W&B and JETRO Shanghai Office Jointly Hosted “IP Lectures for Chinese Employees of Japanese Enterprises” – “Case Analysis under Unfair-Competition Law”
On October 20th, 2016, W&B’s Managing Partner, Jean Yang delivered a lecture entitled Case Analysis under Unfair-Competition Law in the multi-function hall on the 35th floor of the Shanghai International Trade Center.
Over 30 intermediate-level employees from Japanese enterprises attended the lecture. This lecture is the second session of the series of “IP Lectures for Chinese Employees of Japanese Enterprises” jointly hosted by W&B and JETRO Shanghai Office.
During the lecture, Ms. Yang first clearly defined the nature of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law by pointing out that it has always been treated as supplementary or miscellaneous provisions to the laws of rights for the legislative and judicial purposes. Also she emphasized that the Anti-Unfair Competition Law is meant to safeguard private and public interests. For most right owners or persons that suffer from conducts of unfair competition, the Anti-Unfair Competition Law should be a very effective protective approach.
Ms. Yang then elaborated on issues concerning application of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law on the Internet, and cited cases such as the 3Q War (between 360 and QQ) and the case filed by Baidu against 360 for the latter’s selective insertion of warning icons onto search results by Baidu, which facilitated the attendees to understand the elements for constituting an act of unfair competition on the Internet, the issue of commercial defamation and the criterion for determining the act of free ride.
The hardcore of the lecture appeared in the four unfair competition cases that stirred the industry. Ms. Yang cited the cases including (i) “Crocs v. Xiamen Kaluochi Trading Co., Ltd., re the series cases involving unauthorized use of the unique name, packaging and decoration of well-known goods, false advertising and unauthorized use of another party’s enterprise name”, (ii) “Blizzard Entertainment Inc., Shanghai NetEase Network Technology Development Co., Ltd. v. Shanghai Unico Network Technology Co., Ltd., re unauthorized use of unique decoration of well-known goods, false advertising and unfair competition”, (iii) “Shenzhen Vwintech Technology Co., Ltd. v. Shenzhen Laitelisen Technology Co., Ltd., Xili Wang, Yun Ma, Jianping Long and Qiong Chen, re infringement of trade secrets”, and (iv) “the case involving a pre-trial injunction filed by Shanghai Xuanting Entertainment Information Technology with respect to the false advertising about the original work Ghost Blows out the Light of the hit movie Mojin-The Lost Legend”. From these cases the attendees acquired an in-depth understanding about identification of uniqueness of the decorations of will-known goods, application of law concerning Article 2 of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law, protection granted by the Anti-Unfair Competition Law for “game rules” of online games, directions for enforcement actions against infringement of online games, judicial protection and infringement determination concerning trade secrets such as customer lists, current status of pre-trial preservation and issues to be considered in judicial practice, etc.
The two-hour long lecture was well-received among the attendees. After the lecture the attendees had heated discussions with Ms. Yang regarding issues such as similarity in product packaging, recognition of well-known trademarks, counterfeiting of patented products and other practical issues concerning unfair competition.
The third lecture entitled Reward Mechanism Design and Risk Prevention for Enterprises’ Service Inventions will be held in November. Stay tuned for it and we welcome your presence then.