As of this July, China has had 17.18 million of registered trademarks accumulatively, with an average of one registered trademark per 6 market entities. The country has ranked first in the world in the amount of trademark application for many years.

In the Global IP Innovation Index, published by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), China has risen by 12 in the last five years; among the Top 100 most valuable brands in the world, China has increased from having 1 brand in the list in 2012 to 13 in 2017, and the brand value has increased by 937%. (Source: People.cn)

Recently, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) released the 2018 PCT Yearbook, which shows that, in 2017, PCT international patent applications from China reached 48,882 pieces, surpassing Japan for the first time, ranking second in the world.

In 2017, a total of 52,355 applicants from 126 countries and regions submitted 243,000 international patent applications through PCT, an increase of 4.5% over 2016. Huawei ranked first among the global applicants with 4,024 applications. ZTE and BOE Technology from China ranked second and seventh respectively. (Source: SIPO.gov.cn)

China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) and the Canadian Intellectual Property Office jointly decide to extend the China-Canada Patent Examination Highway (PPH) pilot for another three years effective from September 1, 2018 to August 31, 2021.

The extended China-Canada PPH pilot has added a new PCT-PPH cooperation model, allowing applicants to submit PPH requests to the two offices with the PCT international application result. The requirements and procedures shall refer to the updated version of the China-Canada PPH guidelines.

The China-Canada PPH pilot was launched on September 1, 2013 for a period of two years, then renewed on September 1, 2015 to the expiration on August 31, 2018 (Source: China Intellectual Property News)

On September 13th and 14th, the 14th Unitalen IP Forum, organized by Beijing Trademark Association, Zhongguancun Vision Intellectual Property Innovation Research Institute, and Unitalen, was held in Beijing. IP practitioners from over 200 companies attended the forum.

Featuring IP management and utilization for promoting “new economies”, such as cloud computing, big data, the Internet of Things, mobile Internet and blockchain, Unitalen IP forum invited representatives from government organs, courts, industries and IP practitioners to give lectures on various aspects of IP such as IP litigation strategies, trademark management, patent global filing strategy, challenges and solutions for IPs of high end semiconductor equipment, application of technical expert in IP enforcement, corporate patent management, patent infringement analysis, and the application of anti-unfair competition law.

On September 10th and 11th, the 7th ICT Industry Innovation and IP Protection Conference jointly organized by China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT) and WIPO China Office was held in Beijing. Unitalen partner Yongbo Li was invited to attend the event as a keynote speaker and lectured on “China ETSI Standard Patent Observation” to analyze the factors affecting the license rates of standard essential patents by examining the statistical overview of ETSI standard essential patents, the application data, the status of complaints, the legal status, the transfer license, etc.

On September 6, a team of representatives from Japan Patent Office (JPO) and Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) visited Unitalen, and were warmly received by Unitalen partners.

During the visit, in-depth discussions were conducted on the actual situation of prioritized examination, issues related to the revision of China patent law, policies concerning domestic and international applications, and the cooperation among international IP offices.

A few days ago, the "2017 IP Litigation Practice Big Data Watch List" was jointly released by zhichanli.com and IPR Daily. Unitalen Attorneys at Law was selected among the “2017 TOP10 China Trademark Civil Litigation Firms” and “2017 TOP 10 China Trademark Administrative Litigation Firms” attribute to the firm’s comprehensive strength in these fields.