LATEST NEWSLETTERS

On 24 January 2022, the China National IP Administration (CNIPA) announced its achievements in 2021 in accurately cracking down bad-faith trademark applications through the joint efforts of different offices in the procedures of registration, opposition, reviews, etc. In total, the CNIPA cracked down 482K bad-faith applications without intention to use, invalidated ex officio more than 1,700 registered trademarks, rejected in an expedited manner 1,111 applications likely to cause significant bad influences, and refused the assignment of 421 trademarks to curb bad-faith trademark hoarding. By adopting such measures as early examination, joint examination and oral examination and applying stricter examination criteria in disapproving, rejecting and invalidating relevant trademarks, the CNIPA strengthens its crackdown efforts in opposition and review procedures relating to bad-faith trademark prosecution cases.

After innovation and reform, the CNIPA finished the substantial examination of 10.57 million trademark applications, 170K oppositions, 383K review cases. On average, the duration of new application examination is kept at 4 months, the opposition examination shortened to 11 months, and rejection appeals and complicated review cases shortened to 5.5 and 9 months respectively. Examination of online requests for recording changes is kept within 24 days, renewals within 12 days, and assignments within 2 months.

On 26 April 2022, the Hong Kong Customs and Excise signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Content Overseas Distribution Association in Japan and the Copyright Overseas promotion Association in Korea.  

The Hong Kong Customs and the associations in the two countries will strengthen their co-operation in joint promotional activities, training and information exchange to combat intellectual property rights infringement. 

The Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau proposed to amend the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing Ordinance (Cap. 615) (“AMLO”) to enhance the regulatory regime for combating money laundering and terrorist financing in fulfilment of Hong Kong’s obligations under the Financial Action Task Force.  The proposal was tabled at the Legislative Council Panel meeting on 7 February 2022 and aims to safeguard the integrity of our business environment and reputation as an international financial centre.   Key features of the amendment include:  Requiring any person seeking to engage in the regulated activity to obtain a “virtual asset” service providers licence from the Securities and Futures Commission, subject to the meeting of a fit and proper test and other regulatory requirements;  Requiring any person seeking to carry on the business of regulated activities as a dealer in precious metals and stones (“DPMS”) for a customer in Hong Kong to register under the AMLO; and  Putting in place two categories of registration under the regulatory regime such that only DPMS who engages in cash transactions at or above HK$120,000 will be subject to the same set of anti-money laundering and counterterrorism financing obligations currently applicable to other designated non-financial businesses or professions. 

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (“HKMA”) announced that the HKMA and the People’s Bank of China (“PBoC”) are ready to accept applications from financial institutions and technology firms for conducting pilot trials of cross-boundary fintech initiatives in the Greater Bay Area.  

This announcement was made after the signing of the “Memorandum of Understanding on Fintech Innovation Supervisory Cooperation in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area” by the HKMA and PBoC back in October 2021, agreeing to link up the PBoC’s Fintech Innovation Regulatory Facility with the HKMA’s Fintech Supervisory Sandbox.

The Hague System for the International Registration of Industrial Designs (“Hague System”) comes into effect in China today.  

The Hague System allows right holders to secure design protection simultaneously in multiple countries or regions through one application, in one language.  

China deposited its instrument of accession to the 1999 Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement back in 5 February 2022 and is the 94th country to join the Hague System.   

To facilitate the implementation of the Hague System in China, the CNIPA released a set of interim measures (关于加入海牙协定后相关业务处理暂行办法) on 22 April 2022.   

Chinese designers will now find it easier to protect and share their designs outside China, while overseas designers will find it easier to bring their masterpieces to China.

On 17 March 2022, the Supreme People's Court issued the Interpretation on Several Issues Concerning the Application of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law of the People's Republic of China (“the Interpretation”), which came into effect on 20 March 2022.   

The Interpretation clarifies the scope of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law, which will not apply to acts of infringement under the Patent Law, the Trademark Law or the Copyright Law.   

The Interpretation also clarifies the definition of “counterfeit and confusion” by specifying circumstances under which the Court may find that the business operator has committed the following:  

Acts of confusion sufficient to mislead consumers into believing that the goods belong to or are specifically related to another party;  Untrue or misleading commercial publicity to defraud or mislead consumers; and  Interfering with or sabotaging legitimate online business of other business operators by utilizing technology.  The Interpretation consists of 29 articles and will serve to guide Chinese judges regarding the application of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law.