On September 29, 2026, the Shanghai First Intermediate People’s Court issued a final ruling addressing what is described as Shanghai’s first case concerning natural-person voice-rights protection arising from AI-synthesized speech. The case centers on the intersection of generative AI training practices and personality rights, and its principal contribution is an evidentiary framework for proving infringement when a plaintiff has no visibility into how a generative model was trained. Note though that this case has not been marked as typical or …
China’s National Intellectual Property Administration Releases Draft Revisions to Trademark Examination and Adjudication Guidelines for Public Comment
The China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) has issued the “Trademark Examination and Adjudication Guidelines (Draft for Public Comment) (商标审查审理指南（征求意见稿）).” The draft was released on September 28, 2026, and CNIPA is accepting comments through November 12, 2026, by email, fax, or mail. According to CNIPA’s accompanying notice, the revision is intended to implement the newly revised Trademark Law of the People’s Republic of China, which was passed by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress on June 26, 2026. …
Wuhan Court Considers AI Token Costs in Calculating Damages for Copyright Infringement of AI-Generated Work
October 14, 2026 Update: The text of the decision is available here. On September 23, 2026, the Jiang’an District People’s Court in Wuhan, China announced the first case in Hubei Province involving copyright infringement of an AI-assisted short drama, holding that AI-generated content meeting the requirements of a “work” is copyrightable, consistent with holdings from several other lower Chinese courts (see, e.g., Li v. Liu). In determining damages, the court included the computing costs associated with token consumption, along with …
Reminder: Extended CNIPA Closure for Mid-Autumn Festival & Chinese National Day 2026
The China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) will be closed from September 25, 2026 to September 27, 2026 for the Mid-Autumn Festival and October 1, 2026 to October 7, 2026 for the Chinese National Day holiday. All official patent deadlines falling on the above dates will be automatically extended to the next business day. Note that September 20 (Sunday) and October (Saturday) 10 will be work days and CNIPA will be open. Accordingly, please provide your Chinese counsel with instructions for actions due …