The reality has changed in the IP world. IP in China is totally transformed.
This is the gist of my impression from the workshop East meets West organised by the EPO in April 2019.
The workshop dealt with IP in China as a major theme, having several speakers from China as well as a few from outside China that gave a valuable independent perspective.
Apparently, in March 2019 the first appeal case was heard at a new national-level court: “The case was about a French company suing a Chinese one, for infringement of a motor vehicle windscreen wiper IP design”.
Shanghai’s IP Court first ruled in favor of the plaintiff in January. The defendant then appealed to the new national-level court, where judges rejected the appeal [on the first day of the hearing!] and announced their verdict in favor of the plaintiff as well”, as reported here.
According to the speakers, the statistics of the recent years are that more IP cases are heard at the Chinese IP courts than in US; furthermore, the rulings in favour of foreign companies is actually higher than in US courts!
Presenter Oliver Pfaffenzeller went as far as to declare that the IP in China, especially the Chinese IP litigation procedure in China, is now even more efficient than the German one.
Although the purpose of the reforms are frankly admitted by the Chinese presenters to be for the benefit of the Chinese, certainly there is cause for cautious optimism of foreigners as well.
