Recently, our firm won the second instance of an administrative lawsuit on invalidation declaration of a patent for invention, successfully having the patent fully invalidated by th...
Recently, our firm won the first instance of an administrative litigation case for invalidation of an invention patent, in which it is ruled that the invention patent should be comp...
Three Companies were Ruled to Pay CNY 5 million Compensation for Infringing the Series of Trademarks of “MK”
According to the Primary People’s Court of Haidian District of Beijing Municipality (Hereinafter referred to as Haidian Court), the Haidian Court recently concluded a case involving trademark infringement and unfair competition disputes involving the series of trademarks of “MK”. The plaintiff, a joint-stock company, is a luggage and clothing supplier for the light luxury fashion brand “MICHAEL KORS”. The plaintiff discovered that a leather goods company, a brand management company, and a trading company (hereinafter referred to as the three defendants) jointly produced and sold bags marked with an infringing logo that was similar to the series of trademarks of “MK” and “MICHAEL KORS”, and used similar decorations. Thus, the plaintiff appealed to the court, requesting the three defendants stop the infringement and compensate for economic losses and reasonable expenses of CNY 5 million yuan (approx. USD 683,500). After trial, the Haidian Court determined that the three defendants’ accused actions has constituted the infringement of the plaintiff's series of trademarks of “MK” and unfair competition, and ordered the three defendants to stop the infringement and fully supported the plaintiff's claims for economic losses and reasonable expenses.
The defendants argued that they disagreed with plaintiff's claims in full for the following reasons: First, the leather goods company legally held and used the registered trademark No. 22557474 “MKO” and the registered trademark No. 23279853 “MAITANE KALOS” to engage in production and business operations. The trading company, with the authorization of the leather goods company, used the aforementioned trademarks to jointly produce and sell the accused infringing products. Second, although the aforementioned trademarks that were used on the accused infringing products were announced invalid, the leather goods company and the trading company have no subjective fault and no objective infringement, and did not constitute infringement of the trademark rights involved in the case.
After trial, the court held that: first, the series of marks of “MAITANE KALOS” used in the case were extremely similar to the plaintiff's trademark in the case, constituting similar trademarks. The types of goods approved for use by the trademark in the case are Class 18 bags, etc., which fall into the same category as the acts of producing, selling, and promoting bags that collected as evidence, and constituted the same goods. Considering that the plaintiff submitted evidence proving the popularity of the trademark in the field, the relevant public was very likely to misunderstand the source of the goods, or believed that the plaintiff and the subject of the accused acts had a specific connection, such as licensed use or affiliated enterprises, the Haidian Court determined that the aforementioned accused behavior violated the provisions of Article 57, Paragraphs 2 and 3 of the Trademark Law, and constitute an infringement of the plaintiff's trademark rights in the case; Secondly, the evidence in the case shows that the plaintiff has widely and continuously used the decorative elements in the case on its bags. The monogram pattern has formed a stable corresponding relationship with its bags, which establishes the decoration of certain influence. The accused decoration used on the bags in question makes the two almost visually indistinguishable. Taking the general attention of the relevant public as a standard, it can easily cause confusion to the public. Therefore, it is determined that the use of the accused decoration in question violates Article 6, Paragraph 1 of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law and constitutes unfair competition, so the above judgment is made. (December 24, 2024, Jiemian News)
Copyright
CNY 500,000 Claimed for Turning others’ AI Works into Physical Exhibitions
and the Court Ruled a Compensation of CNY 10,000: AI works are protected by copyright, and art installations are not infringing
In March 2024, the plaintiff discovered that his AI work “Companion Heart” was produced by a company (defendant) by using air film and used for commercial display, so the plaintiff filed a lawsuit with the Changshu People's Court, requesting the two defendants to stop infringing and apologize and compensate for economic losses of CNY500, 000. Recently, the Changshu People's Court made the judgment.
After the trial, the court held that the AIGC work reflected the author's unique choice and arrangement in setting, environment, color, light, angle, and composition, etc. It is originality constitutes an art work according to the Copyright Law, and should be protected by the same. However, the plaintiff’s copyright should be limited to the “Companion Heart” as a 2D work as stated in the registration certificate, rather than the three-dimensional art installation.
The court determined that the two defendants infringed the author's right of attribution and the right of signature for providing the copyrighted works to the public through the Internet without permission and did not sign the work truthfully. However, the two defendants transferred an idea into practice through on-site construction and other means, the idea was similar but its act did not constitute a three-dimensional to three-dimensional duplication, nor a two-dimensional to three-dimensional duplication. Therefore, the court ruled that the two defendants should apologize to the plaintiff and jointly compensate the plaintiff CNY 10,000. (November 14, 2024, Red Star News)
Statistics
Shanghai No.3 Intermediate People’s Court Reports on Judicial Protection of
Intellectual Property Rightsin the past Ten Years and Typical Cases
Recently, the Third Intermediate People’s Court of Shanghai (Shanghai Intellectual Property Court and Shanghai Railway Transport Intermediate Court) held a press conference to release the judicial protection of intellectual property rights in the past ten years and typical cases.
According to the report, from 2015 to the first half of 2024, the Third Intermediate People’s Court of Shanghai (Shanghai Intellectual Property Court, Shanghai Railway Transport Intermediate Court) accepted a total of 37,272 intellectual property cases of various types and concluded 34,377 cases. Among the cases accepted, there were 23,548 first-instance and 7,038 second-instance for civil cases, 23 first-instance and 15 second-instance for administrative cases, 188 pre-litigation preservation cases, and 5,906 other cases involving jurisdiction and retrial. There were 554 criminal cases and 552 cases were concluded. Among the criminal cases accepted, there were 113 first-instance cases, 358 second-instance cases, and 83 other procedural cases.
