Patent Enforcement in China Webinar - Part of the Patexia IP Matters Web Series
July 11th 2013 at 10:30AM PT
Speaker: Michael Lin, Partner at Marks & Clerk, Hong Kong
In 2011, spending by Apple and Google on patents exceeded spending on research and development of new products.
IP Matters.
In an interview with Chris Anderson of Wired, Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla Motors said, "We have essentially no patents in SpaceX. Our primary long-term competition is in China. If we published patents, it would be farcical, because the Chinese would just use them as a recipe book."[1]
The difficulties of patent enforcement in China are perennially in the news; many would say China has a checkered history when it comes to IP matters.
The Chinese system is actually founded on different principles to the US system: civil law rather than common law.
Civil law uses core principles codified into a referable system to serve as the primary source of law. In common law systems, however, the intellectual framework comes from judge-made decisions which set precedent for the future (on the principle that it is unfair to treat similar facts differently on different occasions).
But the courts are not the only option for patent enforcement in China, you can also look to administrative agencies, arbitration, and other systems, as long as you have to know what to watch out for.
Michael Lin, a US patent attorney with over 13 years of experience handling patent matters for major corporations in pan-Asia, will give a 20-minute presentation on patent enforcement in China in this IP Matters webinar.
He'll cover:
- An introduction to Chinese law and courts
- Issues and concerns surrounding Chinese courts
- Patent office administrative enforcement
- Customs administrative enforcement
- Arbitration in China
From the speaker: "The courts are not the only option in China. Hear the basics of Chinese IP Enforcement including an outline of the Courts, Administrative agencies, and Arbitration. We will also discuss some basic watch-outs for US-based companies doing business and tech transfer in China."
The event will be free, but it's invite-only, you MUST register to get a ticket. Registration is free and only takes a minute.
About the Speaker: Michael Lin (B.A. Biochemistry from U.C Berkeley; J.D. from Boston University; Ohio Bar; USPTO Bar) was such a terrible lab chemist that he had to become a lawyer. After 13+ years at Procter & Gamble handling pan-Asia Patent Law matters, Michael left P&G to join Marks&Clerk Hong Kong as the head of their Chem-BioSciences group.
Michael is an oddball of sorts - a US patent attorney who has never worked in the US. He handles patent preparation & prosecution, opinion work and client counseling and has an expertise in developing and tying holistic IP strategies and Asian patent matters into business plans.
[1] http://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-patents-2012-11
[2] Image courtesy Addicted04 [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons