By Shi Bisheng, Guan Xiangyu,King & Wood Mallesons’ IP group

In October 2017, the China Food and Drug Administration (“CFDA”) released a series of documents regarding reform of China’s drug administration system. The aim – more access to cutting-edge pharmaceuticals at a lower cost. This new patent linkage system (“PLS”) is discussed in the following two important documents:
Continue Reading How to Rise Up to Challenges under Accelerated Enforcement of Patent Linkage

By Ni Zhenhua King & Wood Mallesons’ IP group

The Chinese patent litigation market is currently booming, with one key driver behind this boom being that many foreign entities and multinational companies are now pursuing enforcement of their patents in China because of a perception that the Chinese government has created an increasingly attractive environment for patent enforcement, as symbolized by, among others steps taken, the recent establishment of specialized IP Courts in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.  These entities/companies, though increasingly enthusiastic and optimistic about patent enforcement in China, are generally not familiar with the Chinese legal system and may have concerns about local protectionism and uneven application of the law.  In this article I would like to share a list of those questions most frequently asked by our clients in relation to patent litigation in China, and provide some basic and preliminary answers thereto.

Continue Reading Most Frequently Asked Questions about Patent Litigation in China

By Xu Jing King & Wood Mallesons’ IP group.

01The specific measures established in this case provide a guiding standard to determine essential factors of irreparable damage to a patented design. This case serves as guidance and reference for handling other similar cases.
Continue Reading Christian Louboutin’s fight against counterfeits of their lipsticks in China

By King & Wood Mallesons

20 May 2017, King & Wood Mallesons (KWM) was ranked as a Tier 1 law firm in both Patent and Trademark/Copyright in the Asian Legal Business (ALB) 2017 IP Rankings for the third consecutive year. Taking account of factors including volume, complexity and size of work undertaken, clients, team, and the firm’s year-on-year development and growth momentum, ALB concluded the final rankings in the two categories of patent and trademark/copyright. KWM’s IP team strengthens its leading position in both contentious and non-contentious by this ranking, with outstanding and first-class expertise and reputation among clients.
Continue Reading King & Wood Mallesons Continuously Tops ALB 2017 IP Rankings in the Third Year

By Jeffrey Thurnau ( Assistant General Counsel for IP, Gates Corporation, USA) & Mia Qu (Partner, King & Wood Mallesons, Shanghai, PRC)

The intellectual property rights (IPR) protection of China has become a worldwide hot topic. China, as a manufacturing giant, will inevitably become a country with a large number of intellectual property related disputes related to manufacturing in transnational corporations (TNCs). Patent litigation is increasingly common in China. According to recent statistics, the number of intellectual property litigation cases in 2014 is about 133863, among which the number of patent litigation cases is about 10187. The authors of this paper participated in a patent litigation case in China through judgment as the Defendant and directly experienced patent litigation’s procedure and features in China. This paper intends to share with readers the authors’ observations and insights based on their personal experiences and will perhaps serve to address some of the concerns associated with patent litigation in China. This paper also provides some comparisons with United States (“U.S.”) practice.
Continue Reading Experience: A Patent Infringement Litigation in China

By King & Wood Mallesons’ Healthcare Group

In April 2013, the Supreme People’s Court (“SPC”) issued the“Supreme People’s Court’s Annual Report of Intellectual Property Cases”, in which the SPC included 34 typical intellectual property and competition cases from 2012 and summed up 37 issues of application of law with universal significance. In this regard, we made a summary of the patent cases related to the pharmaceutical industry in the report, for the purpose of assisting pharmaceutical enterprises in drafting patent applications.
Continue Reading Insights on Drafting Pharmaceutical Patents from the “Supreme People’s Court’s Annual Report of Intellectual Property Cases”

By Susan Ning and Kate Peng

In August 2012, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce published the fifth draft of the Guidelines on Anti-Monopoly Law Enforcement in the Field of Intellectual Property (the “Draft Guidelines“). Although compulsory licensing is not expressly mentioned in the Draft Guidelines, many provisions therein seem to imply it being a possible remedy for relevant monopolistic conducts in the IP field. For example, where a dominant market player’s refusal to license has anti-competitive effects1, a compulsory license could be the right answer to the problem. However, the role to be played by the antitrust enforcement agencies in compulsory licensing is not clearly defined under the current legal system.

There are very limited provisions in the Chinese law with respect to compulsory licensing.
Continue Reading What is the role of an antitrust enforcement agency in compulsory licensing?

作者:张维 金杜律师事务所知识产权

作为世界第二大经济体,中国逐步出现在世界经济舞台的中心,中国的经济和法制也不断发生变化。随着中国国家知识产权保护体系的不断完善,专利投入快速增长,越来越显示出中国创新政策的优势,专利申请也出现了自己的特色。中国公司也创造了大量专有的知识产权,并对外国公司和中国当地的竞争对手提起侵权诉讼。中国第三次专利法修正案[1] (“新专利法”)也在很多方面改变了中国专利实务和程序。

这些新变化对所有中国境内开展的公司将产生深远的影响,特别是发展很大程度上依赖知识产权的公司。应对这些重要变化的最好的方式是什么呢?中国境内公司在设计其中国专利战略时,至少要考虑到下述几点要素。Continue Reading 对中国境内公司专利战略实施的几点建议

by Alex Zhang King & Wood Intellectual Property Group

As the second largest economy in the world, China is emerging to the center of the world’s economic stage. This emergence has been accompanied by constant changes in its legal and economic sectors. The intellectual property sector also has witnessed numerous recent changes. There have been significant new advances in China’s national innovation policies. New trends in Chinese patent filings have emerged. A growing number of Chinese companies are creating their own IP and increasingly filing infringement suits against foreign companies and their local competitors in China. China’s third patent law amendment has materially changed patent practice and procedures in that country.

These changes and trends will have profound impacts on foreign companies doing business in China, especially in intellectual property areas. What are the best ways to deal with these important changes? The following several considerations should be evaluated in determining a company’s patent strategies in China.Continue Reading Key Considerations for Patent Strategies in China

By Richard Wigley and Chen Wenping of King & Wood’s Intellectual Property Group

There has been a great deal of interest lately – both from inside and outside of China – in P.R.C. governmental policies aimed a promoting "indigenous innovation". In an April 2010 publication entitled "2010 Notification Regarding the Development of Determining ‘ Indigenous Innovation’ Products (Draft Seeking Opinions)"  (hereinafter referred to as the "2010 Notification"), and jointly issued by the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Commission for Development and Reform, and the Ministry of Finance, some government initiatives in this regard were addressed. While it makes perfect sense for any country to promote "indigenous innovation" as a means of economic growth, it is valuable to look at one measure of  "indigenous innovation" — invention patents. Specifically, it is valuable to look at the growth in recent years of invention patents granted in China, as just one indicator of  "indigenous innovation".Continue Reading China’s Drive towards Indigenous Innovation Seen in Rise in Invention Patents Granted to Domestic Entities