Intellectual Property

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The State Copyright Bureau recently released a new set of copyright pledges registration rules to replace its current system. The "Measures for Registration of Copyright Pledges" (the "Measures") will become effective on January 1, 2011. Copyrights, like other property rights, can be pledged as a financial security. China has not updated its current copyright pledges registration system since it went into effect on September 23, 1996. The key provisions of the Measures are highlighted below.Continue Reading China Revamps Its Outdated Copyright Pledges System

Article 69 of the current PRC Patent Law (the “Law”) established the “Patent Exhaustion Doctrine,” providing: “None of the following shall be deemed an infringement upon a patent right: (1) using, promising to sell, selling or importing any patented product or product directly obtained through a patented process after such product is sold by the patentee or with the permission thereof; …”Continue Reading Patent Exhaustion Doctrine in China

The Trademark Law of the People’s Republic of China (1982) has gone through two major amendments in the past two decades. The latest amendment was adopted on October 27, 2001. On April 20, 2010, the Supreme Court of the People’s Republic of China issued the Opinions of the Supreme People’s Court on Several Issues Relating to Trials of Administrative Cases Concerning the Grant and Confirmation of Trademark Rights (hereafter “the Opinion”) to provide more guidance and clarification in this area.Continue Reading Opinions of the Supreme People’s Court on Several Issues Relating to Trials of Administrative Cases Concerning the Grant and Confirmation of Trademark Rights

On April 20, 2010, China’s Supreme People’s Court published its first Intellectual Property Protection by Chinese Courts in 2009 White Paper (“White Paper”). The White Paper provides a review of Intellectual Property Rights (“IPR”) enforcement in China in 2009.Continue Reading China’s Supreme People’s Court Publishes White Paper on Intellectual Property Protection by Chinese Courts

The third amendment of Chinese Patent Law went into effect on October 1, 2009, and since then there has been a need for new rules detailing its implementation. On January 18, 2010, the Chinese State Council published the third revision of the Implementing Rules For Patent Law (the "Rules"). The Rules are set to take effect on February 1, 2010.Continue Reading China’s State Council Publishes New Implementing Rules For The New Patent Law

On December 8, 2009, the largest Bit Torrent (“BT”) download base, BTChina, was shut down by the State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television (“SARFT”) for “lack of Certificate”. SARFT explained that the regulation of Internet audio-visual services is a long-term project. Until the site resolves its piracy issue it can not be re-opened. According to a CCTV report on December 17, 2009, SARFT announced that it had shut down more than 700 websites, including nearly 30 of the BT download sites. This incident raises deep concern among Chinese netizens: why did the Chinese government suddenly intensify efforts to crack down BT sites? Does this mean that the peer-to-peer (P2P) download technology will meet its end in the near future?
Continue Reading Is Law Enough for Regulating P2P Technology?

At the 36th Annual Meeting of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers ("ICANN") on October 30, 2009, the ICANN board finally approved the new Internationalized Domain Name ("IDN") Fast Track Process. IDNs have been a topic of discussion since before ICANN’s inception. It has taken years of intense technical testing, policy development, and global cooperation to prepare the Fast Track process for its launch. On November 16, 2009, ICANN officially opened the IDN Fast Track Process to allow countries that use non-Latin based languages to also apply for top-level domains that reflect their country’s name in local scripts such as Chinese, Korean, Arabic, etc.Continue Reading Protect Your Internationalized Domain Names

On Sept. 28, 2009, comScore released August 2009 online video visit statistics from the comScore Video Metrix service, showing that the online video visit volume exceeded 25 billion in August, the largest number ever recorded. Google accounted for more than 10 billion visits during the month, while Hulu nailed fourth place with 488 million.Continue Reading Hulu: The Successful Copyright Licensing Model

On December 27, 2008, China’s top legislature (the National People’s Congress) approved the revision of the Patent Law. It became effective on October 1, 2009. The law was promulgated in 1984 and had previously been revised in 1992 and 2000. The first amendment added pharmaceutical compositions to the list of patentable items and introduced China’s membership in the Patent Cooperation Treaty ("PCT"). The second amendment responded to the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights ("TRIPS") Agreement.Continue Reading China’s New Patent Law Effective October 1, 2009