In What Ways Can Startups Obtain Competitive Advantages from Intellectual Property?

(By You Yunting) Large number of business opportunities have arisen from the rapid development of wireless and mobile technologies. As a result, new startups appear one after another, scrambling for these opportunities. However, the faster a market grows, the fiercer competition it involves. The process of Entrepreneurship is a race with other outstanding entrepreneurs, in which they use reasonable efforts to gain competitive advantages and win their rivals. If properly used, intellectual property rights can be very helpful in creating advantages. Here, let’s talk about what advantages can startups create by using intellectual property.

READ MORE

Does Running Game Cheating Programs Violate the Criminal Law in the United States?

—Day four of the visit to the United States

(By You Yunting) Beginning at the end of this March, on the invitation of the US government, the writer visited America with other Chinese legal experts with the goal of understanding its IPR system. On the fourth day, the writer visited the US Justice Department’s Bureau of Computer Crimes and IPR, the Department of Homeland Security’s IPR Coordination Center, and the American Chamber of Commerce. The following is the brief record of the writer’s experiences that day:

READ MORE

China Permits Duplication of Life-saving Drugs at Lower Price

By Albert Chen

According to the report of South China Morning Post, the latest revised Measures for the Compulsory Licensing for Patent Implementation (the “Measures”), which has come into effect from 1st May of 2012, China government may sign the compulsory license to the manufacture of the cheap copy of the patent drugs when in the urgency or exceptional conditions of the state, or for the public interests.

Also in the report, it points out that the action by China government is an alert to the world pharmacy industry when China is a prominent part to the global medicine market; especially currently we see a decline in the western countries. Meanwhile, the news also says, for the past decades, many Chinese medicine makers have been manufacturing the important drug ingredient exported to foreign counterparts, who however would afterwards sell the patent medicine made with the aforesaid ingredients to China at a high price which is hardly affordable to Chinese patients. Now China has been focused on its wrestling with foreign drug makers, especially as known, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria will no longer grant donation of AIDs prevention to China from 2013.

READ MORE

Interpretation on New Compulsory Licensing for Patent Implementation Rule

China State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) issued its No. 64 order on 15th March, 2012 to announce the promulgation of the newly revised Measures for the Compulsory Licensing for Patent Implementation (the “Measures”). The most attention catching point is the amendment of medicine patent compulsory licensing. Then, what are the specific provisions? And is there any amendment else deserve you focus? Today, we will make a brief introduction for you. (the image is the picture of Tamiflu once applied for compulsory licensing in China)

READ MORE

Legal Difference between the Invention and the Utility Model in China Patent Law

Recently, we are consulted by foreign clients the difference between utility model and invention by China Patent Law. Today’s post is Bridge IP Law Commentary’s reply on the question. (the image above is the logo of the State Intellectual Property Office of China, the organ administrating in patent issues)

I. The difference in the scope of the protected object

According to the patent law, the “Invention” means any new technical solution relating to a product, a process or an improvement thereof, while the “Utility model” shall refer to any new technical solution relating to a product’s shape, structure, or a combination thereof, which is fit for practical use. Despite both being the technical solution, the utility model only involves the aspect of shape, structure and other tangible solution, while the inner process or intangible solution, like molecular structure or pharmacy, is included in the invention. Therefore, the utility model shall be included in the invention, thus any invention could also be applied as the utility model.

READ MORE

Brief Introduction on the Assessment Report of Utility Models Patents in China

Highlight: Introducing what kind of role does the assessment report play in utility model patent litigation, and also we will analyze the characteristics of it.

As patent lawyers, we’re often consulted by clients that what measures could be taken to against the infringement on their patent? The answer from us is that the novelty retrieval report or patent assessment report is demanded before the utility models suits, depending on the application date. (For those utility models applied before 1st Oct. 2009, the novelty retrieval report shall be applied, while those applied after that, the assessment report shall be applied accompanied, and we will discuss the differences between the reports in other essays on the website).

READ MORE