How a Trademark Case Helps Illuminate China’s NEW Patent Rules

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Category: SINOTALKS® In Brief

Image: Anthony Nava, Blue, Red, and Green Gears (Publicdomainpictures.net)

China’s reduction of the reserve requirement ratio for all banks beginning from February 5 is expected to help revive the economy by injecting more cash into the banking system. Another measure that is likely to help improve China’s economy but seems to have drawn little attention outside the legal community is the release of a set of revised rules to implement China’s Patent Law. If applied effectively, these revised rules have the potential to strengthen China’s patent protection mechanism, making the country more appealing to foreign investors.Read more

China’s “One Website, Two Databases” Approach to Judicial Transparency, Reform, & Consistency

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Category: SINOTALKS® In Brief

Image: Gerd Altmann, Seek (Publicdomainpictures.net)

To alleviate growing concerns about the future of a key website used by Chinese courts to publish millions of judgments, the Supreme People’s Court took an unusual step recently not only to confirm the continued operation of the website, but also to announce the establishment of two new databases. With the two databases, the Chinese judiciary will be able to formulate data-driven judicial reform measures and increase judicial consistency. While the databases help address deficiencies of the website, it is worth noting that the website—an indispensable platform to safeguard judicial transparency—plays a unique role in enhancing the value of these databases.Read more

In Brief

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Category: SINOTALKS® In Brief

Image: Gerd Altmann, Binary Thinking (Publicdomainpictures.net)

The OpenAI drama made my preplanned talk on AI legal tools delivered last Friday to a delegation of Chinese lawyers visiting Washington D.C. unexpectedly timely. The firing and re-hiring of CEO Sam Altman inspired in-depth discussions of opportunities and concerns related to these tools. In the case of China, the Chinese leadership may come to the conclusion that the opportunities presented by these tools outweigh the concerns and move to take steps that can directly help develop more reliable AI legal tools and indirectly bring about effective legal reforms in the country.Read more