Intellectual Property

Subscribe to Intellectual Property via RSS

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

The Chinese government’s emphasis on boosting innovation might be proving fruitful. According to the latest statistics from the State Intellectual Property Office (“SIPO”), the government entity responsible for prosecuting patents, there were 426,000 patent applications filed and 252,000 patents granted in China during the first half of 2009. Compared with the first half of 2008, patent filings are up 31.3 percent and patent grants are up 23.1 percent.

China’s patent system allows for three types of patents: invention patents, utility model patents, and design patents. China invention patents are similar to utility patents in the United States. The patent term for invention patents is 20 years from the filing date. Patents for invention are substantively examined. It typically takes two to five years for an invention patent to issue.Continue Reading 426,000 Patent Applications Filed in China During First Half of 2009

Online games are big business in China and they’re only getting bigger. The China Annual Game Industry Report 2007 underlines the explosive growth in this industry. As of 2007, the online game user population reached 40,170,000 and has rapidly expanded since then. As the market for online games has increased, so too has the market for virtual property trading. According to The Seventh China Online Game Survey 2007, 83.7% of the users traded items for cash, 46.8% of the users hired third parties to obtain virtual properties on their behalf. These activities amounted to an estimated 4 billion in RMB in 2007.Continue Reading Online Games and Virtual Property

In February of 2005, Zhang Bin (“Zhang”) offered for sale one user account for the online game Paradise.  On the sales ad, Zhang claimed his account has a high player level and excellent equipment.  In March of 2005, Mr. Shen purchased Zhang’s Paradise account and password for 4800 RMB.  Soon after Mr. Shen’s purchase, he noticed that his Paradise account had been stolen.  After investigation, local police arrested Zhang on March 28, 2005 for theft.  The case “Zhang’s Alleged Theft of Account” was heard by the Ningbo Haishu District Court.  The court found that virtual property could be the subject of theft because virtual property is controllable and transferable without losing value.  The court found that Zhang’s actions amounted to the crime of theft.  Zhang was sentenced to one year imprisonment with two year suspension of sentence and a fine of 5,000 RMB.Continue Reading Criminal Prosecution for Virtual Property Theft