A roundup of recent English language resources on antimonopoly law reform and comments on new rules from SAMR.
The Pushmi-Pullyu of Chinese Anti-Suit Injunctions and Antitrust in SEP Licensing
The sharp drop in granting of Antisuit Injunctions by Chinese judicial authorities and the recent amendments to China’s Antimonopoly Law and related rules, suggest that China may have begun to reprioritize the Antimonopoly Law in FRAND rate-setting disputes.
Bureaucracy and Politics in Recent SAMR Legislation

There are numerous heirarchies to Chinese legislation and IP laws are certainly not an except to this. Due to the government reorganization in 2018, Chinese efforts to become an innovative economy, and external political pressure from the Trade War, there has also been extensive external political pressure on Chinese IP legislative efforts. The different approaches to legislating may indicate potential weaknesses in the laws. They may also be the outcome of internal bureaucratic struggles.
A Season of CNIPA Rulemaking
Several new rules from China’s State Administration for Market Regulation portend a more active role for administrative enforcement of patents, in both patent linkage and major disputes affecting Chinese national interests. How much due process do these rules afford? Are they compatible with the TRIPS Agreement? Will foreigners be treated fairly? Will the administrative agencies be transparent in their decisions and make their cases publicly available. SAMR’s database of IP cases is also relatively new.
There are a number of open issues.
IPO Comments on the Trade Secret Rules
The Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO) has submitted bilingual comments to SAMR on the draft Trade Secret Rules 《商业秘密保护规定(征求意见稿) 》. The comments are found here and at the IPO website I blogged […]
SAMR’s Draft Trade Secret Rule: An Unchartered Step Forward?
As previously discussed, SAMR released a draft trade secret protection rule for public comments on September 4 (the “Rule”). Comments are due October 18, 2020. I have attached here a draft translation […]
SAMR Releases Legislative Work Plan for 2020
On 26 March 2020, SAMR released its Legislative Work Plan for 2020 (“2020 Legislative Plan”) 国家市场监督管理总局2020 年立法工作计划. In 2020, 7 draft laws and administrative regulations行政法规, including the Amendment to the Detailed Rules […]
Antitrust Aspects of “Unfairly High Patent Pricing” for Licensing Transactions in China
This guest blog has been written by Prof. HAO Yuan of Tsinghua University School of Law. China is facing a pressing need to build its innovation-driven economy. To facilitate key features of […]
MofCOM Releases Draft Foreign Investment Complaint Rules: How Good Will It Be For Forced Tech Transfer?
On March 23, 2019 the Ministry of Commerce released its Rules for Foreign Investment Complaints (Draft for Public Comment (外商投资企业投诉工作办法[征求意见稿]) (the “Rules”). Comments are due by April 22. This is one of […]
On Avoiding “Rounding Up the Usual Suspects” In the Patent Law Amendments …

Although many of the proposed changes in China’s patent law amendments are welcome, the draft amendments also present a difficult choice in two key areas: (a) patent administrative enforcement and (b) punitive […]