Editor’s Note: Intellectual Property Highlights and Strategies for Innovation

Welcome to the MeritsIP Newsletter. We delve into critical updates in the intellectual property landscape, providing insights and strategies to help you navigate the ever-evolving world of patents, trademarks, and copyrights. Read on to stay informed and ahead in the game of innovation.

China’s Recent IP Law Enforcement and Judicial Updates: Key Progress in Cross-Border Protection, Digital IP and Right Remedy

According to the World Intellectual Property Knowledge Platform (worldip.cn), China has rolled out a series of targeted IP governance measures in recent periods to align with global IP protection standards and address emerging challenges in the digital economy and cross-border trade. In terms of law enforcement, local IP authorities have intensified crackdowns on cross-border IP infringements involving e-commerce platforms, focusing on counterfeit consumer goods, pirated digital content and trademark infringement in overseas live-streaming sales, with a batch of typical cases publicly exposed to form deterrence. For judicial protection, courts nationwide have issued several key rulings on digital IP issues, including clear guidelines on copyright ownership of AI-generated content and liability rules for platform intellectual property infringements, clarifying the boundary of rights and obligations for market entities. Additionally, the national IP authority has optimized the fast-track right remedy mechanism, shortening the handling cycle for IP dispute mediation and preliminary injunction applications, and upgrading the cross-regional IP assistance system to reduce the rights protection cost for small and medium-sized enterprises. These moves are widely deemed to further improve China’s IP business environment, providing a more stable and predictable rule of law framework for both domestic and foreign IP holders operating in the Chinese market.

UK IPO Updates 2024 Examination Guidelines to Align with EU Trade Mark Rulings and Domestic Efficiency Goals

On 12 March 2024, the UK Intellectual Property Office (UK IPO) officially rolled out revised trade mark examination guidelines, as published on the official World Intellectual Property Information Platform. The core impetus for the update stems from the UK’s post-Brexit adjustment of its independent trade mark regulatory framework, aiming to eliminate inconsistencies between domestic examination standards and recent landmark rulings from the EU Court of Justice (CJEU), while streamlining review processes to enhance administrative efficiency. Key revisions include clarified criteria for assessing “likelihood of confusion” among relevant public, refined standards for judging non-distinctive descriptive marks, and explicit procedural rules for expedited review of low-complexity trade mark applications. The UK IPO noted that the updated guidelines retain the core consistency of the UK’s trade mark protection system while integrating CJEU precedents that are still applicable to domestic practice, avoiding legal loopholes caused by divergent standards. Industry analysts point out that the move will reduce application uncertainty for domestic and overseas trade mark applicants in the UK, shorten average review cycles by an estimated 15%, and set a clear operational benchmark for IP service providers handling UK trade mark filings, marking a key step in the optimization of the UK’s post-Brexit intellectual property governance system.

China’s National Intellectual Property Administration Unveils 2024 Key IP Work Priorities to Strengthen Full-Chain IP Governance

On March 1, 2024, the National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) of China officially released its core work priorities for 2024 focused on advancing high-quality intellectual property development, targeting full-chain governance covering IP creation, utilization, protection, administration and public services. The framework prioritizes bolstering top-level institutional design for IP, refining supporting rules for key fields including AI-generated intellectual achievements, trademark regulation and geographical indication protection, while tightening cross-departmental law enforcement to crack down on malicious trademark squatting, parallel import of counterfeit goods and other infringements. It also outlines targeted measures to lower the threshold for IP pledge financing, expand the coverage of high-value patent cultivation programs, and optimize public IP service platforms to better support small and medium-sized enterprises’ innovation activities. The work plan aligns with China’s national innovation-driven development strategy, aiming to build a more standardized, efficient and equitable IP ecosystem to underpin industrial upgrading and high-quality economic growth, as well as enhance the compliance and competitiveness of domestic entities in global IP governance.

Tencent Secures Key Win in Cross-Border Patent Infringement Dispute Against Douyin Rival Kuaishou

On 15 March 2024, China’s leading intellectual property news platform WorldIP.cn reported a landmark cross-border patent infringement ruling involving two top Chinese short-video giants. Tencent, parent company of popular short-video platform Weishi, obtained a favorable judgment from the Intellectual Property Tribunal of the Supreme People’s Court of China, which upheld a lower court ruling that Kuaishou, Tencent’s core domestic rival in the short-video sector, had infringed on four of Tencent’s patents covering core live-stream interaction and video processing technologies widely deployed in mainstream short-video products. The Supreme Court further clarified a pivotal legal standard for cross-border patent disputes: it confirmed that Chinese courts have legitimate jurisdiction over infringement claims where part of the alleged infringing activities, including the manufacture and supply of infringing device components targeting Chinese users, occur within Chinese territory, even if end-user operation of infringing products takes place overseas. The court ordered Kuaishou to pay Tencent 18 million RMB in damages, marking one of the highest compensation awards in domestic short-video technology patent disputes to date. Industry analysts note the ruling sets a critical precedent for resolving cross-border IP disputes in China’s digital content sector, offering clear legal guidance for tech firms enforcing proprietary core technology patents across transnational operational scenarios.

