Special Feature: China's Leading IP Law Firms

The government has been doing a lot of work to raise people's awareness about intellectual property protection and enforcement compared to years past. Domestic and international companies in the PRC have become more knowledgeable about their IP rights, and are more willing to consult law firms on the proper procedures of having their brands and inventions registered. By the end of November last year, trademark registrations in the country had reached 3.01 million, a 29% increase from the previous year, according to a national work conference in Beijing for the State Administration of Industry and Commerce. The Trademark Office handled over 41,000 trademark infringement cases, and 143 cases were being transferred to judicial authorities. In terms of patent applications, the Patent Office last year had accepted four million applications (local and international).

The proposed amendments to thePatent Law(专利法), the first draft of which was released in 2006, is expected to be finalized in 2008. The draft law proposes that any patent applications for inventions that were completed in China must first be filed in China. However, practitioners say that there is a lack of clear interpretation on “completed in China”.

The proposed amendments to the Trademark Law(商标法), of which the first and second drafts were promulgated in 2006 and 2007 respectively, provide for more solid protection of unregistered trademarks. However, limitations remain on the examination of applications, while examinations of identical or similar trademarks would no longer be carried out. The trademark registration authorities would be more likely to be alerted, resulting in an increase in the number of rejected cases. The proposed amendments have increased civil compensation for trademark infringement to Rmb1 million (US$141,000).