Author Archives: Dr. Danny Friedmann

Annual Report IP Court of the SPC 2022: 4.6 Percent Growth of Cases With All Foreign Parties

In 2019, the Intellectual Property Court of the Supreme People’s Court was founded. Each year the IP Court of the SPC provides an annual report. “In 2022, 457 new cases involving foreign parties, or Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan parties … Continue reading

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Algorithmic Dissuasion: De-ranking Possible Copyright Infringing Content into Relative Oblivion

You can read my article Algorithmic Dissuasion here or watch the presentation video, here; as well as Prof LIU Xiaochun’s here, followed by the Q&A for us both, held at the Workshop on China’s Algorithmic Recommendation Regulation (25-26 March 2023 … Continue reading

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Tencent’s animal universe: more and more animal-name-related trademarks registered by Tencent

Written by IP Lion                 (Photo from www.vecteezy.com) The latest China Trademark website shows that the trademark applications of “马好帅 (Ma Haoshuai, or “the handsome horse” if translated by its meaning) “, “牛稳稳 … Continue reading

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A new milestone in China’s trademark legal practice: the de-trademarking of qianye tofu (千页豆腐)

Written by IP Lion For hotpot fans, qianye tofu (千页豆腐, also translated as “thousand-page tofu”) should be a familiar dish. Benefit from its special preparation method, the taste of qianye tofu is more elastic than traditional tofu.       … Continue reading

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IP Dragon’s Roar of February

Welcome to IP Dragon’s Monthly Roar, your roundup of IP news in China. Written by IP Dragon’s brand new reporter “IP Lion”. In this IP Dragon’s Roar, Dragon Nest prevails over Shadow of Dragon in an “iconic” case, streaming hijacking … Continue reading

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IP Dragon’s Roar of January

Welcome to IP Dragon’s Monthly Roar, your roundup of IP news in China. Written by IP Dragon’s brand new reporter “IP Lion”. In this IP Dragon’s Roar, Tsuburaya prevails in Shanghai IP Court, Green Sichuan Pepper was held generic, minors … Continue reading

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Qiaodan Sports’ Disassociation from Michael Jeffrey Jordan

Guest post by OUYANG Yini, JD and JM candidate at PKU STL. On December 30, 2020, Shanghai No. 2 Intermediate People’s Court announced its judgment on Michael Jeffrey Jordan v. Qiaodan Sports Co., Ltd., including four parts: (1) the defendant … Continue reading

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2020 Amendment to SPC’s Interpretation on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in the Trial of Patent Infringement Cases (2)

This is part of a series that show what the 18 judicial interpretations on IP look like after their 2020 amendments that make them Civil Code-ready. See the first of the series here and the amendment on the other patent … Continue reading

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Five Highlights of the Third Amendment to the Copyright Law of the PRC (2020)

Guest post by OUYANG Yini, JD and JM candidate at PKU STL.         Recently, one of the most remarkable hot news, occurred in the IP field in China:  the latest amendment of the Copyright Law. This Third Amendment to the … Continue reading

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18 SPC Judicial Interpretations to ensure IP Laws are Civil Code-Ready

My colleague Susan Finder provides a great overview on Supreme People’s Court Monitor of how the SPC delivered its first batches of documents designed to ensure a seamless transition to the Civil Code, see here. One batch of documents are … Continue reading

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Preview of the Impact of EU-China CAI on IP in the context of the coming 14th Five Year Plan 2021-2025

Even though the texts of the EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment is not distributed yet and should be read in the context of the 14th Five Year Plan, which is not officially revealed, the contours of both documents are becoming … Continue reading

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Last Case 2020 First Instance: Qiaodan Sports Company Needs to Cease Using “乔丹” or “De-Michael Jordanize” its Marks

During the penultimate day of 2020, the Shanghai Second Intermediate People’s Court decided the first instance case between the plaintiff basketball legend Michael Jeffrey Jordan and two defendants Qiaodan Sports Co. Ltd. of Jinjiang, Fujian province, and Shanghai Bairen Trading … Continue reading

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SPC’s Michael Jordan Case Revisited

Guest post by Ouyang Yini, who is doing the unique combination of U.S. J.D. and China J.M. legal education at PKU STL in Shenzhen. Michael Jeffrey Jordan, one of the greatest NBA basketball players in the United States, is also … Continue reading

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What traces will Corona leave in Chinese and worldwide intellectual property? Some speculative remarks

Guest post by Dr Peter GANEA, Sino-German International Economic Law Institute, Tongji University Law School in Shanghai  The Corona pandemic has impacted and continues to impact on global trade and investment, with likely repercussions on post crisis intellectual property in … Continue reading

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Sunday’s Video: How the US-China Trade War Started, Prof Mark Cohen’s 2019 primer

Professor Mark Cohen, director and senior fellow at the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology and author of the great China IPR blog, discusses IPR and the Made in China 2025 policy that IPR initially was at the core of … Continue reading