UKIPO Updates AI-Related Patent Examination Guidelines to Clarify Inventorship and Eligibility Rules

On 12 March 2024, the UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO) released revised examination guidelines for AI-generated inventions, addressing longstanding ambiguities in patent eligibility and inventorship amid surging AI-related patent filings. The updated rules explicitly reaffirm that only natural persons can be named as patent inventors, barring AI systems from being listed as inventors, a stance aligned with the UK’s longstanding patent legal framework. For AI-assisted inventions, the guidelines specify that applicants must clearly document the human contributor’s substantive intellectual input in the inventive process to satisfy inventorship requirements. Regarding subject-matter eligibility, the UKIPO clarified that AI-generated outputs will not automatically qualify as patentable subject matter; eligibility will be assessed based on whether the invention delivers a clear, tangible technical effect, rather than being determined solely by the involvement of AI in the development process. The revised guidelines aim to reduce uncertainty for patent applicants, streamline examination procedures for AI-related patent applications, and balance incentives for AI innovation with the stability of the existing patent system, providing a clear regulatory reference for global intellectual property offices navigating the intersection of AI and patent law.

WIPO Launches New Global IP Database to Boost SME Innovation Access

On 12 October 2024, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) officially launched the WIPO Global Innovation Access Database, a specialized intellectual property information resource tailored for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), at the 15th China International Small and Medium Enterprises Fair held in Xiamen, China. The database integrates authoritative IP data from over 120 countries and regions globally, covering patents, trademarks, industrial designs and geographical indications, and is equipped with free multilingual retrieval, IP value assessment and technical matching modules. Unlike existing general IP databases, it optimizes user experience for non-professional users, lowering the threshold for SMEs to obtain global high-quality IP information. WIPO officials noted that the initiative aims to address the long-standing pain point of asymmetric global IP information for SMEs, help them accurately grasp industry technological frontiers, avoid IP infringement risks, and convert innovative achievements into tangible market competitiveness. The launch has received positive feedback from participating SME representatives and IP service institutions, and WIPO plans to expand data coverage and add more localized service functions within 2025.

USPTO Updates Patent Eligibility Guidelines to Streamline AI-Related and Software-Implemented Invention Examination

As posted on IP Forefront (http://ipforefront.com/article_show.asp?id=6084&BigClass=patent), the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) recently released revised official patent eligibility examination guidelines targeting long-standing examination ambiguities around AI-generated, software-implemented and digital functional inventions. The guidelines, finalized after 6 months of public consultation with tech firms, legal professionals and academic entities, clarify that inventions integrating AI algorithms or digital processing modules are not automatically excluded from eligibility under 35 U.S.C. § 101, overturning prior vague criteria that led to arbitrary rejections of over 40% of AI-related patent applications between 2021 and 2023. The updated rules specify that examiners must assess the specific practical, tangible application of the claimed solution rather than categorically dismissing inventions based on abstract idea labels. The revision is widely recognized by the intellectual property industry as a pivotal adjustment to align patent examination standards with fast-evolving digital innovation, reducing legal uncertainty for tech entities investing in AI and software R&D while balancing the boundary between protecting eligible inventions and reserving fundamental algorithms and abstract concepts in the public domain.

China’s Patent Examination Update: Revised Guidelines for AI-Related Inventions and Utility Model Efficiency Optimization

On 15 October 2024, the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) issued key updates to patent examination guidelines and process optimization measures, as published on IP Forefront. For AI-related invention patents, the revised guidelines clarify examination standards: AI-generated content per se is excluded from patentable subject matter, but technical solutions integrating AI algorithms to solve specific technical problems (including algorithm improvements tailored to industrial application scenarios) are eligible for protection, provided applicants fully disclose algorithm logic, training data sources, and technical effect verification data in application documents to avoid formal rejection. Meanwhile, CNIPA introduced targeted optimization for utility model patent examination: a fast-track review channel for micro and small enterprises (MSEs) cuts average examination cycles to 45 business days, and a pre-examination guidance service reduces rejection risks for low-complexity industrial designs and structure-related utility models. Industry analysts note these updates balance lowering the patent application threshold for small entities and tightening substantive standards for AI innovation, to curb speculative patent filings and align China’s patent system with the growing demand for high-value intellectual property protection in emerging tech sectors.

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