Intellectual Property Rights in Hong Kong & China

Nikolaj Juhl Hansen, Adrian Toutoungi, Sian Lewis, Eversheds LLP4 September 2012

UK and Ireland1. London2. Ipswich3. Cambridge4. Cardiff5. Birmingham6. Nottingham7. Manchester8. Leeds9. Newcastle10. Dublin11. Edinburgh

Mainland Europe12. Paris13. Brussels14. Copenhagen15. Stockholm16. Warsaw

36. Johannesburg37. Amman38. Baghdad39. Riyadh40. Doha41. Abu Dhabi42. Dubai43. Singapore44. Hong Kong45. Shanghai

17. Munich18. Vienna19. Budapest20. Rome21. Milan22. Madrid23. Tallinn24. Riga25. Vilnius26. Bratislava27. Prague 28. Berne29. Zurich30. Amsterdam31. Rotterdam32. Geneva33. Ostrava34. Hamburg35. Bucharest

Worldwide

Eversheds in Copenhagen

• Only major international law firm with a Danish office• 20 lawyers• Corporate, M&A, commercial contracts, employment, tax, bank and

finance, data protection, fraud and anti-bribery, IPR, competition and regulatory

• Advising international companies in Denmark and Danish companies abroad including 50% of the C20

• China IPR and other legal experience include:– Registration of trademarks in China for a number of Danish clients– Advising Lundbeck on its establishment of an R&D centre in Shanghai– Advising a major Danish pharma company on regulatory issues in

relation to building of new production site– Advising Hong Kong listed AAC Acoustic Technologies on its acquisition

of Kaleido Technologies, a very innovative and IP heavy Danish company in one of the biggest Chinese investments into Denmark to date

•Hot topics – IP cases making headlines

•Hong Kong – a gateway to China

•The IP landscape in China•Practical steps to take

What we will cover

Recent IP cases making headlines

Recent IP cases making headlines

Why use Hong Kong as a springboard into China?

• Language• CEPA• Legal landscape

The legal landscape in China and issues to be aware of

• Is it worth protecting IP in China?• Technology transfer – avoid inadvertently giving

away your IP• Do your homework to avoid infringing a third

party’s IP

New Chinese rules concerning patent marking (1 May 2012)• No obligation on patent

holders to mark their products

• Rules if you do decide to mark your patented products:– state clearly in Chinese the type

of patent (e.g. invention patent, utility model, design patent)

– state the PRC patent number– be sure not to include any

information that could mislead the reader

• Fines-up to RMB 200,000

Case study – infringement of a design patent

• Patented design:

• Alleged infringing design:

Case study – infringement of a trade mark

• Registered trade mark: NIVEA

• Alleged infringing trade mark: NIYEA

Practical steps to take before doing business in China• Protect your IP from the outset:

- conduct FTO/clearance searches - register IP that can be registered- take measure to protect non-registered IP rights such as trade secrets- obtain non-disclosure agreements from potential partners before disclosing commercially sensitive information- consider dividing manufacture of products between several manufacturers

Practical steps to take before doing business in China

• Partners – do your due diligence• Engage local counsel and specialist IP agents

Questions?

Nikolaj Juhl HansenPartner, EvershedsDirect dial: +45 3375 0507Email: nikolajhansen@eversheds.com

Adrian ToutoungiPartner, EvershedsDirect dial: +44 (0)845 497 3831 Email: adriantoutoungi@eversheds.com

Sian LewisAssociate, EvershedsDirect dial: +852 2186 3205Email: sianlewis@eversheds.com

© EVERSHEDS LLP 2012. Eversheds LLP is a limited liability partnership.