CNIPA Issues its Annual Report 2022
Release Date: 5 June 2023
CNIPA has released its Annual Report 2022, which highlights China’s accomplishments in intellectual property registration, exploitation, governmental services, and protection. The Report provides the following significant statistics.
First, intellectual property registrations. As of the end of 2022, there were 4.212 million valid invention patents, 42.672 million registered trademarks, 2,495 approved geographical indication products, 7,076 geographical indications registered as collective trademarks and certification trademarks, and 61,000 issued certificates of layout designs of integrated circuits. In 2022, China granted 798,000 invention patents, representing a year-on-year growth of 14.7%. Among these, domestic invention patents accounted for 87.1% with a total of 696,000. It registered 6.177 million trademarks, a year-on-year decrease of a20.2%. Of these, domestic registered trademarks accounted for 97.2% with a total of 6.002 million.
Secondly, China’s ability to exploit intellectual property has significantly improved. By the end of 2022, China had fostered 8,240 national intellectual property right template enterprises and supported the establishment of 33 intellectual property right operation platforms/centres. In 2022, the total amount of intellectual property royalties from cross-border licenses reached RMB 387.25 billion (approximately US$ 54.15 billion). From 2012 to 2022, China’s pledge financing of patents and trademarks totalled RMB 1.799 trillion (approx. US$ 251.58 billion). In 2022 alone, the pledge financing of patents and trademarks amounted to RMB 485.87 billion (approx. US$ 67.95 billion), marking a year-on-year growth of 30% and a continuous growth of over 40% for three years.
Thirdly, China’s governmental services for intellectual property have significantly developed. 99.72% of patent applications and 99.55% of trademark applications are filed electronically. The average review procedure for invention patents has been reduced to 16.5 months, with high-value invention patents reviewed in just 13 months. The average review procedure for trademark registration has been shortened to four months, while general trademark registration takes approximately seven months. The accuracy rate for invention patent reviews reached 93.4%, and the qualification rate for trademark reviews reached 97.6%.
Lastly, China’s protection of intellectual property has been strengthened. In 2022, 955,000 irregular patent applications were identified and action was taken against 372,100 malicious trademark registrations. Throughout the year, 58,000 cases of patent infringement were resolved, showing a year-on-year increase of 16.8%. Additionally, 71,000 applications for assistance in protecting rights were handled, and 88,000 mediation cases were accepted.
Source: China National Intellectual Property Administration
https://www.cnipa.gov.cn/module/download/down.jsp?i_ID=185538&colID=3249
《国家知识产权局2022年度报告》发布
发文日期：2023-06-05
国家知识产权局发布2022年度报告，总结了截至2022年，我国在知识产权创造量、运用效益、服务水平、保护力度方面的重要成就，主要数据包括：
其一，我国知识产权创造量丰富。截至2022年底，我国发明专利有效量共421.2万件，有效注册商标量4267.2万件，累计批准地理标志产品2495个，核准地理标志作为集体商标、证明商标注册7076件，集成电路布图设计累计发证 6.1 万件。2022年，我国授权发明专利 79.8 万件，同比增长 14.7%。其中，国内发明专利授权 69.6 万件，占总量的 87.1%。2022 年我国商标注册量为 617.7 万件，同比减少 20.2%，其中，国内商标注册 600.2 万件，占总量的 97.2%。
其二，我国知识产权运用效益显著提升。截至2022年底，我国共培育国家知识产权优势示范企业8240家，支持建设知识产权运营平台（中心）33家。2022年我国知识产权使用费进出口总额3872.5亿元。2012-2022年我国专利商标质押融资金额累计1.799万亿元，其中，2022全年专利、商标质押融资额达 4858.7 亿元，年均增长30%，并连续三年保持 40% 以上增长。
其三，我国知识产权公共服务水平显著提升。专利电子申请率99.72%，商标电子申请率99.55%。发明专利平均审查周期压减至16.5个月，其中高价值发明专利的审查周期压减至13个月。商标注册平均审查周期压减至4个月，其中一般情形的商标注册周期压减至7个月。发明专利审查结案准确率达 93.4%，商标审查抽检合格率达 97.6％。
其四，我国对知识产权保护的力度加强，2022全年新通报非正常专利申请 95.5 万件，累计打击恶意商标注册 37.21 万件。全年办理专利侵权纠纷行政案件 5.8 万件，同比增长 16.8%；办理维权援助申请 7.1 万件，受理纠纷调解 8.8 万件。
资料来源：国家知识产权局 2023-06-05
新闻链接：https://www.cnipa.gov.cn/module/download/down.jsp?i_ID=185538&colID=3249
The State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) Issues Provisions on Prohibiting Abuses of Intellectual Property Rights to Exclude or Restrict Competition
Release Date: 29 June 2023
Effective Date: 1 August 2023
The Provisions on Prohibiting Abuses of Intellectual Property Rights to Exclude or Restrict Competition (‘Provisions’), revised and published by the SAMR, will come into effect on 1 August 2023.
