On February 27, the Supreme People's Court (SPC) of the People's Republic of China, in collaboration with China Media Group, hosted an event to unveil the "Top 10 Cases Promoting Rule of Law Progress in the New Era for 2024". It is worth noting that the three selected intellectual property cases are all related to technical secrets.

The "Top 10 Cases Promoting Rule of Law Progress in the New Era for 2024" are:

1. "New Energy Vehicle Chassis" technical secret infringement case

2. China's first civil public interest litigation case involving the manipulation of the "online water army" (the hordes of people who are paid to post comments online)

3. Case of the defendant Lao concerning intentional homicide, robbery, and kidnapping

4. Case of a pedestrian's running red light leading to a fatal accident

5. Case of a maritime collision liability dispute resolved under Chinese law by foreign parties

6. Dispute case of a chef sued for breach of non-compete agreement over smashed cucumbers

7. Case of "professional store closers" bearing civil liability for using false materials to deregister companies

8. Case of safeguarding the assisted reproduction rights of widowed women

9. China's first case on illegal introduction of invasive alien species

10. Case of the SPC supervising the cross-enforcement of infringement of technical secrets

(Source: Supreme People's Court of the People's Republic of China)

The report WIPO Technology Trends: The Future of Transportation, released by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) on February 6, shows that global innovation in the transportation sector is increasingly focusing on more environmentally friendly "future technologies," such as air-taxis, wireless charging technology for electric vehicles, and self-driving cargo ships, etc., with China, Japan, the United States, South Korea, and Germany leading the surge in innovation in the sector of future transportation technologies.

By 2023, patents in the transportation sector have a compound annual growth rate of 11%, more than double the increase of all published patents globally. The report attributes the strong growth in related patents in China to its dominant position in the electric vehicle market in recent years.

(Source: Xinhua News Agency)

To provide more diverse and flexible examination options for design patent applications, Taiwan Intellectual Property Office (TIPO) launched the "Accelerated Examination Pilot Program for Design Patents" on September 1, 2023. Initially set to run until December 31, 2024, the program has now been extended through December 31, 2026. A further evaluation will determine whether to continue or modify the program.

The details of the program are as follows:

1. Application Timing: Applicants may file for accelerated examination for design patents after receiving TIPO's notification that the preliminary examination is about to begin and before receiving the first Office Action.

2. Application Process: Applicants must file electronically in accordance with TIPO's regulations and provide relevant supporting documents. During the trial period, no application fee will be charged for this program.

3. Eligibility Criteria:

(1) Criterion I: Third-Party Commercial Exploitation

Applicants must submit documentation proving third-party commercial exploitation (e.g., product catalogs, newspaper, or magazine articles) and specify the third party's details, the nature of the exploitation, and its starting date.

(2) Criterion II: Recognition by Prestigious Design Awards

Applicants must provide certificates and evidence of the awarded design corresponding to the applicant's name. Eligible awards include:

? Taiwan's Golden Pin Design Award

? Germany's iF Design Award

? Germany's Red Dot Design Award

? Japan's Good Design Award

? The United States' International Design Excellence Awards (IDEA)

(3) Criterion III: Design Patent Applications by Startups

Each startup is limited to three applications per year under this program. Eligible startups must be companies established for less than eight years under the Company Act or equivalent foreign laws. The establishment period is calculated from the company's registration date to the design patent application date. If priority is claimed, the calculation is based on the earliest priority date.

For foreign companies, proof of the establishment date must be provided along with a Chinese translation. If the document is not an original, a declaration must be submitted.

(Source: UNITALEN ATTORNEYS AT LAW)

—Selected into the "Top 10 Cases Promoting Rule of Law Progress in the New Era for 2024"

Case Brief

Ji Companies filed a lawsuit with the first instance court on the grounds of infringement of technical secrets by Wei Companies, requesting to order Wei Companies to stop the infringement and compensate for its economic losses and reasonable expenses for stopping the infringing acts, totaling 2.1 billion yuan.

