Editing by David Du
China's Supreme Court pushes for IP protection
A top Chinese IP judge called for more efforts in combating intellectual property (IP) infringement during a press conference held by China's Supreme People’s Court (SPC).
Lin Guanghai, the deputy chief judge of IP Division (Civil Adjudication Tribunal No.3) of the SPC, said that SPC would push for IP protection and enforcement in key industrial and technology-related sectors such as patent, integrated circuit design, and computer software, and new breed plants.
He also advocated a careful review of cases involving AI, big data, live-streaming of sports events, and online gaming, promoting the healthy growth of an ecosystem for new industries.
Lin briefed on the 2020 IP developments – the Chinese courts had accepted 525,618 IP-related cases and concluded 524,387, increasing by 9.1% and 10.2%, respectively, compared to 2019.
On the background of this, more Chinese industries face challenging situations under geopolitical changes from the U.S.-China trade conflicts and strained global supplies in some industry sectors. At the same time, they try to innovate and adopt new technologies.
Lin said, “the people’s courts will step up protection of new achievements of technological innovation by more comprehensively implementing Patent Law, and giving full play to judicial functions.”He emphasized that the SPC would further deter IP wrongdoers and strengthen legal protection, particularly in those core industries such as big data, AI, and genes.
Chinese companies have filed a record number of European patent applications
A European Patent Office (EPO) report showed that Chinese patent applications filed with the office hit a record high of 13,432 in 2020, a 9.9% increase year on year, reported Xinhua News Agency.
Chinese applications posted the highest increase rate among the top 10 EPO patent contributors by origin. Chinese companies, Huawei, OPPO, and Xiaomi, are among the top 30 applicants. Despite the growth driven by China and South Korea, American companies filed 4.1% fewer patent applications compared to 2019. The European Union and Japan saw a drop of 1.3% and 1.1%.
The technology fields of “Digital communication,” “computer technology,” and “electrical machinery, instrument, energy” received most Chinese patent applications. They account for 26.5%, 11.6%, and 9.1% of the overall number in each of the three fields. Huawei, OPPO, Xiaomi, BOE, and ZTE are in the leading positions.
EPO received a total of 180,250 patent applications in 2020. Due to the pandemic, the number was down 0.7% than 2019. The U.S. was still the largest source of EPO patent applications, taking up 25% percent of all applications, followed by Germany and Japan. China was the fifth largest, with 7% application numbers.
OPPO ranked 5th worldwide patent applications in 2020
OPPO, a Chinese smart device maker, recently announced that it had filed more than 61,000 patent applications globally, 89% of which were invention patents. Among those patents, 2,400 relate to artificial intelligence (AI), 8,300 video coding, 3,000 flash charge, and 300 privacy protection.
OPPO is among the top companies in patent application numbers. In 2020, it ranked fifth in international patent applications (PCT applications) under the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), 19th under the European Patent Office (EPO), and second in China for granted Chinese patents.
The company has six research institutes, and five R&D centers worldwide. Last year, OPPO announced more aggressive plans and investments to develop new technologies to further improve user experience.
