Innovation and development add impetus-the new patent law will be implemented on June 1, 2021
Why do you want to amend the patent law?
Since its implementation on April 1, 1985, China’s patent law has been revised four times, which has played an important role in encouraging invention and innovation. With the development of the situation, there are some new situations and problems in the patent field: the conversion rate of patent technology is not high; There are some problems in patent rights protection, such as difficulty in proof and high cost.
On June 1, 2021, the newly revised Patent Law was formally implemented, aiming at solving the problems in practice, which is of great significance for safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of patentees, enhancing the confidence of innovation subjects in patent protection and stimulating the innovation vitality of the whole society.
What measures have been put forward by the newly implemented patent law to strengthen intellectual property protection?
In order to strengthen the protection of the legitimate rights and interests of patentees, a punitive damages system was added in this amendment, stipulating that if the circumstances are serious, the people’s court may determine the amount of compensation within one to five times the amount calculated according to the losses suffered by the obligee, the benefits obtained by the infringer or the multiple of the patent license fee. The upper limit of legal compensation is raised to 5 million yuan, and the lower limit is raised to 30 thousand yuan. Significantly increasing the cost of infringement shows China’s attitude and determination to strictly protect intellectual property rights according to law.
What does the newly implemented patent law cover to promote the transformation and application of patents?
In order to further awaken the "sleeping" patents, the newly revised Patent Law adds a patent open license system, improves the service invention system and strengthens the public service of patent information, aiming at promoting the transformation of patent achievements, realizing the market value of patents and providing strong support for the innovation and development of the real economy. Open licensing system is an important legal system to promote the implementation of patent transformation. Its core lies in encouraging patentees to open their patents to the society, promoting the docking of supply and demand and patent implementation, and truly realizing the patent value. This amendment stipulates the declaration of open license and its effective procedural elements, with a view to solving the information asymmetry between the supply and demand sides of patent technology through government public services and improving the efficiency of patent transformation.
What adjustments have been made to improve the relevant system of design in the patent law implemented this time?
Local appearance design is gradually becoming an important way of product design. With the acceleration of "going out", the level of design of enterprises in China has gradually improved, and the demand for local design protection of enterprises abroad has obviously increased. The newly revised patent law protects partial designs, which meets the needs of enterprises and international practices, and enables China enterprises to make better use of the rules, further explore the international market and improve their international competitiveness.
The newly revised patent law extends the protection period of design patents to 15 years, so as to meet the diversified needs of the innovators for the protection period and create conditions for China to join The Hague Agreement on the International Registration of Industrial Designs. In addition, the Patent Law increases the domestic priority system of patent application for design, and makes it clear that an applicant who files a patent application for the same subject in China within six months from the date when he first filed a patent application for design in China can enjoy the priority, thus further reducing the application cost. (Feng Fei)
Responding to the New Requirements of the Times —— The new copyright law will be implemented on June 1st, 2021.
What is the significance of the newly implemented copyright law?
On June 1, 2021, the newly revised copyright law was officially implemented. At the beginning of the third revision of the copyright law in 2011, the goal of the revision was clearly to create a new era copyright law that is compatible with the digital economy, realistic, international and future-oriented. The 10-year revision process also fully embodies the spirit of open-door legislation and scientific legislation, actively responds to the new requirements of the digital age, and echoes and connects with the Civil Code and international copyright treaties.
What adjustments have been made to the copyright law implemented on June 1 to adapt to technological progress?
While technological progress has changed the ways and means of content dissemination, the development of digital copyright industry has long been troubled by the protection of new works. In this regard, the newly revised copyright law has made a more extensive adjustment to the definition and types of works, further expanding the scope of protection of copyright law. For example, Article 3 clearly defines works as "intellectual achievements that are original and can be expressed in a certain form in the fields of literature, art and science"; In the original copyright law, "cinematographic works and works created by methods similar to cinematography" were changed to "audio-visual works".
In order to adapt to the new situation of technological development, the newly revised copyright law has clarified the relevant legal rules related to the application of digital technology, such as the new "digital" reproduction method of works.
What new measures does the new copyright law put forward to combat infringement?
In order to solve the problems of high litigation cost and long period in copyright protection, the newly revised copyright law introduces punitive damages system, raising the upper limit of legal compensation to 5 million yuan and stipulating the lower limit of legal compensation to 500 yuan; For intentional infringement and serious circumstances, it is stipulated that the court can award punitive damages of one to five times the amount of compensation, which greatly increases the cost of infringement.
How does the new copyright law connect with international treaties?
In recent years, China has been actively docking international treaties, fulfilling its international obligations and showing its image as a great power. The newly revised copyright law also strengthens the connection with international treaties, for example, the provisions of the eighth paragraph of Article 52 on the rental right of performers echo the relevant provisions of the Beijing Treaty on Audiovisual Performances. The behavior of "providing people with reading disabilities with published works in a barrier-free way that they can perceive" is included in the category of fair use, which paves the way for China to ratify the Marrakesh Treaty on Facilitating the Access of the Blind, the Visually Impaired or Other People with Print Reading Disabilities to Published Works. (Jiang Xu)