Here are some updates on IP developments in China from prior two weeks.

1. China’s tough cyber rules raise risk of infiltration US business group says In a report released on Monday, the US-China Business Council urged Beijing to loosen limits on data flow and storage that raise the risk of security breaches for foreign companies. The council said China should follow best international practice by opening access to cloud computing services, levelling the playing field in technology procurement and allowing foreign firms to send copies of data abroad for analysis and processing. The Council’s report also recommended that foreign partners in joint ventures be allowed to own and control software and other technology licensed to the joint ventures.
2. MIIT Chief says China does not force foreign enterprises to transfer technology, says MIIT chief China did not and cannot force foreign enterprises to transfer technology to the country, and any cases of technology transfers are enterprises’ own choices driven by the market, Miao Wei, head of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), said at a press conference on Tuesday, adding that China has been taking steps to better protect intellectual property rights.
3. .The Supreme Court of China Issued Seven Typical Cases on Property Rights Protection最高法发布7起保护产权典型案例 on “property rights protection” last Tuesday. Among those seven cases, two focused on intellectual property rights, with one on trademark infringement and unfair competition, and the other on criminal trade secret protection in an employment context. Details of those typical cases are available here.
4. FTC, Justice Department Officials Meet in China On Antitrust Enforcement The head of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and a representative from the Justice Department met with Chinese officials from NDRC, MOFCOM and SAIC in Beijing this week to discuss efforts to ensure effective antitrust enforcement and increased interagency cooperation. This is the U.S. delegation’s fourth meeting in China since the between the countries signed an antitrust memorandum of understanding on July 27, 2011.
5. Baidu Accused of Not Playing Fair by Popular News Aggregator Beijing ByteDance Technology, which runs the Jinri Toutiao app that had 232 million monthly active users as of December last year, said on Tuesday that it filed the lawsuit against Baidu at the Haidian District People’s Court in the Chinese capital. In a post on its official WeChat account, ByteDance said Baidu used its “monopoly advantage” to mislead users and damage Toutiao’s reputation, the details of which it has filed in court. Ahead of the ByteDance filing on Tuesday, Baidu issued a statement that described ByteDance’s lawsuit, like its public relations efforts, as reflecting “anxiety over its own challenges in development”.
6. China sees robust growth in technology transactions More than 367,000 technical contracts were signed in China in 2017, up 14.7 percent from the previous year, according to the Ministry of Science and Technology. The transaction value of the contracts totaled 1.34 trillion yuan (213 billion U.S. dollars), with a year-on-year increase of 17.7 percent. Electronic information, urban construction and social development, and transportation are the top three fields that gained the most value.  Among four types of technical contracts, technical service contracts (技术服务合同) and technological development contracts (技术开发合同) had strong growth. However, technology licensing contracts (技术转让合同) and technical consulting contracts (技术咨询合同) in fact had a decline.  Over 40 percent of transactions were contracts involving intellectual property rights. Biotechnology and pharmaceutical contracts had a strong growth of 62.94%, with a total overall transaction value of 1.19 billion yuan. The transaction volume of invention patents grew by 19.2 percent in overall transaction value year on year.    IP utilization has been a focus of China’s IP efforts since the third plenum of the Communist Party in 2014. However, foreigners continue to view China as very challenging licensing environment. In the US Chamber’s recently released IP Index, it was noted that IP commercialization in China was hampered by “[s]ubstantial barriers to market access and commercialization of IP, particularly for foreign companies.” China received zero points for “Regulatory and administrative barriers to the commercialization of IP assets”  Here is a link to the discussion of Chinese licensing practices. The US Chamber’s conclusion is not unlike that of the Global Innovation Index (2016) which, as we previously reported, scored intellectual property payments according to a formula as a percentage of total trade. China came out at 72nd place, while it ranked number 1 in high tech exports.
7. The rise of Chinese groups applying for US patents The breakdown of patents granted in the U.S. per country changed little in 2017 from previous years, with China the glaring exception, according the analysis by patent service and analytics company IFI CLAIMS.  China’s overall slice of the pie remains relatively small. Just 11,240, or 3.5%, of the 320,003 utility patents granted in the U.S. last year went to Chinese companies, compared with 31% to other Asian businesses. But it is the pace at which certain Chinese tech companies have risen in the rankings that will have rivals from the U.S. and elsewhere taking note. For instance, BOE Technology Group (京东方科技集团股份有限公司), whose core business centers on display sensor technology and the Internet of Things, was granted 1,414 patents during the year, compared with 19 in 2013.  
8. Guangdong’s accumulated invention patents top China Guangdong Province topped the country in the number of valid invention patents granted over the past eight years, according to local authorities. By the end of 2017, the accumulated number of valid invention patents in the province reached 208,500, said He Jufeng, deputy director of the Guangdong Intellectual Property Office. Note that although Guangdong has the most accumulated patent grants, in recent years Guangdong has met some competition.  Jiangsu Province, for example, was the No.1 for invention patent application in 2015, while Guangdong was No. 2, based on data from SIPO for 2015. Meanwhile, in 2014, Jiangsu was the No.1 for invention patent application and Guangdong was No.3. Guangdong has also been a source of many of China’s PCT filings, from companies like Huawei and ZTE.   
9. Conference proposes int’l e-commerce cooperation An e-commerce conference held in Beijing called for coordinated regional cooperation on areas including supervision and standard setting to promote sustainable development of the emerging sector. The first global regulatory framework for e-commerce was put forward during the conference. Proposed by Chinese customs, the document listed eight core principles in e-commerce management including clearance procedures and the role of online retailers.
10. New Intellectual Property initiative extends Berkeley Law’s reach in Asia China’s push to create a dynamic economy with innovative companies is creating opportunities for new academic, commercial, and government partnerships. Eager to maximize those opportunities—and to deepen its foothold overseas—Berkeley Law has launched the Asia IP Project.  Led by Professor Mark Cohen, and powered by the school’s Berkeley Center for Law & Technology (BCLT), the initiative seeks to enhance existing collaborations and develop new ones with academic institutions and other partners in Asia. Center leaders will bring together Chinese and U.S. academics, government officials, and practicing lawyers to better understand Asia’s intellectual property law issues through research, workshops, conferences, and other eventst. The program had its first US meeting on February 9, 2018.

We hope to be providing more updates in the year ahead from the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology. As usual the information contained herein does not necessarily represent the opinion of any government agency, company, individual or the University of California.

By Berkeley staff.