On January 17, 2025, China’s National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) released the “Guidelines for the Belt and Road Accelerated Examination Pilot Program” (“一带一路”专利加快审查试点项目指南), effective January 20, 2025. The Belt and Road initiative is a global infrastructure program launched by China to invest in land and sea corridors to connect China to the world. The Pilot Program, which is somewhat analogous to the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH), allows for accelerated patent examination in China when a Belt and Road country’s patent …
Category: Patents
China’s National Intellectual Property Administration Issues Guidelines for Patent Applications for AI-Related Inventions
On December 31, 2024, China’s National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) issued the Guidelines for Patent Applications for AI-Related Inventions (Trial Implementation) (人工智能相关发明专利申请指引(试行)). The Guidelines follow up on CNIPA’s draft for comments issued December 6, 2024 in which only a week for comments were provided. The short comment period implied CNIPA did not actually want comments and is in contravention of the not-yet-effective Regulations on the Procedures for Formulating Regulations of the CNIPA (国家知识产权局规章制定程序规定(局令第83号)) requiring a 30-day minimum comment period. Highlights …
China’s Supreme People’s Court Issues First Anti-Anti-Suit Injunction in Huawei v. Netgear
Following Huawei obtaining two anti-anti-suit injunctions (AASI) against Netgear on December 11, 2024 at the Unified Patent Court’s Munich Local Division and the Munich I Regional Court, China’s Supreme People’s Court also awarded an AASI in favor of Huawei against Netgear in a decision dated December 22, 2024. This is believed to be the first AASI issued by a Chinese court.
China’s National Intellectual Property Administration Releases Statistical Data on Patent Licensing from 2019 – 2023
On December 20, 2024, China’s National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) released statistical data on patent licensing in 2023 and statistical data on patent licensing from 2019 to 2023 including licensing rates for different technologies (国家知识产权局办公室关于公布2023年度及近五年备案的专利实施许可合同有关数据的通知). This data may be useful for determining market rates and therefore avoiding antitrust enforcement actions by the State Administration for Market Regulation.