Linda Liu & Partners

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread, “quarantine” has become a term that is used very frequently in everyday life. In fact, there is also “quarantine” in the field of trademarks. Article 50 of the Trademark Law of the People’s Republic of China provides as follows: Where a registered trademark has been cancelled, invalidated or has not been renewed upon expiry of the period of validity, t...

How does the Sequence of Steps in Process Claims affect the protection scope of the Chinese Patents? According to the Guidelines for Patent Examination, a process claim shall usually be defined in terms of technical features such as technological process, operational conditions, steps, and procedures. However, the Guidelines do not specify how to define the sequence of execution of the steps or th...

Today I am going to talk about How to Draft the Parameter-defined Product Claims in Chinese Patent Application. When an uncommon parameter or a self-defined parameter is used in the claim, usually it is necessary to explain the definition and/or the measuring method of the parameter in detail. Even though a parameter is common, if its definition or standard is unclear, or if the value of the param...

Today, let’s talk about sending warning letters for possible patent infringement If you believe that someone is infringing your patent right in China, you may be angry and can't help to send him a warning letter(C&D letter) demanding him to stop the infringement. Sending a warning letter is indeed an option to stop infringement. However, you should be prepared before sending the warning letter or...

Welcome to Linda Liu & Partners on air! Today's topic is about “Microorganism Patents in China” The term “microorganism” encompasses entities across the taxonomic classes including bacteria, actinomycetes, fungi, viruses, protozoa, and algae. According to current Chinese patent rules, a microorganism is neither an animal nor a plant. Microorganisms and microbial processes are both patentable subje...

China is one of the largest markets and has the most active consumer groups. As its population of middle-class is increasing and the society is stable, China is attracting more and more foreign investments. As one of the biggest consumer markets in the world, China has excellent industrial system. In China, the business environment is improving, and the intellectual property is being enforced more...

Software copyright registration, as a certificate of software copyright ownership, is not mandatory but voluntary in China. However, software copyright registration can help prove copyright ownership in infringement actions and other disputes, administrative procedures, and commercial negotiations. Here is a list of the necessary documents for filing software copyright registration as well as the...

Today, let's talk about Patent Marking in China. China's regulations on patent marking mainly stipulate how to mark correctly, not to mislead the public, not to make false publicity, etc. There is NO compulsory provision stating that the patentee must mark the patented product either physically or virtually. Different from the US, in China, the patent marking is not a requirement for collecting da...

Welcome to Linda Liu on air. This is Peter Zhang. I'd like to discuss how to fulfil a cross-border patent assignment in compliance with Chinese law, specifically in the scenario of patent assignment from Chinese patentees (applicants) to foreigners.

Today, let's talk about how to avoid or reduce the excess claim fee for patent application in China. A foreign patent application may enter China via PCT or the Paris Convention. Since the CNIPA charges the excess claim fee differently for applications via PCT and applications under the Paris Convention, the applicant may employ special strategies for applications entering China through the two pa...

In recent years, there appear not only many foreign applicants who have been constantly investing in China’s patent assets, but also some big Chinese software companies applying for a large number of invention patents on algorithms or business rules and methods related to artificial intelligence, "Internet +", big data, and blockchain. Despite that the Chinese patent system is relatively friendly...

Today I'd like to share with you how many IP cases the Supreme People's Court heard in 2020. According to the 2020 Annual Report on Intellectual Property recently issued by the Supreme Court, the Supreme Court accepted 5,360 cases relating to intellectual property rights in 2020, including 2,830 patent cases, 1,490 trademark cases, 111 copyright cases, 31 anti-trust cases, 66 unfair competition ca...

With the rapid development of China's economy, more and more foreign applicants are seeking patent protection in China. When a foreign patent application enters China, the applicant usually expects to amend the application to strive for various scopes of protection. So today I will introduce the timing for making voluntary amendments in the Chinese national phase.

Recently, for the first time, the Patent Reexamination and Invalidation Department (PRID) of CNIPA released the official statistics of invalidation request in the first quarter of 2021 in their media official account. In the first quarter of 2021, 1,635 invalidation cases are docketed with an increase of 55% year-on-year, among which 220 are filed against invention patents, 654 are against utility...

The CNIPA issued an announcement on the Revision of the Guidelines for Patent Examination on December 14, 2020, which has applied to all pending patents since January 15, 2021. This revision mainly focuses on patent applications in the chemical and biological fields. Now, let's take a look at the revised section about the Novelty and Inventive Steps of Compound in the Guidelines.

The CNIPA issued an announcement on the Revision of the Guidelines for Patent Examination on December 14, 2020, which has applied to all pending patents since January 15, 2021. This revision mainly focuses on patent applications in the chemical and biological fields. Now, let&`&s take a look at the revised section about the Novelty and Inventive Steps of Compound in the Guidelines.

Today we are going to talk about Checklist on IP for Start-ups to Consider When Entering China. The continuous development of China's economy has fueled the purchasing power of Chinese people, and China has developed into a huge market. More and more foreign start-ups are considering entering China to do business or attracting investment from China.

The newly amended Copyright Law of the People’s Republic of China will enter into force as of June 1, 2021.There are many changes in the amended law.

It is known there are two approaches for protection of foreign companies’ trademarks in China, namely, (1) filing a Madrid trademark before WIPO and designating China for territorial extension, and (2) filing a Chinese national trademark application with CNIPA, i.e., China National Intellectual Property Administration. Many foreign companies often hesitate to choose the best filing approach. Based...

Punitive damages refer to the compensation determined by a court in excess of the actual loss of the right owner. In China, in infringement cases, the principle of compensatory damages has always been adopted, which is intended to cover the "actual loss" suffered from the infringement. However, in recent years, in order to strengthen the protection of intellectual property rights and to deter infr...

In practice, companies regularly search the competitors's related published patent applications to determine whether they pose a threat to their own market activities. If necessary, companies can consider using the third party observation to block the granting of a competitor’s patent application, or to narrow down the scope of protection of its claims, so as to eliminate the risk of infringement...