Introduction to 3rd Revision Draft of China Copyright Law

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On the beginning of April 2012, the National Copyright Administration of China (NCAC) released the exposure draft for revision of China Copyright Law (the “Draft”) accompanied with the interpretations on the draft. Today, we are going to introduce you the revision. (the image is the cover of China Copyright Law)

 (I) the works

(1) The original “cinematographic works” is revised to the “audiovisual works”, and the original “video recording” is deleted which will be protected as the audiovisual works;

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How Chinese Companies Deal with Warning Letters from Adobe?

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Adobe lawyer’s letter, Photoshop piracy, genuine software, original software, China pirated software, China software lawyer, venture company genuine trend, Microsoft, Autodesk, Adobe, warning letter against piracy, lawyer’s letter for warning against piracy, evidence liability of pirated software using, windows fire wall, modify hosts file piracy, shield Adobe server, pirated information using, steal client’s piracy, self remedy evidence collection, administrative complaint, judicial preservation, seal up piracy, evidence preservation application, genuine trend of government

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To Stem the Passing Off on Michael Jordan

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As reported, Michael Jordan, the basketball legend, made an announcement through PR Newswire that he’s formally suing Chinese sportswear maker Qiaodan Sports (the “Qiaodan Company”) for using without authorization. To Jordan’s words, what makes him more disappointed is his children’s names are also infringed by the company, and he also added the lawsuit is not about money.

Actually “Qiaodan”, the transliteration in Chinese of Jordan, accompanied with the logo of a basketball man have long been used by the Chinese sportswear maker, and that could not be newly known to Jordan in afraid. However, the lawsuit is filed when Qiaodan Company is preparing its listing; therefore “it’s not about money” might more accurately to be “it’s not ALL about money”.

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Latest News of iPad Battle: Shenzhen Court Refused Bankruptcy Application against Shenzhen Proview

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According to the news from China Daily (note: the link is in Chinese), there’s new progress in the iPad battle between Apple and Proview, and just like our past judgement, for the value of iPad trademark is impossible to estimate, the Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court recently adjudicated the refusal on Taiwan Fubon Insurance’ s application on the bankruptcy liquidation of Shenzhen Proview.

Taiwan Fubon Insurance applied the bankruptcy liquidation to the Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court on Shenzhen Proview who failed to clear the debt due and being insolvency. After the investigation, the court takes Shenzhen Proview as the only legal owner of iPad trademark for the mark is still registered under the name of Shenzhen Proview. Currently, Shenzhen Proview’s intangible asset are remained un-estimated with its value not determined, and thus it could not decide whether Shenzhen Proview is trapped in insolvency and enable to pay its debt; therefore the court adjudicated the refusal of Taiwan Fubon Insurance.

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China Ranked 7th International Trademark Application

On March 13th, from the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) official website, in 2011, China submitted 2149 Madrid international trademark registration system application to WIPO, accounting for 5.1% of the total, and ranked seventh in the world with one position advanced by 2010. In addition, China remained the most designated country for trademark protection.

The top three applicants are EURO, Germany, U.S.A., and China took the post of the seventh with the application of 2149. For the annual development rate, Russia ranks first and China at the place of fourth.

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Why Apple Store’s Design Patent Application is Not Necessary? II

The post will be published on our website for two days, and today is the second half of it. (the image is the picture of Apple Store in Lujiazui from the www.apple.com.cn)

III. The legal risk in the lawsuit filed against design infringement

Furthermore, once Apple initiate the lawsuit basing on the design, it may be trapped in the patent validity and serial lawsuits, and it’s also a common challenge of patent lawsuits in China.

1. The poor stability of design patent

Despite the design patent is granted by the administration after approval, the organ will not examine the novelty and creativity of the patent applied for it being instable at all. For example, in the design dispute between SECO and HONDA (note: the link is in Chinese), when HONDA sued against SECO for the claimed plagiarism of SECO’s S-RV to its CR-V, the defendant filed the application of patent validity, and present the evidence including the previous design patent applied by HONDA.

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Why Apple Store’s Design Patent Application is Not Necessary? I

The post will be published on our website for two days, and today is the first half of it. (the image is the picture of Apple Store in Lujiazui from the www.apple.com.cn)

By the report of Shanghai Daily, Apple Inc filed an application to the United State Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for the appearance design of its store in Lujiazui, Pudong New Area. In consideration of the fake Apple Store in Kuning, Yunan Province in south and west China, the application made this time may be the international application, and will enter into China soon to stem the flooding knock off stores. More interesting is that the journalist of the Daily interviewed our attorneys before the report, and we reserved our opinion on the application. To complete our comments on it, here’s our analysis on the issue:

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Legal Confusions and Difficulties of Industry and Commerce Department in Trade Secret Investigation

The power to administrative punishment on trade secret is enforced by State Administration of Industry and Commerce (SAIC) and local administrations, and in a recent essay (note: the link is in Chinese) by Shanghai Industry and Commerce Administration on the trade secret investigation and evidence collection, the difficulties and confusion faced by the organ are highlighted. The post today is the digest and our comments hereby made:

 (I) The technology information examination and reverse problem

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Analysis on the Data of Microsoft’s Combat against IPR Infringement

On 23rd February 2012, an article Michael Jordan Wants Respect for his Brand in China in Business Week reported Michael Jordan’s lawsuit against China Qiaodan Sports in China, and said that “After all, China is notorious as a haven for intellectual property rights (IPR) piracy. Microsoft (MSFT), to name just one example, has struggled for years to fight against unauthorized versions of Windows and Office. What makes Michael Jordan think he can succeed where Bill Gates has failed?”

But on 21st March, Mr. Simon L. K. Leung, Chairman and CEO of Microsoft China stated on the interview by Wallstreet Journal that the situation is improving and he credited a campaign against piracy led by China’s Ministry of Commerce, and said an increasing number of state-owned enterprises are using licensed software.

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Opinions on E-Commerce’s Unauthorized Change to Consumers’ Comments

Case: A noted Chinese E-commerce website is recently charged with unauthorized modification to customer’s comments on the product sold.(note: the link is in Chinese) A newly bought mobile phone was found used by a consumer from Hangzhou City, who afterwards gave a poor comment on the product. Surprisingly to him, his comment was then changed to satisfy one a month later, for this the consumer only got the reply from the website that it’s a misoperation. Actually, it’s not an individual case in recent. (the image is the logo of 360buy.com, a main B2C website in China)

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Interpretation on New Compulsory Licensing for Patent Implementation Rule

China State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) issued its No. 64 order on 15th March, 2012 to announce the promulgation of the newly revised Measures for the Compulsory Licensing for Patent Implementation (the “Measures”). The most attention catching point is the amendment of medicine patent compulsory licensing. Then, what are the specific provisions? And is there any amendment else deserve you focus? Today, we will make a brief introduction for you. (the image is the picture of Tamiflu once applied for compulsory licensing in China)

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SIMENS Benefits: A Breakthrough of the Legal Compensation Limit on Pirate Software Litigation

As reported (note: the link is in Chinese), SIMENS PLC Software won the copyright dispute over its software against Excelstor Technology (Excelsor), a company headquartered in Shenzhen, in Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court, with a sentence to stop the infringement and compensation of 1.16 million yuan for the infringement. There are two eye catching points in this case: 1) the court aided SIMENS in evidence preservation to detain the computers of Excelsor’ s design department, which are detected of NX Unigraphics copyrighted by SIMENS, and that is rare in the cases of this kind; 2) the judged compensation surpassed the legal limit. The post today mainly focuses on the 2nd point. (the image today is the logo of SIMENS)

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