Dear CBI Members and Partners,
Please find the August 2022 IP Newsletter below highlighting the latest news and IP developments in China.
Download China IP Newsletter August 2022
For more information kindly contact: [email protected]
China Direct would like to thank the IP team for sharing this information.
China Intellectual Property Newsletter - sign up below
Following the announcement that China’s National People’s Congress has approved updates to China’s Trademark Law, readers of China Direct may wish to read and subscribe to the UK Intellectual Property Office ‘China IP Newsletter.’
The newsletter aims to keep UK businesses up to date with any recent developments in China’s IP environment, and is often the only English-language update on changing legislation.
This month’s edition includes information on how to submit an opinion on China’s ‘Draft Regulations on Trademark E-filing’, a selection of case studies explaining how foreign companies can expect their trademarks to be protected in law in China, as well as updates on key ministers in the Chinese government and their attitudes towards IP topics.
To read the newsletter in full, please follow the link.
The CBI Beijing Office would like to thank our partners at the British Embassy and Intellectual Property Office.
Readers of China Direct should be aware that amendments have been made to China’s Trademark Law, and will come into effect November 1st, 2019.
The 4th Amendment to the Trademark Law increases statutory damages to RMB 5 million and aims to manage bad faith registration and the hoarding of trademarks for sale.
After November 1st, Article 4 of China’s Trademark Law will read: “Applications for trademark registrations that have been made in bad faith, and are not intended for use, shall be refused.”
The amendment to Article 4 is significant to foreign businesses with interests in China because it codifies a shift towards vetting trademark applicants to ensure that they are not ‘trademark squatting.’ China operates a ‘first-to-file’ trademark registration system which is based on the ‘good faith principle’ that the applicant intends to use said trademark. However, as a result, under China’s current trademark law there is no deterrent in law to manage trademark squatting. The codification of the refusal of suspect bad faith trademark applications is good news for foreign business because it pushes the onus onto the applicant to prove that they intend to use the trademark, whereas previously intention to use was assumed.
Crucially, Article 4 can be applied in examination of a trademark application, in opposition, or as part of an invalidation of a trademark action as absolute grounds for refusal. As a result, foreign companies who find that their trademark is being used in China illegally have a wider set of tools at their disposal to seek punitive damages.
In addition to the amendment to Article 4, China’s new trademark law raises the limit on statutory damages to RMB 5 million. Moreover, where infringement has been committed in bad faith and the circumstances are deemed to be a ‘serious infringement’, the infringer shall be subject to punitive damages of up to five times the value of that inflicted on the plaintiff. Furthermore, any counterfeit goods, and the materials and tools mainly used to manufacture the counterfeit goods shall be destroyed, while counterfeit goods should be prohibited from entering commercial channels, even if the counterfeit trademark is removed.
For more information on amendments to the Trademark Law, please contact: [email protected]
The Simmons & Simmons team was led by Melody Yang, a funds and corporate partner based in Beijing, who said: “China’s financial sector is constantly opening up to foreign investors. We have seen more institutional investors like KIA as well as asset managers coming to China to expand their asset management business here. We are very pleased to advise on this area and to further contribute to their ambitions in China.”
Ms. Yang and her team coordinated the deal with local government officials from Shanghai Lujiazui Financial City Development Bureau. The deal broke new ground in China since few sovereign wealth funds are allowed to run their own asset management business company in China through an asset management WFOE. Kuwait is the first foreign country to be granted this license since a WFOE license is usually only granted to companies.
Negotiations started two years ago and were far-reaching since KIA hopes to use its Shanghai platform to manage all of KIA’s assets in China, so that it can operate at full capacity. Many other international asset management companies with China operations have decided to forfeit parts of their global business in order to obtain a license to practise in the country at least in-part. However, not only did Simmons & Simmons manage to negotiate a deal allowing KIA to offer its full range of services in China, the license contains a clause extending KIA’s permissions within China to the Investment Office of Kuwait, who is allowed to practise investment management in China on behalf of KIA.
The Kuwait Investment Authority intends to use its Shanghai base to trade shares offered in the Chinese stock exchanges and acquire bonds and direct acquisitions in China companies – particularly within the banking sector and the information technology sector.