After trial, the first instance court held that Wenzhou Wei X Automobile Manufacturing Co., Ltd. infringed upon Ji Companies' technical secrets of the five sets of chassis component drawings involved in the case, and ordered Wenzhou Wei X Automobile Manufacturing Co., Ltd. to compensate Ji Companies for economic losses and reasonable expenses for rights protection of 7 million yuan. Ji Companies and Wenzhou Wei X Automobile Manufacturing Co., Ltd. were both dissatisfied with the judgment and appealed to the Supreme People's Court.

The Supreme People's Court held in the second instance that this case was an infringement of technical secrets caused by the organized and planned large-scale poaching of new energy vehicle technical personnel and technical resources by improper means. Through overall analysis and comprehensive judgment, it can be determined that Wei Companies committed the acts of obtaining all the technical secrets involved in the case by improper means, illegally disclosing part of the technical secrets involved in the case by applying for patents, and using all the technical secrets involved in the case. The judgment of the second instance court, on the basis of the overall judgment ordering that Wei Companies shall immediately stop disclosing, using, or allowing others to use the technical secrets involved in the case, further refined and clarified the specific methods, contents, and scope of stopping the infringement, including but not limited to: unless the consent of Ji Companies is obtained, Wei Companies shall stop disclosing, using or allowing others to use the technical secrets involved in the case in any way, and shall not implement, license others to implement, assign, pledge or otherwise dispose of the 12 patents involved in the case by itself; and all drawings, digital models and other technical materials containing the technical secrets involved in the case shall be destroyed or handed over to Ji Companies; by means of public announcements and internal notices, etc., the judgment and the requirement related to cessation of the infringement shall be notified to Wei Companies and all its employees as well as affiliated companies and suppliers of relevant components, and the relevant personnel and units shall be required to sign a letter of commitment to maintain the trade secret and not infringe on them. Considering that Wei Companies had obvious intention to infringe, the circumstances of the infringement were egregious, the consequences of the infringement were serious, etc., double punitive damages are applied to Wei Companies' infringement profits from May 2019 to the first quarter of 2022, and Wei Companies should compensate Ji Companies for economic losses and reasonable expenses of about 640 million yuan. To ensure the performance of non-pecuniary payment obligations, the judgment of the second instance court further clarified that if Wei Companies violates the non-pecuniary payment obligation of stopping infringement determined by the judgment, Wei Companies shall pay a delayed performance fee of 1 million yuan per day; and if Wei Companies disposes of the 12 patents involved in the case without authorization, Wei Companies shall pay a one-time payment of 1 million yuan for each of them.

Case Significance

The "new energy vehicle chassis" technical secret infringement case is the intellectual property infringement dispute with the highest damages awarded in China. The People's Court, based on its comprehensive judgment of the acts of infringement of technical secrets, not only applied the legal provisions on punitive damages to determine the amount of damages but also actively and effectively explored the specific methods for assuming civil liability about the cessation of infringement and the criteria for payment of penalties related to delayed performance of non-pecuniary obligations. The final judgment in this case garnered widespread attention from the media and various sectors of society.

(Source: Supreme People's Court of the People's Republic of China)

—Selected into the "Top 10 Nominated Cases Promoting Rule of Law Progress in the New Era for 2024"

Case Brief

The plaintiff used an AI model to generate the image involved in the case by inputting prompts and then posted it on an online platform. The defendant published an article on another online platform, using the image involved in the case as an illustration in the article. The plaintiff believes that the defendant used the image involved in the case without permission and removed the plaintiff's signature watermark on the online platform, making the relevant users mistakenly believe that the defendant is the author of the work, which seriously infringes the plaintiff's entitled rights of authorship and communication through information networks. The plaintiff demanded that the defendant make a public apology, compensate for the economic losses, etc.