Over the past ten years, the intellectual property cases heard by the Shanghai Third Intermediate People’s Court (Shanghai Intellectual Property Court and Shanghai Railway Transport Intermediate Court) have shown the following characteristics:
First, the technology field is new. In recent years, the intellectual property dispute cases accepted have shown a trend of developing towards new industries and new technologies, covering cutting-edge fields such as new generation information technology, integrated circuits, genetic testing, high-end equipment manufacturing, new materials, new energy, and digital creativity.
Second, the coverage is wide. Among the concluded intellectual property civil cases, foreign-related cases involved 31 countries, and the top five countries are the United States (471 cases), Japan (139 cases), Germany (135 cases), South Korea (95 cases), and France (74 cases).
Third, the social influence is great. The cases involved world-renowned companies or industry leaders such as 3M Innovation Co., Ltd. and Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. Among the civil cases accepted, 56 cases claims an amount of more than 50 million yuan, and 329 cases are between 10 million and 50 million yuan. Among the criminal cases accepted, 23 cases reached an amount of more than 10 million yuan, and the highest hits more than 1.1 billion yuan.
Fourth, the proportion of mediation and withdrawal is high. Among the concluded intellectual property civil cases, 7,780 cases were concluded by court judgement, accounting for 23%; 17,940 cases were concluded by withdrawal or mediation, accounting for 53%. Among them, 4,582 civil cases of the first instance were concluded by judgment, accounting for 21%; 17,094 cases were concluded by withdrawal or mediation, accounting for 77%.
Fifth, the conviction and punishment are strict. In the past ten years, nearly 70% of the defendants had been sentenced to substantial imprisonment. The fine penalty widely applied to the concluded intellectual property criminal cases. 82 people were imposed with a fine of more than 1 million yuan but less than 10 million yuan, 11 people were imposed with a fine of more than 10 million yuan, and the highest reached 90 million yuan; the company defendant were fined up to 600 million yuan. (November 26, 2024, Shanghai Court )
China Leads the World in Patent Amount in Power Grid Technology
Recently, a research report released by the European Patent Office and the International Energy Agency showed that China and the United States lead in the field of smart grid research and development. Artificial intelligence is becoming an important driving force for the growth of patent applications for power grid technology. According to the study, in recent years, patents involving AI integration power grid have increased to 6 times of the original.
The report shows that from 2010 to 2022, software innovation has increased the number of patents for physical power grids with smart functions by 50% compared with the last 10 years. Supply and demand forecasting tools and electric vehicle charging are the two fastest growing areas in this category.
From 2011 to 2022, both European Union and Japan accounted for 22% in terms of the total number of power grid patents, and the United States accounted for 20%.
Based on the report, China has become the region with the fastest growth in power grid patents. From 2013 to 2022, the proportion of relevant patents in China increased from 7% to 25%. China has surpassed the European Union and become the leading region in the number of patents in this technology field. (December 12, 2024, Reference News Network)
CNIPA Releases the Latest IP Statistics Nationwide
Recently, China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) released the latest IP statistics nationwide:
I. Patents
In 2024, a total of 1.045 million invention patents were granted, a year-on-year increase of 13.5%. There were 67,000 patent reexaminations and invalidation cases concluded. The examination period for invention patents was reduced to 15.5 months. 75,000 PCT international patent applications were accepted. Chinese applicants submitted 4,868 international design applications through the Hague Agreement, a year-on-year increase of 29.5%, ranking the top in the world.
By the end of 2024, the number of valid domestic invention patents reached 4.756 million, making China the first country exceeding 4 million among the world.
II. Trademarks
In 2024, 4.781 million trademarks were registered, a year-on-year increase of 9.1%. 383,000 various trademark review cases and 103,000 opposition cases were concluded. The average examination period for trademark registration remained stable at 4 months, the average examination period for opposition cases was further shortened, and the qualification rate of various trademark businesses maintained over 97%. In 2024, 7,039 Madrid trademark international registration applications were filed by Chinese applicants, an increase of 13.6% year-on-year.
By the end of 2024, the number of valid trademark registrations in China was 47.62 million.
III. Geographical indications
In 2024, 36 geographical indication products were approved, 125 geographical indications were registered as collective trademarks and certificate trademarks, and 8,680 geographical indication special mark operators were approved.
By the end of 2024, China has a total of 2,544 recognized geographical indication products, 7,402 approved geographical indications as collective trademarks and certification trademarks, and the total number of entities authorized to use geographical indication special mark was nearly 33,000. The direct output value of geographical indication products exceeded 960 billion yuan, with steady growth for many consecutive years.
IV. Integrated Circuit Layout Design
In 2024, 11,000 integrated circuit layout design registrations and certificates were issued.
By the end of 2024, China has issued 83,000 integrated circuit layout design certificates in total.
V. Intellectual Property Protection
The construction of the second batch of 15 national intellectual property protection demonstration zones has been launched. Six national intellectual property protection centers and 7 fast right-protection centers have been newly built, totaling 124, and more than 193,000 innovative entities have been registered. 33 sub-centers of overseas intellectual property dispute response guidance have been newly established, totaling 80. The entire system handled a total of 72,000 administrative disputes over patent infringement throughout the year, and guided intellectual property dispute mediation organizations to accept nearly 140,000 mediation cases.
VI. Intellectual Property Utilization
In 2024, the number of patent licensing registrations reached 613,000 times, a year-on-year increase of 29.9%. Among them, the number of patent licensing registrations by universities and research institutions reached 76,000, a year-on-year increase of 39.1%.
From January to November, the total import and export of intellectual property royalties nationwide reached 356.41 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 6.6%.(January15,2025, CNIPA)
