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We give talks and write regularly about patent law, especially cases and changes in the law that we find interesting.
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China Top 50 Case of 2019: How a Functional Feature is Construed Greatly Impacts Protection Scope - Shimano KK v. SENSAH
20 July 2020Every year in the spring The Supreme People’s Court of PRC announces its “Top 10 Intellectual Property (IP) cases” and “50 typical IP cases in Chinese courts” of the year. Although not having precedential weight, these cases serve as a reference and guide people's courts at all levels regarding their intellectual property trials. It’s always […]
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Polymorph Patents in China: What is the Standard for Inventiveness for New Crystal Forms?
14 July 2020This case is focused on polymorphs, namely what are the standards for novelty and inventiveness when it comes to new crystal forms of a known drug? A recent Supreme People’s Court decision in China is illustrative of the way Chinese courts are thinking about polymorph patents in China. Grünenthal is a German pharmaceutical company and […]
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Breaking News: Newest Draft Amendment to the Chinese Patent Law Available for Public Comment
10 July 2020Finally, after more than a year since the last draft amendment came out in 2019, a new draft has been submitted to the National People’s Congress Standing Committee for deliberation on June 28, 2020. The newest version is now published for public comments until August 16, 2020. As a whole, these proposed changes address a […]
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Stealing Trade Secrets: How the Chinese Court Criminally Sentences Employees that Steal Trade Secrets - 2019 China’s Top 50 Representative IP Cases
11 June 2020The theft of trade secrets has always been a deep concern of foreign companies thinking of doing business in China, whether it be sharing protocols with a manufacturing partner, providing technology details to a potential investor, or sharing results from an R&D collaboration. How can businesses ensure that employees do not steal secrets and share […]
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2019 CHINA TOP 10 IP CASE: VALEO V. LUCAS, FUKE, & CHEN
8 June 2020Every year in the spring The Supreme People’s Court of PRC announces its “Top 10 Intellectual Property (IP) cases” and “50 typical IP cases in Chinese courts” of the year. Although not having precedential weight, these cases serve as a reference and guide people's courts at all levels regarding their intellectual property trials. It’s always […]
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The Latest on Post-Filing Data in China’s Patent Law
29 April 2020Post-filing data can sometimes be the crucial difference between a patent allowance and a final rejection. The reasons are endless why important data may not have been included in the original patent application as filed. Time and budget may have been insufficient to generate data over the full scope of the claims at the time […]
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China Provides Specific Directions to Strengthen Patent / Technology Protection from 2020 to 2021
23 April 2020China continues to progress towards its major goal of significantly strengthening IP protection within its borders. Last year it announced several proposed amendments to its patent laws. In January 2020 China and the US signed the Economic and Trade Agreement between the Government of China and US (published 16 January 2020 –“Trade Agreement”), which detailed […]
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Diagnostic Claims in China
9 January 2020The Chinese Patent Law excludes patenting methods of diagnosing or treating a disease. More specifically, this refers to processes of identifying, determining, or eliminating the cause or focus of diseases which are practiced directly on living human or animal bodies. Please keep in mind that instruments used for implementing these methods are still patentable. So […]
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Hong Kong Launches New Original Grant Patent System
17 December 2019Hong Kong will be launching a new patent system on December 19, 2019 that includes key changes, most notably the introduction of an original grant patent system. This new patent system includes both the Patents (Amendment) Ordinance 2016 and the Patents (General) (Amendment) Rules 2019. Currently, there are two types of patent applications available in […]
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AI, Big Data, and Blockchain - CNIPA seeks public comment on draft patent examination guidelines
21 November 2019Exciting new changes continue to happen with the Chinese Patent Office (CNIPA). On November 12, 2019, the CNIPA published a new set of amendments to Part II Chapter 9 of the Patent Examination Guidelines (“Draft”) and requested public comment by December 11, 2019. In summary, the new guidelines clarify how emerging technologies involving artificial intelligence, […]
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China Divisional Practice
17 June 2019China allows the filing of divisional applications but under specific circumstances. Most importantly, divisional applications can usually only be filed voluntarily during the prosecution of the original parent application. Once the parent application is granted or withdrawn, no additional voluntary divisional applications may be filed. However, divisionals can be filed to pursue subject matter not […]
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Major and Exciting Changes to China’s Patent Law [Fourth Amendment to China's Patent Law]
20 February 2019Major changes are on the horizon for China’s Patent Law, which will see an overhaul in many areas as early as this year (2019). On January 4, 2019, the National People’s Congress in China published the latest draft of the Fourth Amendment to China’s Patent Law. Several draft amendments have been released for public comment […]
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