China revises IP rules to strengthen trademark, chip design protection

Supplementary documents and specific rules for implementing the newly revised Trademark Law and the amended regulation on integrated circuit layout designs are currently being developed, according to an official from China's top intellectual property regulator.

The efforts are aimed at strengthening intellectual property protection by refining legal frameworks, particularly for emerging sectors, said Xia Tao, head of the policy review office under the Treaty and Law Department of the China National Intellectual Property Administration.

Xia made the remarks at a sub-forum of this year's China Intellectual Property Annual Conference, held in Beijing from Tuesday to Wednesday.

He said that, to keep pace with the growth of mobile internet and digital communication technologies, the newly revised Trademark Law, which will take effect on Jan 1, has expanded the range of elements that can be registered as trademarks.

"The inclusion of dynamic marks as registrable trademarks addresses the demands of emerging sectors. Dynamic marks are among the newly permitted elements for trademark registration," Xia said, adding that the administration is studying which application documents will be required for such submissions.

To make trademark procedures more convenient for market entities, the amended law also includes new provisions calling on the administration to make its public service system more intelligent and informative. Xia said he and his colleagues are committed to ensuring the complete, accurate and timely release of trademark information.

Integrated circuit layout designs are classified alongside patents and trademarks as a type of intellectual property. They are currently governed primarily by an administrative regulation. The comprehensive revision marks the first update since the regulation was implemented in 2000, with the new regulation set to take effect Oct 15.

"With this revision, the scope of protection for layout designs has been expanded. In addition to electronic and chip layout designs, the protection now also covers integrated photonic, quantum, and other functional integrated circuit layout designs," Xia said, adding that all of these can be protected under the intellectual property category of layout designs.

To better implement the intellectual property-related legal documents, Xia said related supporting measures are being carried out simultaneously. For instance, the implementation rules and examination guidelines for the Trademark Law are being intensively revised, while the implementation details associated with the regulations on the protection of integrated circuit layout designs are also being modified.