan, an increase of 31.8% over the previous year.(Source: China National Intellectual Property Strategy Network)

According to the European Patent Office (EPO), the number of patent applications filed to the EPO in China reached a record 9,401 in 2018, ranking fifth in applicant country.

According to EPO, the number of patent applications submitted by China last year had increased by 8.8% compared with 2017, and more than six times of that of 2008, mainly in the fields of digital communication, computer technology, motors, instruments, energy and telecommunications. Among which, digital communication was found with the most applications. Also, about 20% of the patent applications in the digital communications field received by the EPO last year came from China, ranking second among all applicant countries.

It’s also reported that EPO had approved more than 127,000 patent applications last year, of which 4,831 were from China.(Source: Xinhua News Agency)

On March 25, it’s voted to pass the "Foreign Investment Law of the People's Republic of China" at the 2nd Session of the 13th National People's Congress of the P. R. China, and Chinese President Xi Jinping signed the Decree No. 26 to announce it.

This is China's first consolidated law specific to the field of foreign investment.

The five highlights of the Foreign Investment Law:

1.Foreign investment is subject to pre-establishment national treatment plus negative list system;

2.Ensuring both domestic and foreign investment are in line;

3.Protection of IP rights;

4.Establishment and improvement of foreign investment service system;

5.Establishment of foreign investment information reporting system.

The Foreign Investment Law will come into force on January 1, 2020. (Source: Xinhua News Agency)

At the end of 2018, the Beijing Intellectual Property Court issued the first-instance judgment on the invalidation administrative case concerning 19 “好聲音” (paraphrase as “the good voice”) series of trademarks, which revoked the 19 invalidation judgements made by the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board (TRAB) and ordered them to make a new ruling. The plaintiff of the case, Zhejiang Blue Star (Zhejiang Satellite TV Media Company), the TRAB and the Dutch third party, Talpa, did not appeal, so the first-instance judgment has taken effect.

Basic case

The invalidation of 19 “好聲音” (paraphrase as “the good voice”) series of trademark was filed by Dutch Talpa in 2016 to the TRAB of P. R. China. The TRAB held that among the 19 trademarks involved, six had constituted similar goods or services to Talpa’s prior trademark , two had violated the "agency squatting" clause, and all were "obtained through the unjust means"; therefore, declared the invalidation of the 19 trademarks involved. Zhejiang Blue Star refused to accept the ruling and appealed to the Beijing Intellectual Property Court.

Court Judgement

The Beijing Intellectual Property Court held that there is a significant difference in the constituent elements between the trademark “藍巨星好聲音” (paraphrase as “Blue Star Good Voice”) and the cited trademark “the Voice of and V gesture graphic”. The relevant public can distinguish the two, and both of the two parties had taken remedial and preventive measures to avoid confusion and the damage to the interests of consumers can be controlled. The court also held that the registration of the trademarks involved had lessen the problem and possible confusion of the relevant public, so the registration has not violated the provisions of Article 28, so, subject to the above mentioned, the first-instance judgment was made. 　　

Case Summary

The defendants Liu Changsheng, Hu Xuerong, and Liu Chang sold counterfeit “Lafite” and “Great Wall” red wine products with sales amount reaching 250,000 yuan and unsold red wine products seized amounted for around 130,000 yuan. The case was prosecuted by the People's Procuratorate of Changsha, Hunan, and the People's Court of Yuhua District of Changsha, Hunan heard the case publicly.

Court Judgement

The three defendants confessed to the facts of the crime. The court sentenced that they had constituted the sale of counterfeit products of registered trademarks. Liu was sentenced to 3 years in prison, probation for 4 years, and fined with 10,000 yuan; Hu Xuerong and Liu Chang were sentenced to 1 year and 6 months in prison, probation for 2 years, and a fine of 10,000 yuan.

Typical Significance

This case is the first criminal case for Lafite to protect their IP rights in China. Unitalen partners, Hou Yujing and Zhang Jingyuan, the representing lawyers of Lafite Rothschild, believes that the trial and judgement of the case had not only protected the legitimate rights of the trademark registrants of the case, but also, to a certain extent, to curb the proliferation of counterfeit products of registered trademarks in Tier 3 and 4 cities in China, reflecting the strength and determination of the judicial crackdown on IP crimes. 　　

Case Summary

In 2011，Societe Civie Exploitation Chateau Lafitte (hereinafter referred to as “Chateau Lafitte”) applied for registration of “Chateau Lafitte and Castle Graphics, “Lafitte Mengin”, “Chateau Lafitte Mengin” and “Chateau Lafitte”, which was rejected by the Trademark Office with reference to the cited trademark “Lafite”, owned by Unitalen client, Chateau Lafite Rothschild. Chateau Lafitte applied for refused trademark review and obtained preliminary announcement, within the 3 months of which, Chateau Lafite Rothschild made opposition citing two prior trademarks “Lafite” and “Chateau Lafite Rothschild” that were registered in 1996 and 1997 respectively. On August 19, 2015, the Trademark Office found the opposition was not established so the opposed trademarks were approved for registration. Chateau Lafite Rothschild then filed for invalidation declaration; in December 2016, the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board (TRAB) held that the 4 trademarks containing “LAFITTE” are similar to “Chateau LAFITE ROTHSCHILD” and the similarity to “LAFITE” is not required for comment, so declared invalidation. In disagreement, Chateau Lafitte initiated administrative litigations before the Beijing IP Court and the Beijing Municipal High People’s Court for the reasons that the results of the previous Trademark Office refusal review decision and the TRAB invalidation decision are inconsistent, and “LAFITE” and “LAFITTE” had coexisted in France for long time.

Court Judgement

In Feb 2019, Beijing Municipal High People’s Court made the final judgment, maintaining the invalidation ruling made by the TRAB; and Beijing IP Court made the ruling of first instance to maintain the TRAB decision as well, as both courts held that the 4 trademarks containing “LAFITTE” are similar to both “LAFITE” and “CHATEAU LAFITE ROTHSCHILD” trademarks. The case at the Beijing IP Court is currently in appeal, it’s believed that the ruling of the second instance will be the same as that of the Beijing Municipal High People’s Court for the same case. 　　

Recently, the internationally acclaimed IP media "Managing Intellectual Property" (MIP) announced the "2019 IP Star Trademark Business Ranking", Unitalen, once again, found among the Tier 1 in China in the field of trademark application and trademark litigation.

On the afternoon of March 22nd, 2019, the 2019 INTA Pre-Annual Meeting Reception jointly hosted by the International Trademark Association (INTA), Beijing Unitalen IP Agency Co., Ltd., Beijing Unitalen Attorneys at Law and Zhongguancun Vision IP Innovation Institute was held in Beijing. Chaired by Mr. Zhao Lei, Unitalen Partner, the meeting started with the Beijing IP Court judge sharing typical cases to discuss the trademark coexistence issues found in refusal, opposition and invalidation procedures; followed by the Beijing Higher People’s Court judge sharing the statistics of the cases concerning authorization and determination of 2018 and discussion of the hot issues in this area. Then the meeting ended with Unitalen partner Ms. Zhou Dandan sharing her practical experience in dealing with Internet IP right cases.