Category Archives: Chinese Intellectual Property practice

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Russia and China Conclude a Patent Prosecution Highway

After a bilateral meeting between China State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) and Russia Federal Intellectual Property Office (FIPO), China and Russia concluded a Memorandum of Understanding on Patent Prosecution Highway between the State Intellectual Property Office of the People’s Republic of China and the Russian Federal Intellectual Property Office. [detail information in Chinese]

The Russian office has now become the fifth national IP office to conclude a  patent prosecution highway with China SIPO (the others are Japan, the USA, Germany and Korea). According to the Memorandum of Understanding, the pilot project will begin on July. 1st 2012, and will last for 1 year.  The rapid growth in PPH’s, including this intra-BRIC PPH,  is startling considering prior Chinese concerns that PPH’s and other methods of burden sharing might adversely implicate China’s “patent sovereignty.”

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“Case Filing” In China’s Courts and Their Impact on IP Cases

“Case Filing” In China’s Courts and Their Impact on IP Cases

In my experience over the past decade and talking to local IP courts in China, the IPR judges have for the most part been very forthcoming, knowledgeable and engaging.  However, their colleagues in the Case Filing Division (立案庭) (“CFD”) have operated in a much more opaque way, typically not willing to meet at all, despite their playing a critical role in certain WTO / TRIPS obligations of China, such as granting/denying preliminary injunctions, preliminary evidence or asset preservation measures (“provisional measures”)(TRIPS Art. 50).  The CFD of a court is more than a court clerk or docketing officer, the CFD actually operates to accept or deny cases, typically without handing down written decisions of any kind. Continue reading →

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Indigenous Innovation in the Chongqing Police Department

The cloud of mystery surrounding Bo Xilai and his former deputy, police chief Wang Lijun continues to loom over the Chinese and western press, with many unresolved questions concerning the circumstances of Wang’s appearance before the US consulate, and the current circumstances of Bo himself. Not many would have expected any discussion of intellectual property to enter the picture. However, Bo himself did have some engagement on IP issues. He was known during his time as Minister of Commerce for taking a strong negotiating position against US pressure on IP matters. In addition, his agency did serve as a point of contact and organizing ministry for a national IPR campaign. When I served in the US Embassy, I had lunch with Bo once, during an Ambassador’s IPR Roundtable, where he showed very little interest in the issue. His speech is briefly described in a Wikileaks cable. Continue reading →

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The Other Chinese Patent Development: China’s Autumnal Patent “Hook”

It is 2012, and China’s State Intellectual Property Office (“SIPO”) has once again released its end of the year data on patent filings for the year.  While patent data and scientific citation data suggest that China is on the cusp of becoming an innovative economy, there is another trend that has subsisted for several years:  China’s autumnal upward patent “hook.”

As I have remarked in several conferences during the past two to three years, the data suggests that if patents are a surrogate for innovation activity, one of the most significant factors in China’s innovation efforts are the time of the year:  China innovates in the fall.   February, however, appears to be a slow month for creativity, perhaps due to lack of external pressure (government subsidies, quotas), but also due to the hiatus caused by the lunar new year and the 28 day month. Continue reading →