IP Insight
JUNLONG LAW FIRM 22 March 2022
【IP Laws & Regulations】
1. SPC issues new Provisions on online consumer disputes in China
[The Supreme People’s Court (SPC)] [法释〔2022〕9号] [Issued on 17 March 2022] [Effective on 20 March 2022]
On March 17, 2022, the “Interpretation of the Supreme People’s Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law of the People’s Republic of China” (hereinafter referred to as the “Interpretation”)(最高人民法院关于适用〈中华人民共和国反不正当竞争法〉若干问题的解释) was issued, and will come into effect on March 20, 2022. The New Interpretation has a total of 29 articles. According to the revised Anti-Unfair Competition Law, it has made detailed provisions on issues such as Article 2 of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law, counterfeiting and confusion, false propaganda, and online unfair competition.
The Interpretation is an important measure taken by the Supreme People’s Court to thoroughly study and implement Xi Jinping’s thought on the rule of law, give full play to the role of intellectual property adjudication, and respond to judicial needs in new fields and new formats in a timely manner. The Interpretation is formulated to strengthen the fundamental position of competition policy, further improve the rules for adjudication of competition cases, enhance the quality, efficiency and credibility of trials, and promote innovation and sustainable and healthy economic development. The implementation of the Interpretation is of great significance for strengthening anti-unfair competition justice, strengthening the basic position of competition policy, and promoting the formation of a domestic unified market with efficient, standardized and fair competition.
[State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO)] [国知发保字〔2022〕8 号] [Issued on 24 January 2022] [Effective on 24 January 2022]
It is clearly stipulated in the provision that these six types of behaviors, such as abnormal patent application behaviors not aiming at protecting innovation, malicious trademark registration application behaviors, and behaviors, of patent and trademark agencies, violating the laws and administrative regulations and are punished by the SIPO, behaviors such as submitting false materials or concealing important facts to apply for administrative confirmation, behaviors applied to the credit commitment are regarded as untrue or failed to fulfill the commitment, and behaviors as refusal to perform administrative punishments and administrative rulings or evading enforcement while having the ability to perform, are classified as untrustworthy acts.
It also clarifies the legal documents on which untrustworthy conduct is based, the procedures for identifying untrustworthy conduct, the management period, the lifting of management measures, the publicity of untrustworthy subjects, the methods of relief, and the conditions and procedures for credit restoration.
The provision also points out that if there is an abnormal patent application behavior, however, the consequences can be corrected in a timely manner and the consequences can be actively eliminated, the untrustworthy behavior may not be determined, so as to further guide the abnormal patent applicant to actively correct errors.
【IP News】
- The ChinaNational Intellectual Property Administrationcracks down on malicious squatting of trademark registrations such as “Bingdundun” and “Gu Ailing” in accordance with the law
The 24th Winter Olympic Games were grandly held in Beijing and Zhangjiakou. However, since 2019, the names of mascots and athletes of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics have been maliciously registered.
The National Intellectual Property Administration attached great importance to the protection of intellectual property rights in the Winter Olympics and the Winter Paralympics, and continued to carry out special campaigns against malicious trademark registrations. The trademark of “Bingdundun” and “Xuerongrong” applied by the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee, and the name trademarks of “Gu Ailing” and other Winter Olympic athletes applied by other qualified entities are under protection.
The National Intellectual Property Administration has rejected 429 trademark registration applications such as “Bingdundun” and “Gu Ailing” in accordance with the Regulations on the Protection of Olympic Symbols and the Trademark Law and has voluntarily declared invalid of 43 registered trademarks including “Xuedun Dun” and “Gu Ailing”.