Introduction to Protection of New Varieties of Plants in China

(By You Yunting)Introduction to the Case:

Appellant (Defendant at first instance): Jiangsu Xunong Seeds Science and Technology Co., Ltd (the “Xunong”)

Respondent (Plaintiff at first instance): Tianjin Tianlong Seeds Science and Technology Co., Ltd (the “Tianlong”)

Court of first instance: Nanjing City Intermediate People’s Court  No.: (2009)宁民三初字第63号

Court of second instance: Jiangsu Province Higher People’s Court  No.: (2011)苏知民终字第0194号

On November 10, 2000, a new three-crossbreed hybrid japonica rice named “9优418”, jointly cultivated by the Liaoning Rice Research Institute (the “LRRI”) and the Xuzhou Academy of Agricultural Sciences (the “AAS”), was approved by the National Crop Variety Approval Committee of China (the “NAVAC”).

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Introduction to the 2013 Trademark Law, Part 2

(By Zhan Yi) On August 30, 2013, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress promulgated Decisions of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress Concerning Alterations to the Trademark Law of the People’s Republic of China, which shall be implemented on May 1, 2014. Our website previously translated the Full text of 2013 China Trademark Law, we provided a Comparison Version highlighting the differences between the 2001 and 2013 Trademark Law. In today’s post, our website will introduce and discuss the revised content within the 2013 Trademark Law. Without further ado, we will now move on to the second part of our examination of the 2013 Trademark Law.

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Trade Secret Litigation Injunction Rulings in China

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(By You Yunting) According to media reports (note: the link is in Chinese), Eli Lilly and Company and Eli Lilly (China) sued an employee named Huang in the Shanghai No.1 Intermediate People’s Court. That court recently issued the first trade secret litigation injunction in China’s history, and ruled a litigation preservation that prohibited Huang from disclosing, using, or allowing any third party to use 21 documents that were protected as trade secrets by the plaintiff.

Inductions to the Case:

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When Could “Fair Use” Other’s Works in China?

By Albert Chen

Techdirt recently reported the US court has adopted scanning within the scope of fair use, and by China Copyright Law, the library could also make a special copy or digitalize its collection, as well as the communication. Today, we would introduce the statutory license in Chinese legislature.

As known to us, the using of others work demands the right owner’s consent and the payment of the royalty (unless no payment as approved by the right owner). But as aiming to promote the cultural development, the emphasis on the exclusive right protection could only damage the spread-out of the culture and information. Thus, in addition to the protection, we also see Copyright Law regulates the “fair use” of the works, under which the using by a third party shall not be approved by the right owner or to pay the royalty.

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Can Sound or Smell be registered as Trademarks in China?

—the introduction to the registerable trademarks in China

By You Yunting

As a news report (note: the link is in Chinese), Apple applied the trademark protection for the start up sound of its Mac in USA and Europe. The protection of sound trademark is on the front of the theory research, and in many situations, the sound is protected through copyright law. So far, to register the sound as mark in China is of no legal ground. Meanwhile, in the latest revision of the Chinese Trademark Law, we notice the suggestions to add sound as legal sort of trademark, which was objected by some experts. According to the schedule of the legislation in China, the latest Trademark Law could be issued in this October as soonest, and then we could find the answer to proposal. Today, we will introduce you the sorts of trademarks to be applied in China.

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Could Ungranted Movie’ s Copyright be Protected in China?

—Discussion on the Protection over the Prohibited Works by China Laws

Although China is among the few countries attempting to control the ideology, the rule of law is progressing in this country. Currently, the previously unprotected works, like the pornography or ungranted published works, all could be protected by the Copyright Law.

In recent, Shanghai Pudong People’s Court judged an infringement case of the cyber disseminated movie, and in the case the legal owner of the movie, which however has no administrative license for public show, was protected by the judgment and the owner’s claim of compensation was also supported.

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Matters for Attention in the Patent Preliminary Injunction Application in China(I)

Highlight: introducing the regulations on the patent preliminary injunction in China, as well as the applicant, examination standard. Also the question of whether the injunction could be applied in the lawsuit is also discussed.

As shows in the recent released data by China Supreme Court, the newly filed and judged intellectual property cases in the period from January to October are respectively 52, 708 and 38, 682, which have increased 42.2% and 39.79% year on year. Among which the cases with injunction applied are 126, and 184 for those applied for evidence preservation before the hearing and 18 for property preservation before the hearing.(For more details, pls refer to:http://www.legaldaily.com.cn/index/content/2011-11/28/content_3133300.htm?node=20908)

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