Peimeng · March 22-28 China IP Newsletter
Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China: We will speed up the exploration of the system of disclosure of service inventions and the system of pre-patent application evaluation
Date: March 20, 2021
The Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China (MOE) recently issued the Key Work Points of the Department of Science, Technology and Information Technology of the MOE in 2021. It says:
Third, based on independent innovation, strengthen the innovation source ability of colleges and universities
We will accelerate efforts to tackle key and core technologies. In-depth implementation of the "4", continue to push key core technology integration research platform construction, guide the shift of colleges and universities scientific research organization mode, focus on gathering the high level talent, a research team, strive to be more in key areas and key links to realize independent control, practice more talents, fight the key core technology battle.
Accelerating the application of scientific and technological achievements in universities. We will improve the quality of patents in colleges and universities, guide them to improve the whole process management system of intellectual property rights, and accelerate the exploration of a service invention disclosure system and a pre-patent application evaluation system. We will promote the high-quality development and professional development of institutions that commercialize scientific and technological achievements in colleges and universities, and summarize and disseminate typical experiences in the commercialization of scientific and technological achievements in colleges and universities. We will guide pilot universities in carrying out reforms to give researchers the ownership or long-term use rights to their scientific and technological achievements. We will promote high-quality development of national university science and technology parks.
Source: China Intellectual Property Magazine
Wake up the "sleeping patent"! Ministry of Finance of the People's Republic of China, CNIPA decided to implement the special plan of patent transformation and give a bonus of 100 million!
Date: March 23, 2021
For implementation of the opinions of the new era of the CCCPC and State Council on speeding up the socialist market economic system, the elements of the CCCPC and State Council about building a more perfect market-based allocation of systems and mechanisms on the relevant requirements, further deepen ipr operation service system construction, promote innovation more benefit of SMEs, improve the institutions and implement innovation main body of IP such as conversion efficiency, the Ministry of Finance and CNIPA decided to exploitation of the patent into special plan, use three years time, merit award to repair a batch of promoting the transformation of patent technology transfer, wake up not fully implement the patent of "sleeping", Provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government that have achieved remarkable achievements in assisting SMEs in their innovative development.
According to the notice, the work will be started in the first half of 2021, and a number of provinces with good work foundation and solid and feasible implementation plans will be selected nationwide, which will be given 50 million yuan of start-up capital first, and will be allocated or withheld 50 million yuan based on the performance evaluation results in 2022. In 2022 and 2023, the award and subsidy areas will be selected from the top provinces in the evaluation ranking and in line with the support scope according to the performance evaluation results, and 100 million yuan of award and subsidy funds will be given.
Source: China Intellectual Property Magazine
Tencent announced its fourth quarter and annual results for 2020, Revenue from value-added services of games increased sharply
Date: March 25, 2021
March 24, 2021 - Tencent Holdings Limited, a leading Internet value-added service provider in China, announced its unaudited consolidated results for the fourth quarter of 2020 and audited consolidated results for the year ended December 31.
In the fourth quarter of 2020, value-added services (VAS) revenue increased 28% year-on-year to RMB 67 billion. Online game revenue rose 29 percent to 39.1 billion yuan, including 9.8 billion yuan from international games, up 43 percent year on year. This growth mainly reflects the revenue contribution of our smartphone games, including Peacekeeping Elite, King of Glory, Jedi Kill, and the recent launch of Moonblade. Total smartphone gaming revenue, including smartphone gaming revenue from social networking, was Rmb36.7bn.
Online advertising revenue rose 22 per cent to Rmb24.7bn in the fourth quarter of 2020, driven by increased demand in advertiser categories such as education, ecommerce platforms and FMCG, as well as consolidation of BitAuto's AD revenue. Social and other advertising revenue rose 25 per cent to Rmb20.4bn. The increase mainly reflected more demand from advertisers for WeChat, with media advertising revenue up 8 per cent to Rmb4.3bn.
Fintech and business services revenue rose 29 per cent to Rmb38.5bn in the fourth quarter, The increase was mainly due to revenue growth in commercial payments and wealth management services, which was due to increased transaction volume and value per transaction.
Source: Tencent's official website
Weiya sues for 'Weiya Yanxuan', The court has made an order of conduct preservation
Date: March 24, 2021
Weiya Yanxuan (Guangzhou) Supply Chain Management Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Weiya Yanxuan") has been sued by Weiya herself and her affiliated company for carrying out business activities related to live broadcasting with goods with the name, nickname and avatar of "Weiya". The Binjiang District People's Court in Hangzhou has made a ruling on the preservation of relevant acts, according to the court.
In December 2020, the Binjiang court accepted the case. During the trial, Weiya and her company applied for behavioral preservation, demanding that "Weiya Yanxuan" immediately stop carrying out business activities related to live broadcasting and delivery of goods on Douyin APP or any other online or offline platforms using the company name, nickname, avatar or other means bearing the word "Weiya". Weiya yanxuan immediately deleted its Douyin account "Weiya yanxuan".
On March 9, 2021, the People's Court of Binjiang District, Hangzhou, held a hearing on behavior preservation, and Weiya Yanxuan (Guangzhou) Supply Chain Management Co., Ltd. failed to attend the hearing after being notified by subpoena. At present, the behavior preservation ruling has been made, ruling that Weiya Yanxuan (Guangzhou) Supply Chain Management Co., Ltd. immediately deleted or changed the nickname and personal introduction of the account "Weiya Yanxuan", and the new nickname and personal introduction must not contain the word "Weiya".
