CHINA Trends and Developments Contributed by: Binxin Li, Guangzhen Shang and Sally Wang, LeanWill Law Firm
potential legal risks of related agreements under the New Judicial Interpretation. “Case Law” in China The SPC officially launched the “People’s Court Case Database” on 27 February 2024, aiming to improve the “Case Law” mechanism in China and providing reference/guidelines for adjudica - tion of similar cases. On 7 May 2024, the SPC released Work Procedures for the Construction of a People’s Court Case Database to guide the application of the “Case Law” mechanism in practice, mainly covering: • selection of guiding cases and reference cases; • searching and utilisation of cases in the data - base; and • adjustment of cases in the database. By the end of 2024, the People’s Court Case Database had collected 4,710 cases, among which 781 cases related to IP and anti-unfair competition. In light of the promotion of the Peo - ple’s Court Case Database by the SPC, more cases will be selected for the database, and improvement to the transparency and predict - ability of IP litigation could be expected. Centralisation of the IP judicial system By the end of 2024, there were 28 IP tribunals and four IP courts located across the country, with one appellate court (ie, the SPC IP Tribunal). Wide discussions and legislative proposals took place regarding the establishment of a national IP court during the National People’s Congress and Chinese People’s Political Consultative Con - ference of 2024. In addition, in a recent press conference held by the SPC, the Deputy Chief Justice of the SPC also indicated that establish -
ing a national IP court based on the current SPC IP Tribunal is a feasible approach. Priority processing of innovative drug MA applications Starting from 1 November 2024, innovative drug marketing authorisation (MA) applications can enjoy priority acceptance service in accordance with a notice issued by the Centre for Drug Eval - uation (CDE) of the NMPA, with the aim of stimu - lating the R&D of innovative drugs and accel - erating the launch process of innovative drugs. The priority service relates to regulations, pro - cedures and required documents, but does not involve technical review-related issues. The Trade Mark Law to be amended In January 2023, the CNIPA published the Draft Amendments to the Chinese Trade Mark Law for public opinion, and received over 3,400 com - ments from more than 400 entities. Based on extensive public consultation and feedback, the CNIPA has revised the draft to focus on six key areas: • supporting high-quality economic develop - ment; • safeguarding social fairness and justice; • optimising the trade mark registration pro - cess; • strengthening the trade mark use obligation; • enhancing trade mark protection and enforce - ment; and • deepening trade mark supervision and man - agement. The CNIPA has developed refined draft amend - ments and is actively progressing the legislative process. The amendment of the Trade Mark Law was included in the legislative agenda of the 14th National People’s Congress Standing Commit -
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