China intends to expand the Corporate Social Credit System (CSCS). In the IPR field, it is intended to establish an IPR Credit System to strengthen the protection of rights holders and fight counterfeiters.
So far, the application of the CSCS in the field of IPR is still limited to serious infringements of patents and to trademark agencies that register trademarks in bad faith. This means that companies that infringe trademarks, geographical indications, and other intellectual property rights other than patents are not yet listed in the CSCS public watch list or blacklist.
In August 2020, the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) issued a notice asking 12 local intellectual property offices (Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Fujian, Jiangxi, Hubei, Guangdong, Hainan, Sichuan, and Gansu) to conduct pilot work on credit-based scale assessments for intellectual property protection. This work will help the government establish science-based grading and classification indicators, establish qualified records of IPR credit information, and thus strengthen the construction of the national IPR credit system.
Beijing already announced plans to increase penalties for IPR infringement by creating a “black list” of infringers, making repeated and bad faith cases public, and excluding serious infringers from government contracts and tenders. We expect that the CSCS will also encourage local government motivation to take action against IP infringers.
Picture: Credit China
China Intellectual Property Blog 