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CPC and State Council Jointly Issue Opinion on the Strengthening of IPR Protection

On 24 November 2019, for the first time, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council have jointly issued an opinion (here in Chinese) on the strengthening of IPR protection. They defined and set two … Continue reading

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Foreign Investment Law Implemented in China

On 28 June 2019, president XI Jinping attended the G20 summit. Here he said the following which becomes germane in 2020: We will implement a new foreign investment legal system on 1 January 2020, introduce a system of punitive damages … Continue reading

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Sino-Italian cooperation in regard to Innovation and IPRs flourished in 2019

From 21 to 24 March 2019, President XI Jinping visited Italy and met President Matarella. The two countries issued a Joint Communiqué on strengthening the comprehensive strategic partnership. In the China-Italy Joint Communique: to ensure a level playing field and … Continue reading

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China’s IP in Foreign Eyes

The English version of CNIPA has an interesting column about China IP news in foreign media. Unfortunately it is very fragmentary, often without the date and the exact source. See here.

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Will China provide the next Director General of WIPO?

On 14 November 2019, Mr WANG Yi, State Councilor and Minister for Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China has nominated Ms WANG Binying as candidate for Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). It is expected … Continue reading

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China’s Amended Patent Examination Guidelines: Human Stem Cells that Developed Ex Vivo Are Patentable

On 23 September 2019, China’s National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) launched the 2019 amended Patent Examination Guidelines (Chinese), which became effective on 1 November 2019.  In comparison to the draft amendments of 4 April 2019, things have not much changed. … Continue reading

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China Trend: Trademark Review Process: participants (JW ANDERSON case) can stay at home

With internet courts in first Hangzhou, then Beijing and Guangzhou, the trend is set also for the specialized IP courts in China to deal remotely with the review application, evidence, cross-examination, and verdict. The objective of this remote trial system … Continue reading

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MOU Signed for Sino-Singapore Guangzhou Knowledge City 中新广州知识城

Intellectual Property Singapore Office (IPOS) reports that on 20 September 2018, “China’s Vice Premier Han Zheng and Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean, IPOS’ enterprise engagement arm – IP ValueLab – signed a MOU (see Annex A: areas of cooperation) … Continue reading

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Seven Years to ‘Made in China 2025’ from Net Importer to Net Exporter of Intellectual Property

U.S. president Donald Trump has accused China of causing a trade deficit and engaging in several unfair practices related to the acquisition of American intellectual property and technology. The latter part was corroborated by the USTR Report of 22 March … Continue reading

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Deconstructing China’s Guiding Ideology in Regard to Intellectual Property Law

Danny Friedmann IP controls the rights over technology and innovation, therefore these rights have become a priority for governments all around the world. In particular the US and China have vowed to dominate key technologies such as AI and biotech, … Continue reading

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Avoiding Waste: Patent Prosecution Highway pilots between China and Chile, and China and Czech Republic

According to Memoranda of Understanding between China’s State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) and the Industrial Property Institute of Chile (INAPI), and SIPO and the Industrial Property Office of the Czech Republic (IPO-CZ), both combinations will start a Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) … Continue reading

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My Year in Review, Academic version 2017

In 2017, I focused on patent law, trademark law and geographical indications and internet intermediary liability. Click on the following pictures below:  

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China expected to become the heaviest user of the Patent Cooperation Treaty in 2019

The Patent Cooperation Treaty Yearly Review 2017, The International Patent System, was just published by the World Intellectual Property Organization, see here.   Here are some interesting nudgets about China:   “Applicants based in the U.S. filed the largest number … Continue reading

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From Virtual Reality Stories to Real Stores: The Dream Collector is Collecting IP

One of the Venice Film Festival finalists in the newly created Virtual Reality (VR) section, the 12-minutes film The Dream Collector 拾梦老人  (literally “pick up the dream old man”), was featured in China Film Insider (a must follow for the film buffs) … Continue reading

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Towards a new balance in trademark infringement damage awards in China?

New Balance Trade (China) Co., Ltd. v Shenzhen New Balance Sporting Goods Co., Ltd.   18 August, 2017, the Suzhou Intermediary People’s Court in the first instance decided that three defendants (Zheng Chaozhong, Xin Ping Heng Sporting Goods Ltd Co, … Continue reading

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China’s Position as Champion of Traditional Knowledge in International Law Fora

Traditional Knowledge (TK), Genetical Resources (GR), Traditional Cultural Expressions (TCE), are sometimes seen as spare change between the countries with a high and those of a low GDP per capita (the terminology of developed and developing countries is flawed as … Continue reading

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Intellectual Property in China (Civil Law jurisdiction) Closer to Common Law System for the Sake of Uniformity?