CBI member, Linklaters has published a detailed summary of what took place across their key practise areas in China during 2018, and what to expect from the PRC over the coming year.
According to William Liu, Linklaters Managing Partner in China: “2018 saw many significant changes in the foreign investment and financial markets regimes in China, accompanied by various regulators tightening their approach to enforcement.” Other developments across Linklaters key practise areas in 2018 and for 2019 include:
Banking:
CBI member, Clifford Chance advised on Bank of China’s first multi-currency, multi-tranche bond deal to support the development of the Greater Bay Area in southern China. The deal involved four currencies and five tranche transactions and was valued in USD at $1.83 billion.
Clifford Chance advised on a total of 5 transactions, these were:
Head of Capital Markets for Asia Pacific, partner Connie Heng led on the deal and said: “We [Clifford Chance] are honoured to be working with Bank of China on these landmark transactions. This transaction highlights the exceptional expertise and bench strength of our market-leading Capital Markets practise.”
This deal was the second time Clifford Chance has advised Bank of China, having previously acted in the past on Bank of China’s previous issuances medium term note programme. The proceeds from the transactions will be used to finance various loan projects in the Greater Bay Area, such as the recently opened Hong Kong – Zhuhai – Macau Bridge.
The Greater Bay Area is a Chinese government initiative to link the cities of Hong Kong, Macau, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Foshan, Dongguan, Huizhou, Jiangmen and Zhaoqing into an economic and business hub. The Bay is also one of the starting points for China’s Belt & Road Initiative.
Please read more here.
Dear Members and partners,
Please find information relating to CBI member KPMG's recent China Outlook 2018 Report below.
The interactive dialogue covered future investment opportunities in China and with China (including across the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)) alongside expert analysis of the economic transformation and industrial upgrading during the period of China’s 13th Five-Year Plan and beyond.
All of which can be studied in detail within the China Outlook 2018 report, with a summary of the key messages available on KPMG's website.
With our thanks to CBI member KPMG for sharing this important report.
Dear CBI members and partners,Kindly find a short one minute summary of the key takeaways from the recently concluded Lianghui.
China Direct would like to thank Trey McArver, Co-Founder of Trivium/China, for kindly sharing this useful update.
Xi Jinping emerged from the 19th Party Congress with a mandate to push China into a ‘new era’. To support this agenda, the Party has proposed a scheme to retool the machinery of government.
Passed at the NPC 17 March, it is the most ambitious restructuring in decades, creating seven new ministries and adjusting the structure of nearly every national agency.
It will change how government works with the Party, the market and the outside world. It could deliver streamlined governance, but risks enormous growing pains as the system copes with a disruptive change. This report explains each of the 26 changes to state structure included in the reform document: what’s changing, why and what to expect.
Liu He 刘鹤 Politburo member describes the plan as a ‘revolutionary’ reform that will touch every part of the state. It attempts to overcome endemic problems of policy implementation by creating cradle-to-grave accountability for policy goals, entrusting new, specialised ministries with singular missions.
Leaders have warned for years that ‘vested interests’ and inefficiency pose an existential threat to the Party-state. The roots of these problems were planted in the Mao era: ministries were created to meet production targets in ‘sectors’ 行业 of a planned economy.
But the biggest worry is no longer production, and those sectors are a bad fit for contemporary policy.
Former finance minister Lou Jiwei 楼继伟 joked ‘frogs in the river are governed by the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA); frogs on the shore are governed by the State Forestry Administration’.
As it attempts to pivot toward meeting what Xi calls the ‘ever-growing needs of the Chinese people’, the Party needs a government fit to regulate a demand-driven economy. The new integrated system addresses the question of oversight and accountability and designs new, purpose-built agencies.
China Direct would like to thank China Policy for sharing this wide-ranging Report with our readers.
For more information please contact: Ekaterina Kuroedova: ekaterina.kuroedova@policycn.com
Dear CBI members and partners,
Please find attached a useful summary of China's National People's Congress which concluded earlier this week.
Our grateful thanks to China Politics Weekly for sharing this issue.
(CNPC image above courtesy of www.scmp.com)
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