Supply of generic drugs and their interaction with the patent system, like standards essential patents, present one of the international frontiers of patent protection. This is illustrated in Warner Lambert v Aotavis (see January [2019] CIPA 13), which also highlights the interaction between the "business models" (i.e. how people do business with the patented product in practice), policy and the patent syst

In March 2018, the Chinese State Council issued Procedures for the Transfer of Intellectual Property Rights to Foreign Countries (Trial Implementation).Toby Mak (Foreign Member) outlines how this could affect theoperations of multinational companies, and mergers and acquisitions. On18 March 2018, the State Council launchedthe “Procedures for the Transfer of IntellectualProperty Rights to Foreign Countrie

Disputes over standards essential patents are increasingly being exposed in the courts, as can be seen from the CJEU decisions (such as Huawei V ZTE) and in the UK in relation to the Unwired Planet litigation1, giving a detailed insight into a wide range of issues beyond simple infringement and validity. In his discussion of Sony's defeat in the recently established Beijing IP Court, Toby Mak shows that such case

The third amendment of the Chinese Trademark Law was passed by the Chinese People’s Congress on 30 August 2013 after almost a decade of discussions on the amendments. This new Chinese Trademark Law (“the new Law”) came into force on 1 May 2014. The last amendment, the second amendment to the Chinese Trademark Law (“the old Law”) was in 2001, and as many readers may know, there have been

On 12 March 2014, the Chinese SIPO announced amendments to the Chinese Patent Examination Guidelines (the "Guidelines") allowing graphical user interface (GUI) to obtain design protection. These changes will come into effect on 1 May 2014. In the current Chinese Patent Examination Guidelines, GUI on, for example, electronic products like electronic watches, mobile phones and computers is excluded from de

U.S. corporations often overlook the Chinese utility model patent when seeking patent protection in China. In 2004 foreign companies filed 64,374 invention patents in China and only 1,247 utility model patents. Foreign companies may be missing an excellent opportunity to both obtain faster patent protection and significantly decrease their filing costs. A Chinese patent strategy should include consid