Source: China Intellectual Property Magazine
"A string of life" was registered, The producers of the documentary are suing the restaurant for $5 million
Date: March 24, 2021
In June 2018, a documentary about barbecue food titled "A Stranger of Life" was broadcast on various online platforms and received wide acclaim. The day after the shooting, the operator of the jilin changchun m-victory charcoal barbecue cylinder head office Guo Wanqiang application for registration on the food and beverage category "life is a series of" brand, and in 2019, opened in April to "life" in a string of Guo Wanqiang hanging furnace grill for the name of the new store, "life is a series of" four word is widely used to store, menus, etc. At the same time, the store also published advertisements through online platforms such as Dianping, claiming that "life is a string of Bang Square stores", "life is a string of national stores" and "life is a string of barbecue offline experience stores" to develop franchises.
In April 2020, Shanghai Kuanyu Digital Technology Co., Ltd. and Banbanner (Shanghai) Digital Media Co., Ltd., the producers of the documentary "A Sling of Life", sued Guo Wanqiang's barbecue restaurant and Shanghai Hantao Information Consulting Co., Ltd., the operator of Dianping, on the grounds of unauthorized use of influential product names. In September of the same year, the State Intellectual Property Office announced the invalidation of Guo Wanqiang's trademark "Life Yichuan" on the grounds that it violated the principle of good faith and was registered by unfair means.
The two plaintiffs believe that the barbecue shop of the defendant's behavior constitutes the unauthorized use of the commodity name of the plaintiff that has certain influence, and the operator of Dianping constitutes the infringement of assistance. They require the two defendants to stop the unfair competition behavior involved in the case, and at the same time require the barbecue shop of the defendant to eliminate the influence, compensate for the economic loss and reasonable expenses of RMB 5 million.
The defendant barbecue restaurant argued that the "life string" trademark was declared invalid, has filed an administrative lawsuit, which is still under trial. Barbeque restaurant belongs to the catering service industry, which does not belong to the same category with the title of the program claimed by the two plaintiffs, so it does not constitute unfair competition. The operator of Dianping has argued that it has fulfilled its reasonable censorship obligations and does not constitute unfair competition.
At 2 p.m. on March 24, 2021, the case was publicly heard in Shanghai Pudong Court in the afternoon of March 24. The case was not pronounced in court.
Source: China Intellectual Property Magazine
WIPO Releases Technology Trends Report 2021: Assistive Technologies
Date：March 24, 2021
On March 23, 2021, WIPO released the Technology Trends Report 2021: Assistive Technologies, which shows:
More than 130,000 patents related to traditional and emerging assistive technologies were issued between 1998 and mid-2020, with 15,592 applications for emerging assistive technologies alone. And applications for emerging assistive technologies, including assistant robots, smart home applications, sets of visually impaired and smart glasses, are three times faster than traditional applications.
Two of the fastest growing areas of emerging assistive technologies are environment (42% AAGR) and mobility (24% AAGR). Emerging environmental technologies include public space navigation AIDS and assisted robots. Emerging mobility technologies include applications such as autonomous wheelchairs and advanced prosthetic limbs.
The report also notes that assistive technology fields are converging with consumer electronics and general medical technology. Technology developed for people with disabilities is increasingly finding its way into mainstream products. For example, bone-conduction technology can help with hearing loss and can also be used in headphones for runners.
More than 1 billion people now need assistive technology and that is expected to double in the next decade as the population ages. China, the United States, Germany, Japan and South Korea are the five major sources of assistive technology innovation, the study found.
(Edited by Zhang Chunyu, China Intellectual Property Magazine)
Reference article: The original "Technology Trends 2021 Report: Assistive Technologies" published by WIPO
Leshan, Sichuan Province, China, has added 31 municipal-level representative intangible cultural heritage projects
Date：March 22, 2021
To conscientiously do a good job in "intangible" protection, management and rational utilization, such as work, inherit and carry forward the Chinese nation outstanding traditional culture, promote leshan by cultural resources area for cultural city development, leshan municipal people's government announced in March 2021, the sixth batch list of intangible cultural heritage representative projects, including traditional music, traditional sports, recreational and acrobatics, traditional arts, traditional arts, traditional medicine and the folk custom of 31 projects, the six categories.
So far Leshan has four national-level intangible cultural heritages, including "Emei Wushu", "Jiajiang New Year Pictures", "Jiajiang Bamboo Paper Making Technique" and "Muchuan Grassy Dragon". 39 provincial intangible cultural heritage projects, such as "Aya Nu", "Bimo Sutra Recitation", "Emei Grassland Dragon", "Mount Emei Finger Painting", "Mount Emei Hall Lantern Show", and Mount Emei Buddhist Music "; 119 items of Leshan Municipal Intangible Cultural Heritage, such as "Mount Emei Song", "Mount Emei Snow Taro", "Butterfly Wings Painting", "Deep Drilling and Making of Salt in Bamboo Tube Well", etc.
(Edited by Zhang Chunyu, China Intellectual Property Magazine)
Source: Sichuan Economic Daily
