As jointly agreed, the China National IP Office (CNIPA) and the Egyptian Patent Office will extend the pilot program of China-Egypt PPH for five years effective from July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2024.

The relevant requirements and procedures for submitting PPH requests to the two offices are unchanged.

The China-Egypt PPH pilot was launched on July 1, 2017 for a period of two years until June 30, 2019.

(Source: CNIPA Official Website)

As jointly agreed, the China National IP Office (CNIPA) and the Icelandic IP Office (ISIPO) will extend the pilot program of China-Iceland PPH for five years effective from July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2024.

The relevant requirements and procedures for submitting PPH requests to the above two offices are unchanged.

The China-Iceland PPH pilot was launched on July 1, 2014 and extended for the first time on July 1, 2016 for a period of three years until June 30, 2019.

(Source: CNIPA Official Website)

Case Summary:

Because of the Chinese red pocket interface and emoticons used in a chat application called "Chui Niu", it is suspected of plagiarizing “WeChat red pocket" and "WeChat expression", Tencent, the owner of “WeChat” application, sued the developer and operator of “Chui Niu” in Beijing, pleading the court to order the other party to stop the infringement and compensate for the economic losses.

The alleged "Chui Niu" application adopted the sending page, loading page, chat bubble, and details viewing page that imitate the plaintiff’s "WeChat red pocket" interfaces, throughout the process of sending and receiving electronic red pocket. In addition, the "Chui Niu" application provides chat emoticons highly alike to the six "WeChat emoticons" that Tencent enjoys the prior copyright, and it uses the "chat, address book, discovery, me" icons that are highly alike to those in “WeChat”. Icon. Tencent believes that the defendant has infringed on the copyright of the "WeChat red pocket" interfaces and the "WeChat emoticon" art works, and the defendant, as a similar product and service provider, uses the decoration similar to the "WeChat red pocket" in the alleged application, taking advantage of the plaintiff's design and marketing achievement to gain the illegitimate interests, it has violated the principle of good faith and constituted unfair competition. Entrusted, Unitalen Attorneys at Law worked with Tencent for the litigation strategy, evidence collection, and trial preparation, and helped the client win the victory at this stage.

Court Ruling:

The Beijing Internet Court issued a public verdict on July 19. The court found that the defendant’s alleged acts have infringed on Tencent’s copyright over the WeChat emoticons and WeChat red pocket pages and constituted unfair competition for Tencent.

To this end, the court ordered the defendant to stop the acts related to the alleged infringement and issue a statement on its official website for 30 consecutive days to eliminate the negative impact on Tencent, and compensate for Tencent's economic losses and reasonable expenses for a total of RMB 905,440.

The Importance of Significance:

Wining this case in the first instance trial, has provided foundation for Tencent to secure its “WeChat emoticons” and “WeChat Red Pocket” IP rights. In addition, it provides valuable reference for the similar IP right protection in the related market. 　　

Hosted by China Trademark Association, the 2019 China Trademark Festival was held on July 6 in Yinchuan.

Unitalen Received Awards at the Festival

On the evening of July 5th, Unitalen received several awards at the high-profile trademark festival award ceremony, including the “2019 Excellent Trademark Agency Award”, the “2019 Excellence Contribution Award for Brand and Trademark Development, and the newly added "Golden Trademark Attorney" honor list, in which, 4 Unitalen attorneys – Zhu Gangqin, Du Yanxia, Qin Lili and Chang Hao, were selected for the outstanding professional performance.

On July 6th, Unitalen won another award at the Trademark Typical Case Analysis Forum, with our “Good Voice” trademark invalidation administrative case awarded as “2018-2019 Excellent Trademark Agency Case”.

Unitalen Session at the Festival –Discussions on the Regulations Concerning the Abuse of Trademark Right

On July 6, the “Unitalen Session: The Regulatory Mechanism and Utilization Strategy for the Abuse of Trademark Rights in China”, sponsored by the China Trademark Association and co-organized by Unitalen, was successfully held at the Yinchuan International Exchange Center Hotel.

The session was chaired by Yu Hui, Dean of Zhongguancun Vision IP Innovation Research Institute. Pan Wei, the assistant to the Presiding Judge of the IP Court of the Beijing Higher People's Court, Wang Jihong, the Director of the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board, Ailing, Partner of MLL Business Law Firm, Hou Yujing, Partner of Unitalen Law Firm, Zhou Liting, Judge of the Beijing IP Court delivered speeches surrounding the topics of “Legal Regulations on the Abuse of Trademark Rights”, “Provisions on the Abuse of Trademark Rights in the Review Procedure”, “the Legal Framework for the EU to Handle Malicious Trademark Registration”, “the Abuse of Regulatory Rights” and “the Relationship between the Civil Relief Procedure for the Abuse of Trademark Right and the Invalidation of Trademarks Suspected of Abuse”. After 3 hours of heated discussion, the session was successfully concluded.

Unitalen Partner Gave Keynote Speech at Trademark Juridical Protection Forum to Discuss Issues of Infringement Indemnity Calculation

On July 8, the final forum of the 2019 China Trademark Festival themed on the "Trademark Judicial Protection" was held. It carried out in-depth discussions on the revision of trademark law and the issues of tort liability and indemnity amount calculation. Zhang Yazhou, Unitalen partner, was invited to give a keynote speech at the forum.

Mr. Zhang shared his insights on the topic of “difficulties and solutions in the calculation of indemnity amount in trademark infringement cases” with study of the cases handled by himself, to reflect on the provisions of the Trademark Law against evidence spoliation in regards of solving the indemnity calculation issue. It’s also mentioned by Zhang that, with the rapid development of e-commerce, more merchandise sales transferred from offline to online, which also provides great convenience for the right holder to obtain evidence of the sales volume of infringing goods.

Other keynote speakers at the Forum include the judges from the IP Court of the Shanghai Higher People’s Court, the IP Court of the Zhejiang Higher People's Court,the IP Court of the Jiangsu Higher People’s Court and the Professor of Sun Yat-Sen University Law School.

On June 29, Ge Xiaomei, Unitalen partner, was invited to deliver a keynote speech at one of the focus forums of the 23rd China International Software Expo - "the Hot Issues of IP Judicial Protection of Software Industry”.

Mrs. Ge shared her view on the topic of “Software Trade Secret Protection” based on her rich experience and innovative practices in the field of unfair competition concerning IP, in combination with case studies to analyze the impact of the newly revised rules of evidence on the identification of trade secret infringement, and puts forward some specific suggestions for the construction of IP protection system in software business based on the characteristics of the industry.

Other keynote speakers of the Forum include the judges from the IP Tribunal of the Supreme People's Court, the IP Court of the Beijing Higher People's Court, and the Deputy Director the Electrical Appeals Division of the Review and Invalidation Review Department of the Patent Office.

The “2019 AIPPI China Youth IP Seminar”, was held in Beijing during July 12th and July 13th. Unitalen partners Pan Wei, Wang Peichao and Li Xinyan, were invited to participate the forum as the moderators and speakers.

Pan Wei presided over the seminar on the topic of “High-quality Writing of Patent Application Documents”, and Li Xinyan made a speech on “Comprehensive Explanation of the Drawings in the Patent Application Specification” based on the relevant norms and her practical experience at home and abroad.

Wang Peichao, as the moderator of the “Responses to the Examination Opinions Involving Common General Knowledge” seminar, briefly introduced the techniques in reply to the examination opinions at issue and then introduced the speakers to conduct in-depth discussions on the relevant topics.