The Provisions have been revised and improved to take account of the developments that have taken place in antitrust regulatory enforcement in recent years. Building on the original Provisions formulated in 2015, they focus on three aspects: first, they broaden the scope of “abuses of intellectual property rights to exclude or restrict competition” to encompass three primary forms of monopolistic practices - monopoly agreements, abuse of dominant market position, and concentration of undertakings. Secondly, the Provisions enhance the rules for identifying monopolistic practices related to the exercise of intellectual property rights. Drawing on the revised Anti-Monopoly Law in 2022, and considering the unique characteristics of intellectual property and recent regulatory practices, the Provisions provide clarity on the factors and additional restrictive conditions for identifying relevant markets, dominant market positions, relevant monopolistic practices, and the review of undertakings' concentrations. Thirdly, the Provisions strengthen the regulation of typical and special monopolistic practices involving intellectual property. For example, they explicitly prohibit a patent pool entity or its members from engaging in monopolistic practices through exploitation of the patent pool. Additionally, undertakings in a dominant market position are prohibited from leveraging standard essential patents to engage in “patent holdup” and similar activities.
Source: State Administration for Market Regulation
https://www.samr.gov.cn/zw/zfxxgk/fdzdgknr/fgs/art/2023/art_e155397fbe5c4c05ad3c1838c1322ad2.html
市场监管总局发布《禁止滥用知识产权排除、限制竞争行为规定》
发文日期：2023-06-29
生效日期：2023-08-01
市场监管总局修订并公开的《禁止滥用知识产权排除、限制竞争行为规定》（《规定》）将于2023年8月1日正式施行。结合近年来反垄断监管执法的新形势，《规定》在2015年制定的原规定的基础上，重点从三方面进行了修改完善：一是扩充“滥用知识产权排除、限制竞争行为”的内涵，全面覆盖垄断协议、滥用市场支配地位、经营者集中三大类垄断行为。二是健全利用行使知识产权的方式实施垄断行为的认定规则。根据2022年修订的《反垄断法》，结合知识产权的特点和监管实际，《规定》细化并完善了对相关市场、市场支配地位、有关垄断行为、经营者集中审查的考量因素及附加限制性条件等的认定规则。三是加强对知识产权领域典型、特殊垄断行为的规制，明确禁止专利联营实体和专利联营成员利用联营从事垄断行为，禁止具有市场支配地位的经营者利用标准必要专利实施“专利挟持”等。
资料来源：国家市场监督管理总局 2023-06-29
新闻链接：https://www.samr.gov.cn/zw/zfxxgk/fdzdgknr/fgs/art/2023/art_e155397fbe5c4c05ad3c1838c1322ad2.html
Game Boosting App for ‘Honor of Kings’ Held to Constitute Unfair Competition
Date: 6 June 2023
Tencent brought an unfair competition action against Nanhai Beisheng Network Technology Co., Ltd (‘Beisheng’), alleging that the operation of a game-boosting App providing game boosting services in relation to Tencent’s game, Honor of Kings, constituted unfair competition.
The Court ruled in Tencent’s favour. It noted that Honor of Kings has a fair matching mechanism in place, which groups players together for online playing sessions and ensures a positive gaming experience for users. The game also strictly adheres to China’s regulations regarding anti-addiction measures for minors. The Defendant, Beisheng, operates a game-boosting App that seeks to gain illegal advantage by undermining Honor of Kings’ fair matching and balancing mechanism. It also interferes with the real-name authentication and anti-addiction measures for minors, thereby disrupting the orderly operation of the game market. Furthermore, the Defendant encourages users, including minors, to participate in boosting transactions, where a high-skilled player accesses the account of a lower-skilled player to increase the rank of the account for monetary gain, by offering cash back incentives. These practices constitute unfair competition.
The Court ordered Beisheng to cease its unlawful activity and compensate Tencent for economic loss and reasonable expenses, amounting to a total of RMB 985,000 (approx. US$ 137,931).
