Fabio Giacopello's contribution to Oxford University Press Book

The last few years have seen an intense enforcement record of the Public Republic of China Anti-Monopoly Law (“AML”) by the Chinese competition authorities, Ministry of Commerce (“MOFCOM”), State Administration for Industry and Commerce (“SAIC”) and National Development and Reform Commission (“NDRC”).

They actively enforce the AML through voluminous investigations and the courts have issued several thorough and intriguing judgments with respect to AML disputes. In relation to IP enforcement, all of China's IP laws are undergoing transformation — patent, trademark, and copyright laws — as well as numerous other IP-related regulations, including standards measures; service invention regulations; and regulations related to criminal enforcement. 

In addition, other more general laws have been amended or are under reform with important implications for global IP enforcement. The civil procedure law was recently amended, with potentially important repercussions for IP rights holders, particularly in terms of provisional measures for trade secrets.

Competition Law and Intellectual Property in China, edited by Ioannis Kokkoris, Spyros Maniatis, XiaoYe Wang and associate editor Cristina Volpin (Oxford University Press 2019) presents an up-to-date, detailed analysis of the different perspectives that these jurisdictions take in the enforcement of competition and IP law. 

It discusses the current trend as well as the future challenges of the enforcement in these areas and aims to further our understanding of these controversial and fast-paced issues by offering insights and recommendations on the basis of a comprehensive analysis.

The second chapter, written by HFG partner Fabio Giacopello, and titled Patent Type Requirements and Procedure from Filing to Granting, focuses on the Patent Law and its Implementing Regulations. 

The Patent Law of the People's Republic of China was first adopted at the 4th Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Sixth National People's Congress on March 12, 1984 and was enforced on April 1, 1985. The current Patent Law is the result of the third amendment from its first version adopted with the Decision of the Standing Committee of the Eleventh National People's Congress on Amending the Patent Law of the People's Republic of China. 

The chapter shows how the Implementing Regulations to the Patent Law supplement the provisions of the Patent Law and were issued for the first time with the second amendment of the Patent Law in 2001.

Fabio Giacopello is one of the managing partners of HFG Law & Intellectual Property. He has been widely recognized as one of the most valuable Intellectual Property practitioner in China. Fabio is a member of the Internet Committee at INTA and Arbitrator at the Shanghai International Arbitration Center (SHIAC, former CIETAC Shanghai).

Among the awards and recognitions Fabio received recently the following: “leading trademark practitioner” by WTR1000, “Recommended lawyer” by Legal500, “Winner of Client Choice Award –Trademarks (China)” by ILO, “IP Star” by Managing Intellectual Property, “Notable practitioner” by Chamber and Partners, “Leading practitioner” by WIPR, “Expert in the trademark category” by Asia IP.

He is author of several articles published by International and local publishing houses. Fabio often cooperates with education institutions and associations for giving lectures about Chinese IP System and/or European IP System (INTA, CIPA, Indicam, SMI, China-Italy Chamber of Commerce, etc.). 

HFG Law&Intellectual Property