{"id":9213,"date":"2022-01-04T08:30:26","date_gmt":"2022-01-04T08:30:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focus.cbbc.org\/?p=9213"},"modified":"2025-04-23T09:45:20","modified_gmt":"2025-04-23T09:45:20","slug":"how-safe-is-your-ip-in-china-in-2022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focus.cbbc.org\/how-safe-is-your-ip-in-china-in-2022\/","title":{"rendered":"How safe is your IP in China in 2022?"},"content":{"rendered":"

China\u2019s intellectual property environment and legislation has been significantly strengthened and standardised in recent years, with a number of key intellectual property rights cases being ruled in favour of international companies. Tim Van Gardingen looks back over some of the biggest IP cases and policies changes in 2021<\/h2>\n

In October 2020, Dow and Johnson Matthey won a major intellectual property case against Shanjun Clean Energy Technology over\u00a0the two companies\u2019 jointly owned Oxo alcohol technology. Dow and JM have licensed their Oxo alcohol technology for over 20 years in China and this dispute was not the first time that they have fought legal battles over the product in the country.<\/p>\n

This case is just one of many recent successful rulings in favour of foreign firms in China, highlighting the significant progress in how intellectual property disputes are handled in China and a growing professionalism within Chinese courts. While foreign firms have in the past feared lax legislation regarding intellectual property, this is increasingly not the case. However there remains much progress to be made.<\/p>\n

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So what’s changed in the IP environment in China over the past year?<\/h4>\n

Since the announcement in January 2021 within China\u2019s new Civil Code that infringed parties would soon have the right to claim for punitive damages in IP litigation cases, 2021 has seen a series of important changes with regards to intellectual property rights (IPR).<\/p>\n

On 1 June 2021, a series of amendments to PRC intellectual property policy came into effect. This has led to changes to patent and copyright law and seen new national standards and administrative measures drawn up.<\/p>\n

Building on the establishment of a punitive damages system, the Amended Patent Law improves the system for service inventions, establishes an open-licensing scheme for patents, and establishes a patent term extension and a patent linkage system for pharmaceutical patents.<\/p>\n

Alongside the legal amendments, two new national standards approved in 2020 also came into effect: one a guide to navigating patents, and the other relating to IP protection for e-commerce platforms. The changes have also introduced new administrative measures for resolving major patent infringement disputes.<\/p>\n

Introduction of a patent open-licensing system and an improved system for service inventions<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Rouse, a leading global legal firm specialised in intellectual property, believes that the new rules represent significant steps forward for China\u2019s IP environment. Speaking to FOCUS, Rouse shared the following key benefits of the policy development.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe think the establishment of the system could greatly promote the conversion and use of the patents. For example, it enables parties in request to obtain patent licenses in an open, reasonable, non-discriminatory way, which reduces the difficulty of license negotiation. At the same time it may increase the willingness of licensees to transform patents, which is conducive to enterprises in obtaining more patent commercialising activities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rouse is hopeful that the open licensing of patents will enhance the market competition mechanism to allow the market to provide more high-quality and inexpensive new products and new technologies, which is beneficial to both companies and the public.<\/p>\n