The importance of IP strategy

China Law & Practice's Annual Review was released at the Awards Ceremony in Beijing this month. Part of the Annual Review comprises insights from leading lawyers. It also includes analysis of the most important news stories of the year. Please click here to view the Annual Review on issuu.

1. What were the key legislative and market developments affecting IP over the past year? How have these affected your work?

The State Council revised two sets of regulations relating to copyrights, namely, the Implementing Regulations for the PRC Copyright Law and the Regulations for Protection of the Right of Communication Through Information Networks. Both sets of regulations came into effect on March 1. The newly revised versions of the regulations have imposed more severe punishment on infringement of copyright, especially online infringement.

Recently, with the rapid development of China's information technology industry, there have been an increasing number of cases involving the protection of intellectual property on the internet. For example, the conflict between trademark and domain name holders, weak protection on works distributed online and unfair competition involving complex network technology. As there are technical facts involved in cyber infringement cases, an understanding of advanced and complex technology is crucial in solving IP disputes relating to the internet. It is important to use litigators who have both law degrees and an understanding of advanced technology, as an understanding of the technical issues enables litigators to provide smarter and more effective representation. It is also vital to explore the full range of strategies before embarking on litigation, giving particular consideration to alternative dispute resolution methods such as arbitration and mediation.