Source: IT Home
https://www.ithome.com/0/697/891.htm
法院认定《王者荣耀》代练APP破坏防沉迷机制，构成不正当竞争
日期：2023-06-06
佛山市南海区北笙网络科技有限公司（下称“北笙公司”）运营一款为腾讯旗下《王者荣耀》游戏提供游戏代练服务的APP，腾讯公司起诉北笙公司的行为构成不正当竞争，侵害腾讯公司的合法权益。
法院经审理认为，《王者荣耀》游戏内设公平匹配机制，保障用户获得良好的游戏体验，且严格落实国家关于未成年人游戏防沉迷的要求，故腾讯享有《王者荣耀》游戏产生的竞争性权益。但被告通过运营代练 App 提供商业代练服务并从中获取收益，破坏涉案游戏公平竞技的游戏匹配及平衡机制；干扰涉案游戏建立的实名机制、未成年人防沉迷机制；破坏网络游戏运营、竞争秩序。另外，被告通过发单返现金，组织用户进行游戏代练交易（包括向未成年人提供游戏代练服务）的行为构成不正当竞争。因此，法院判令北笙公司停止侵权，并赔偿腾讯公司经济损失和合理费用共计98.50万元。
资料来源：IT之家 2023-06-06
新闻链接：https://www.ithome.com/0/697/891.htm
Rouse International and Lusheng Law Firm Jointly Release Research Report on Development and Protection of Intellectual Property for China Film-Video Industry (2022)
Date: 11 June 2023
On 11 June, at the Film Market Activity Section of the 25th Shanghai International Film Festival, Rouse International and its strategic partner, Lusheng Law Firm, jointly held a press conference to release their Research Report on the Development and Protection of Intellectual Property for China Film-Video Industry (2022).
First, the Report provides an overview of the intellectual property landscape in the film-video industry, including the scale of the copyright transaction and brand licensing market, the dual-track intellectual property protection system of administrative protection and judicial protection, as well as recent trends and hotspots in the industry, comprehensively demonstrating the close relationship between the film-video industry and intellectual property rights.
Secondly, the Report analyses some typical administrative and judicial cases in the domestic film-video industry in recent years, focusing on both the need for companies to ensure that they are not infringing the rights of others and the need to ensure that their rights are not being infringed by others.
Thirdly, the Report considers the operation of intellectual property and licensing generally in the film-video industry, on the one hand pointing out the importance of securing adequate protection for all the separate rights involved in film-video, while on the other, the importance of developments in intellectual property financing that have taken place globally. It discusses both the traditional methods of IP exploitation and financing and the additional methods that are now available.
Finally, the Report proposes suggestions on how to face challenges and grasp opportunities related to intellectual property during the whole life cycle of film-video programs, from idea submission and financing to production, promotion and distribution, as well as the later value realisation stage, helping film-video practitioners to strengthen their awareness of intellectual property protection and improve their utilisation of intellectual property.
At the press conference, two other topics were the subject of in-depth discussion. One, the influence of AI on film production and intellectual property, and the application and potential risks of AI technologies in various stages of film production, such as face restoration and scriptwriting. The other, development of the film licensing market in China.
Source: Rouse Intellectual Property Consulting
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/VvdwbgfPSiR5SxQ3wGgEHg
罗思国际携手路盛发布《中国影视行业知识产权发展与保护研究报告(2022)》
日期：2023-06-11
6月11日，在第25届上海国际电影节电影市场活动板块，罗思国际(Rouse)与战略合作伙伴路盛律师事务所发布了《中国影视行业知识产权发展与保护研究报告(2022)》，并举行了报告发布会。
《中国影视行业知识产权发展与保护研究报告(2022)》首先介绍了影视行业知识产权的发展概况，包括版权交易与品牌授权的市场规模、行政和司法“双轨制”保护的成果，以及近期的新趋势、新热点，全面展现了影视行业与知识产权之间的密切关联。其次，报告深度分析了近两年国内影视行业中典型的行政案例和司法纠纷，总结出行业内知识产权合规及维权方面的风险点。并且，报告就影视行业知识产权的运营及授权进行了分析，不仅指出影视作品知识产权合理布局的重要性，还特别针对知识产权融资进行介绍，展望了影视知识产权价值实现的新路径。最后，报告从影视作品立项、投资、制作、宣发及后期价值实现的整个生命周期，对应对知识产权挑战、把握机遇提出了相应建议，以期帮助影视从业者加强知识产权保护意识，提高知识产权运用水平。
报告发布会上，相关负责人还就另外两个专题展开了深度分享。其一是AI对电影生产和知识产权的展望，该专题探讨了人脸修复、剧本编写等AI技术在电影生产各环节中的应用，以及可能涉及的知识产权问题。其二是电影授权市场，该专题分享了我国影视授权行业现状及不足，并就影视行业知识产权的运营、授权、风险及应对提出了建议。
资料来源：罗思知识产权咨询 2023-06-11