Intellectual Property
Intellectual Property Legal Services
Last Updated: October 2, 2026Focusing on trademarks, patents, copyright and trade secrets, we provide rights protection and dispute resolution services for companies’ intellectual property. Who We Serve Companies with core technologies or brands; Companies whose rights have been infringed and need enforcement, or those facing infringement claims; Companies that need to build a trade secret protection system. Our Legal...
Can Trademark Infringement Give Rise to Criminal Liability?
Last Updated: October 3, 2026Question: What Criminal Liabilities May Arise from Trademark Infringement? Criminal liability: Where unauthorized use of an identical registered trademark on identical goods constitutes a crime, criminal liability shall be pursued in addition to compensation. Where forging, making without authorization, or selling forged or unauthorized registered-trademark labels constitutes a crime, criminal liability shall be pursued in...
Definition of a Trade Secret
Last Updated: October 3, 2026A trade secret is technical, business, or other commercial information unknown to the public, having commercial value, and protected by corresponding confidentiality measures taken by the right holder. Structures, raw materials, components, formulas, materials, samples, styles, propagating material of new plant varieties, processes, methods or steps, algorithms, data, computer programs, and related documentation may be...
How Are Damages for Patent Infringement Calculated?
Last Updated: October 3, 2026Patent infringement damages are determined according to the right holder’s actual loss or the infringer’s benefit; if difficult to determine, by reasonable reference to a multiple of the patent license fee. For intentional infringement under serious circumstances, damages may be one to five times the amount determined by those methods. If all such amounts are...
How Are Identical and Similar Trademarks Determined?
Last Updated: October 3, 2026Question: How Are Identical and Similar Trademarks Determined? A people’s court applies the following principles under Article 57(1) and (2) of the Trademark Law: (1) use the ordinary level of attention of the relevant public; (2) compare both the marks as a whole and their principal parts, with the objects compared separately in isolation; (3)...
How Are Service Inventions Distinguished from Non-service Inventions?
Last Updated: October 3, 2026An invention-creation made in performing an entity’s tasks or mainly using its material and technical resources is a service invention. The right to apply belongs to the entity and, after grant, the entity is the patentee. The entity may lawfully dispose of the application right and patent right to promote implementation and use. For a...
How Does a Patent Right Terminate?
Last Updated: October 3, 2026A patent terminates before expiry where: (1) annual fees are not paid as required; (2) the patentee renounces the patent in writing. Early termination shall be registered and announced by the patent administration department under the State Council. The patentee shall pay annual fees beginning in the year the patent is granted.
How Is Jurisdiction Determined in Patent Infringement Cases?
Last Updated: October 3, 2026A patent infringement action is under the jurisdiction of the people’s court at the place of infringement or the defendant’s domicile. The place of infringement includes the places where accused products are manufactured, used, offered for sale, sold, or imported; where a patented process is used; where products directly obtained through that process are used,...
How Is the Scope of Patent Protection Determined?
Last Updated: October 3, 2026The scope of an invention or utility model patent is determined by the claims; the description and drawings may be used to interpret them. The scope of a design patent is determined by the design shown in the drawings or photographs; the brief description may be used to interpret that design.
How May a Patent Right Be Invalidated?
Last Updated: October 3, 2026From the date the patent administration department under the State Council announces the grant of a patent, any entity or individual believing that the grant does not comply with the Patent Law may request a declaration of invalidity.
What Acts Constitute Infringement of the Exclusive Right to Use a Registered Trademark?
Last Updated: October 3, 2026Question: What Acts Infringe the Exclusive Right to Use a Registered Trademark? The following constitute infringement: (1) using an identical trademark on identical goods without permission; (2) using a similar trademark on identical goods, or an identical or similar trademark on similar goods, without permission where confusion is likely; (3) selling goods that infringe the...
What Acts Constitute Passing Off a Patent?
Last Updated: October 3, 2026The following constitute passing off a patent: (1) marking a product or packaging with a patent indication where no patent was granted; continuing to do so after invalidation or termination; or marking another person’s patent number without permission; (2) selling a product described in item (1); (3) describing unpatented technology or a design as patented...
What Are “Similar Goods” and “Similar Services” Under Trademark Law?
