Keeping up with China

The China IP Focus, available for free download here, also contains the profiles of the most influential people in IP in China from our annual Top 50 feature.

The new Trademark Law, which comes into effect on May 1, is of particular interest. Gang Hu, Fang Wang and Jing Qui of CCPIT discuss the main changes in the law, and Weifeng Li of Panawell & Partners looks at how the new law changes the protection and limitations of well-known marks. Meanwhile, Anne Mae Koo of Vivien Chan & Co talks about how the updated law tries to tackle the longstanding problem of trade mark squatters and Wei Dong of PC & Associates examines how the new law helps rights owners seeking damages.

The new Trademark Law is not the only topic of interest for IP practitioners. Shenjun Chen of Shanghai Patent & Trademark Office discusses strategies for defending against patent infringement claims, an especially timely topic as international rights holders increasingly find themselves in the role of defendant in patent suits. Nannan Lin and Qi Wang of Deqi Intellectual Property Law give an update on how an invention’s country of completion affects the confidentiality examination requirements under the Patent Law, while Freder Shen and Jenny Li of Kangxin explain changes in the conduct of preliminary examinations.

Enforcement is a challenge for rights holders everywhere, but this is especially true in China. Johnson Jiang Li and Rongxin Li of China Patent Agent (HK) look at whether rights holders should choose judicial or administrative avenues for enforcement, while Spring Chang of Chang Tsi & Partners look at the rapid growth of IP filings and what this means for IP protection.

These are just some of the topics in this year’s China’s IP Focus. If you have any comments on how to make future editions more useful, we would love to hear from you.