The challenging 2020 has passed. 2021 will be a new year full of hope, during which many new intellectual property policies will be implemented in China? Next, follow the footsteps of the editor to look.

 

JANUARY

• The Civil Code of the People's Republic of China

On May 28, 2020, the Third Session of the 13th National People's Congress voted and passed the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China, and this law has been implemented from January 1, 2021.

There are a total of 52 relevant provisions concerning intellectual property and technology contracts. Besides, the provisions of punitive damages have been introduced into the Civil Code.
 

• The eleventh version of the Nice Classification 2021 text

According to the requirements of the WIPO, the member states of the Nice Union will use the 2021 text of 11th version of the International Classification Goods and Services for Trademark Registration (The Nice Classification) from January 1, 2021. The filing date of the trademark registration application is after January 1, 2021, the new version of the Nice Classification shall be used when classifying goods and services, and the original version of the Nice Classification shall be applied to the trademark registration application before the implemented date. 
 

• Payment receipt of the patent and integrated circuit layout design fees

According to the Notification of the Ministry of Finance on Comprehensively Launching the Reform of Fiscal Electronic Bill Management and the Announcement of the CNIPA (No. 394), the patent and integrated circuit layout design fees will launch the electronic receipt from January 1, 2021. The effect of electronic receipt is same as the paper receipt.
 

• The adjustment of official patent search service fees

According to the official announcement issued by the Patent Search and Consultation Center of the CNIPA, the Search and Consultation Center has optimized and adjusted the service content and charge standards of the Power of Attorney for the Search Service of the Patent Search and Consultation Center of the CNIPA from January 1, 2021.
 
The adjustment plan is as below:
(1) Integrating the types of novelty search and combining ”invention and utility model novelty search”, ”design novelty search” and ”PCT special novelty search” into ”novelty search”, and the charge will be adjusted to 2400 CNY/piece, which will be completed in 10 working days;

(2) Adjusting the charging standards of ”authorized utility model search” and ”authorized design search” to 5000 CNY/piece, which will be completed in 10 working days;

(3) Combining ”PCT special novelty search + special subject” and ”special subject search” into ”special subject search”, the fee will be adjusted to 5000 CNY/piece, and it will be completed in 10 working days;

(4) Regulating clearly the charging standards of surcharges, refer to the charging standards of patent application surcharges, and add surcharges to the circumstances of excessive claims or excessive pages of the specification;

(5) Clarify the charging standard of the expedited fee, and charge 10% of the basic fee every 1 working day before completing the search report.
After optimization and adjustment, the service types are clearer and more concise, making it easier for the public to choose.
 

• The amendments to the Guidelines of Patent Examination

In order to carry out the spirit of Chinese leader's instruction on strengthening intellectual property protection, respond to the demands of the rapid development of economy and technology for the examination rules actively, and improve the quality and efficiency of patent examination. Thus, the CNIPA has decided to amend the Guidelines of Patent Examination, which is hereby issued and has come into force on January 15, 2021.
 

• The announcement on the migration of the electronic exchange business platform for China-Korea priority document

According to the announcement No. 196 of the CNIPA, the CNIPA has opened the electronic exchange service of bilateral priority documents between China and South Korea on January 1, 2014. Due to the South Korean priority business migration and integration, the bilateral exchange channels involved in the announcement will stop obtaining the opponent's electronic priority document service from January 1, 2021.

That is, for the application with a filing date after January 1, 2021 (inclusive), if the applicant wants to obtain the electronic priority document issued by the CNIPA or the Korean Intellectual Property Office, it shall perform deposit and inquiry procedures in accordance with the requirements of the DAS platform.
 

• The Notice of some guiding cases no longer referenced

In order to ensure the uniform and correct use of the law, in accordance with the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China and other relevant legal provisions and trial practices, the Supreme People's Court Trial Committee has discussed and decided that guiding cases No. 9 and No. 20 will no longer be referred to. However, the judgment of the guiding case and the judgment made with reference to the guiding case are still valid. Besides, this notice has come into effect on January 1, 2021.
 

• The China-EU agreement on Geographical Indications

On September 14, 2020, the leaders of China, Germany and Europe jointly held a video meeting and reached some consensus. It is particularly noteworthy that China and the EU announced the signing of the China-EU Geographical Indications Agreement, which will include 100 local products protected by geographical indications in China and EU in the scope of protection. The agreement will come into effect in early 2021.
 

• The establishment of the Intellectual Property Court of HAINAN Free Trade Port

On December 26, 2020, the twenty-fourth meeting of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People's Congress passed the decision on the establishment of the Intellectual Property Court of HAINAN Free Trade Port. This decision has taken effect on January 1, 2021.
 
MARCH

• The amendments to the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China (11)

On December 26, 2020, the twenty-fourth meeting of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People's Congress passed the Criminal Law Amendment (11) of the People's Republic of China, which will come into force on March 1, 2021.

  There are eight amendments in The Criminal Law. And the key point of the amended content is to crack down on criminal acts of infringement of intellectual property rights, strengthen the protection of trademark and strengthen the crackdown on copyright infringement. Besides, the crimes types of infringement of commercial secrets and the crime of commercial espionage have added.
 
JUNE

• The national standard of Patent Navigation Guidelines

The Patent Navigation Guidelines (GB/T39551-2020) series of recommended national standards drafted by the CNIPA has been approved and released. The series of national standards will be implemented on June 1, 2021.

And the Patent Navigation Guidelines are recommended national standards, which are the summary and condensing of the results of the patent navigation series over the years by CNIPA, and it mainly has seven standards, including general rules, regional planning, industrial planning, business operations, research, development activities and talent management.
 

• The Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China

On November 11, 2020, the 23rd Meeting of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People's Congress voted and passed the decision on amending the Copyright Law, which will be implemented on June 1, 2021.

The content of this amendments of the Copyright Law is to increase the rules of punitive compensation for infringement and clarify the lower limit of the statutory compensation to further protect the legal rights of creators; and adjust the copyright ownership of audio-visual works; add restrictive provisions on non-profit making purposes and clarify the definition of technical measures to protect copyright.
 

• The amendments of the Patent Law of the People's Republic of China

On October 17, 2020, the amendments to the Patent Law of the People's Republic of China were officially passed, and the amended Patent Law will be implemented from June 1, 2021.

The content of this amendment of the Patent Law mainly includes several aspects, strengthening the protection of design patents, increasing the applicable circumstances without loss of novelty, protecting the rights and interests of utility inventors, adding a new patent open licensing system, increasing the compensation for patent infringement, and newly adding drugs patent such as special patent protection regulations.
 

• The intellectual property protection management of E-commerce platform

In order to thoroughly implement the decision and deployment of the Party Central Committee and the State Council on strengthening the protection of intellectual property rights, and to further strengthen the intellectual property protection of e-commerce platforms, the CNIPA took the lead and participated in the formulation of the national standard the intellectual property protection management of E-commerce platform.

The standard was approved for publication on November 9, 2020, and will be implemented on June 1, 2021.