Last Updated: October 3, 2026Question: What Are “Similar Goods” and “Similar Services” Under Trademark Law? Similar goods under Article 57(2) are goods identical in function, use, production sector, sales channel, or consumers, or goods generally regarded by the relevant public as specifically connected and likely to cause confusion. Similar services are services identical in purpose, content, method, or target...
What Are the Requirements for Granting a Design Patent?
Last Updated: October 3, 2026A patentable design shall not be an existing design, and no entity or individual shall have filed an application for the same design before the filing date that is recorded in a patent document published afterward. A patentable design shall be clearly distinguishable from an existing design or a combination of existing design features. It...
What Are the Requirements for Granting Invention and Utility Model Patents?
Last Updated: October 3, 2026A patentable invention or utility model shall possess novelty, inventiveness, and practical applicability. Novelty means it is not prior art and no identical invention or utility model was filed before the filing date and recorded in a patent application or patent document published afterward. Inventiveness means that, compared with prior art, an invention has prominent...
What Circumstances Are Not Deemed Patent Infringement?
Last Updated: October 3, 2026The following are not deemed patent infringement: (1) using, offering for sale, selling, or importing a patented product, or a product directly obtained by a patented process, after it has been sold by the patentee or with authorization; (2) continuing within the original scope to manufacture an identical product or use an identical process where...
What Civil Liabilities May Arise from Trademark Infringement?
Last Updated: October 3, 2026Question: What Civil Liabilities May Arise from Trademark Infringement? Civil liability: Damages are determined according to the right holder’s actual loss; if difficult to determine, according to the infringer’s benefit; and if both are difficult to determine, by reasonable reference to a multiple of the trademark license fee. For malicious infringement under serious circumstances, damages...
What Do “Identical Trademark” and “Similar Trademark” Mean Under Trademark Law?
Last Updated: October 3, 2026Question: What Do “Identical Trademark” and “Similar Trademark” Mean Under Trademark Law? An identical trademark under Article 57(1) and (2) means that the accused mark is visually almost indistinguishable from the plaintiff’s registered trademark. A similar trademark under Article 57(2) means that the accused mark is similar in the form, pronunciation, or meaning of its...
What Do “Invention-Creation,” “Invention,” “Utility Model,” and “Design” Mean Under Patent Law?
Last Updated: October 3, 2026Under the Patent Law, invention-creations include inventions, utility models, and designs. An invention is a new technical solution proposed for a product, process, or improvement thereof. A utility model is a new technical solution suitable for practical use proposed for a product’s shape, structure, or combination thereof. A design is a new, aesthetically pleasing design...
What Does “No Person May Exploit a Patent Without the Patentee’s Permission” Mean?
Last Updated: October 3, 2026After an invention or utility model patent is granted, no entity or individual may exploit it without permission, except as otherwise provided by law; that is, for production or business purposes, no person may manufacture, use, offer for sale, sell, or import the patented product, use the patented process, or use, offer for sale, sell,...
What Is the Term of a Patent Right?
Last Updated: October 3, 2026The term is 20 years for an invention patent, 10 years for a utility model patent, and 15 years for a design patent, calculated from the filing date. If an invention patent is granted more than four years after filing and more than three years after the request for substantive examination, the patent administration department...
What Legal Liabilities Arise from Passing Off a Patent?
Last Updated: October 3, 2026For passing off a patent, in addition to civil liability, the patent enforcement department shall order correction and publish an announcement, confiscate unlawful gains, and may impose a fine of up to five times those gains. If there are no unlawful gains or they are below RMB 50,000, a fine of up to RMB 250,000...
What Patent Disputes Are Accepted by the People’s Courts?
Last Updated: October 3, 2026People’s courts accept the following patent disputes: disputes over ownership of the right to apply for a patent; disputes over patent ownership; patent contract disputes; patent infringement disputes; disputes over passing off another’s patent; disputes over royalties during the provisional protection period for invention patents; disputes over rewards and remuneration for inventors or designers of...
When Does Intellectual Property Infringement Give Rise to Punitive Damages?
Last Updated: October 3, 2026Question: When Does Intellectual Property Infringement Give Rise to Punitive Damages? A plaintiff alleging that the defendant intentionally infringed its legally protected intellectual property rights under serious circumstances may request an award of punitive damages.