A highly relevant development for intellectual property litigation is going on in the PRC: To improve transparency, a uniform application of law, and thus legal predictability towards a commercial rule of law, the Supreme People’s Court (SPC) has promulgated an … Continue reading

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Two Sino-Swiss Memoranda of Understanding on IP and upgrade of FTA

Bern 16 January 2017, Diedier Burkhalter (Federal Councillor) and WANG Yi (Minister of Foreign Affairs) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Switzerland and China. The text of the MoU consists of laudatory calls to cooperate, and only a commitment … Continue reading

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From the Horse’s Mouth: Jack Ma talks IP in Davos

Besides, president Xi Jinping and China’s richest man Wang Jianlin of Dalian Wanda, Jack Ma (马云), Executive Chairman of Alibaba Group visited the World Economic Forum in Davos.   Ma talks IP, will he walk IP?   The Alibaba Group, which … Continue reading

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USPTO is looking for an IP Attaché located in Guangzhou

“This position is located in the U.S. Consulate General Guangzhou, China. The incumbent will serve as an Intellectual Property Attorney-Adviser (IP Attaché) in Guangzhou for the International Trade Administration/Global Markets (ITA/GM) and United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The … Continue reading

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Editorial of JIPLP on Hong Kong patent law

Short read: My editorial of the Journal of Intellectual Property Law and Practice (Oxford University Press) is online: ‘First thoughts on Hong Kong’s new patent system; second thoughts on its further medical use claims‘ (PDF). 

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Let’s Filter A Million Pictures in Times of Copyright Infringments

In my book Trademarks and Social Media, Towards Algorithmic Justice, I describe the progress made in filtering technology which is another reason to advocate strict liability for online service providers. The possibilities of filtering are illustrated in today’s article by … Continue reading

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Reduction of China’s Patent Fees Increases Challenges For Patent Quality

  Since 2011, China is the world leader in the number of published invention patent applications (also the number of utility model and design patents is rising). China is in the process of doubling its number of patent applications (from more … Continue reading

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Red Carpet With Hurdles for Foreign Movies to China

    China has liberalised its market for theatrical release of foreign films to some degree, which kills two flies with one stone for foreign movie producers. On the one hand when Chinese are able to watch some popular foreign … Continue reading

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Intellectual Property Office Singapore is going to help Chinese companies to internationalize in Guanzhou

Singapore opened its first overseas IP Office of Singapore (IPOS) in  Sino-Singapore Guangzhou Knowledge City (SSGKC) to help Chinese companies internationalize. Read more here. 

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Requiem for the Hong Kong Copyright Bill

Thinking back about the late HK Copyright Bill. See my obituary article for Bloomberg BNA, April 2016, How Political Mistrust Killed HK’s Copyright Bill (PDF).

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Switzerland and China Keep Working On IP Protection/Enforcement

April 8, 2016, President Johann Schneider-Ammann, the Swiss President met with Zhang Dejiang (张德江), Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress in Beijing. According to China’s state-news agency Xinhua, Zhang “called on the two countries’ parliaments to … Continue reading

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Huawei = top filer PCT applications

Last month WIPO issued its annual report on PCT applications. The top three PCT filers in 2015 were all telecommunication companies. 1. Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.: 3,898 2. Qualcomm, Inc.: 2,442 3. ZTE Corp.: 2,155 See Annex 2, here. Is there … Continue reading

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Dr. Lin Xu on registration, use and protection of trademarks in China

On 24 July 2015, gLAWcal (Global Law Initiatives for Sustainable Development) invited Dr. Lin Xu, Deputy Director of Legal Affairs Division of Trademark Review and Adjudication Board of State Administration for Industry and Commerce, People’s Republic of China provided a … Continue reading

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Tencent’s Piece of Advice: Co-creation Leads to IP Value Not Transactions

China Film Insider cites Mr Cheng Wu, VP of Tencent Holdings that the value of IP does not come from transactions but from co-creation. At the UP2016 Tencent Interactive Entertainment 2016 Annual Press Conference, Wu made clear that he does … Continue reading

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Judge Zhang Lingling on China’s Copyright Law and Typical Cases

Last Summer (23 July 2015) gLAWcal, which is the Global Law Initiatives for Sustainable Development based in the UK, invited Judge Dr. Zhang Lingling, Beijing IP Court for Patent Examination and Invalidation and Trademark Enforcement to give a lecture on … Continue reading

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New Draft: Domain Name System bureaus must care about censorship, not so much IP infringements

Rogier Creemers posted a translated revision draft (undated) of the Internet Domain Name Management Rules of which the Ministry of  Industry and Information Technology is seeking opinions. The rules give a definition of domain name, referring to a “digital indicator that is … Continue reading

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Reawakening the IP Dragon

    Tsang Yan Tung (copyright) granted me permission to publish this work on IP Dragon    

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Hong Kong Government pushes for the adoption of the Copyright (Amendment) Bill 2014 by placing newspaper advertisements

  27 February 2016, the Hong Kong government placed an advertisement in some Hong Kong newspapers, including the Oriental Daily (東方日報) to advocate the adoption of the Copyright (Amendment) Bill 2014, next week.  The Hong Kong government has chosen this surprising method to … Continue reading

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