After a hearing, the Court held that, from the image involved in the case itself, it embodies a recognizable difference from the prior work. From the process of generating the image involved in the case, the plaintiff has designed the image elements, such as the character and the presentation thereof through the prompts and set the layout and composition of the image and the like through parameters, reflecting the plaintiff's choices and arrangements. In the absence of evidence to the contrary, it can be concluded that the image involved in the case was created independently by the plaintiff, reflecting the plaintiff's personalized expression, so the image involved in the case has the element of "originality." The image in this case is a graphic artwork of aesthetic significance composed of lines and colors, a fine artwork protected by copyright law. In terms of the attribution of rights to the work involved in the case, the image involved in the case is generated directly based on the plaintiff's intellectual input, reflecting the plaintiff's personalized expression. Therefore, the plaintiff is the author of the image involved and enjoys the copyright of the image involved. The defendant infringed on the plaintiff's entitled rights and should be held liable for the infringement of rights. Finally, the court ruled that the defendant should apologize and compensate for the damages.

Reasons for Being Selected

This case is a meaningful exploration of the legal protection of AI-generated content. The judgment in this case insisted on the view that copyright law only protects the "creation of natural persons," and by recognizing the attribute of "work" of AI-generated images and the identity of the user as the "author," the judgment encourages the users to use AI tools to create with enthusiasm, thus realizing the internal goal of the copyright law to "stimulate the creation of works" and reinforcing the dominant position of human beings in the development of AI.

(Source: Supreme People's Court of the People's Republic of China)

On February 20, 2025, 2025 INTA Pre-Annual Meeting Reception in Beijing hosted by the International Trademark Association (INTA) and co-organized by Beijing Unitalen Attorneys at Law was successfully held at Beijing Marriott Hotel Northeast.

As the first global pre-annual meeting reception for INTA 2025, the theme of this pre-annual meeting reception is "INTA, More Than You Can See". This meeting was chaired by attorney ZHAO Lei, senior partner of Unitalen. Mr. CHEN Wei, Level II Bureau Rank Official of the Beijing Intellectual Property Office, Ms. SU Hong, chief representative of the INTA China Representative Office, and over 100 industry authorities from enterprises and intellectual property firms attended the meeting.

From May 17 to 21, 2025, the 147th Annual Meeting of INTA will be held in San Diego, U.S.A. We look forward to celebrating this occasion with the global industry leaders at that time.

On February 22, 2025, the 3rd Legal Service Brand Development Forum and Lexpress 2025 Brand Festival under "Go-Top Love" was grandly held, and the BRANDS GUIDE TO LAW FIRMS OF EXCELLENCE (2024) by Lexpress was released on the spot. In addition, the "Lexpress Paragon Cases of 2024" was also released on the following day.

Unitalen Law Firm, with its outstanding strength and good reputation in the field of intellectual property, was selected into BRANDS GUIDE TO LAW FIRMS OF EXCELLENCE (2024) and was honored as one of the "Top 30 Excellent Brand Law Firms by Lexpress in 2024". At the same time, the "copyright infringement case of Meishe v. Tiktok 'Douyin' for copy of the software code" represented by Ms. ZHOU Dandan of Unitalen was awarded as "Lexpress Paragon Cases of 2024: IP-Copyright Field".

On March 6, 2025, under the guidance of the International Trademark Association (INTA) and sponsored by Nanjing Market Supervision Administration (Intellectual Property Office) and Xuanwu District Market Supervision Administration (Intellectual Property Office), the 46th NingPinHui - Brand Salon "Brand Leap: Intellectual Property and Opportunities in International Markets" was successfully held in Panda-Wangu Financial Technology Center, Nanjing. Attorney ZHAO Lei, senior partner of Unitalen, was invited to attend the salon and delivered a keynote speech, providing an in-depth understanding of the INTA's Guide for Chinese Enterprises in Overseas Intellectual Property Rights Practices and sharing the trademark protection strategies overseas.