W&B IP Newsletter
May of 2024, Vol. 85

Contents
The Latest from Watson & BandWatson & Band again listed in Benchmark Litigation Asia-Pacific Guide 2024……………………………………… 2Watson & Band again ranked in 2024 ALB China IP Rankings………………………………………………………… 2
Released at the INTA Annual Meeting: Watson & Band selected into the Top 40 Service Capacity List of Foreign
Trademark Agencies…………………………………………………………………………………………………… 3PatentCNIPA publishes Statistics on Patents (January to April 2024)………………………………………………………… 3
From June 1, 2024 and on, the CNIPA will issue the new-version patent certificate.………………………………… 5Trademark
CNIPA publishes Statistics on Trademarks (January to April 2024)…………………………………………………… 6

Other IP Rights
CNIPA publishes Statistics on Geographical Indications and Layout Designs of Integrated Circuits (January to April2024)…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 7WIPO releases the 2024 World Intellectual Property Report…………………………………………………………… 7Website：www.watsonband.com

E-mail：mailip@watsonband.com | mail@watsonband.com

Watson & Band Update

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Watson & Band again listed in Benchmark Litigation Asia-Pacific Guide 2024
On May 7, 2024, the world renowned legal rating agency Benchmark Litigation published its Asia-Pacific Guide
2024. With its nearly three decades’ dedication in the intellectual property area, Watson & Band is listed for the 7thtime in the “Intellectual Property” area in this year’s Guide for its outstanding performance and achievements.

Reasons for recommendation:
Watson & Band, one of China’s oldest intellectual property service providers, offers agency and consulting services
concerning trademarks, patents and copyrights, as well as enforcement and litigation services and commercial IPrelated legal services. Its industry specialty lies in the fields of chemistry, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, electronics,telecommunications, metallic materials and semiconductors. Over the years, it has successfully represented many
world famous enterprises in their IP rights enforcement actions and won favorable judgments for the IP rights.

Watson & Band again ranked in 2024 ALB China IP Rankings

On May 20, the world renowned legal media Asian Legal Business (ALB) released its 2024 ALB China IPRankings. With nearly three decades of professional services, outstanding performance and good reputation in thefield of intellectual property, Watson & Band appears the China IP Rankings for the eighth consecutive year, andcontinues to rank in top tiers in the two sections known as "Patent" and "Trademark/Copyright".
Asian Legal Business is Thomson Reuters' premium legal journal and is one of the leading legal guides with aglobal reach. In this year's research process, ALB takes into account the volume, complexity and size of each firm's
IP work, market share, team members and team growth, key clients, regional visibility and position, and status andmomentum compared with the previous year, based on information collected from firm submissions, interviews,
press releases and market recommendations, and thus identify and rank the top law firms in the IP field for a fair andtransparent ranking of the IP practices.

Watson & Band Update

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Released at the INTA Annual Meeting: Watson & Band selected into the Top 40 Service
Capacity List of Foreign Trademark Agencies
On May 20, 2024, the "Top 40 Service Capacity List of Foreign Trademark Agencies" was released at the 146th
INTA China Trademark Association Forum held in Atlanta, USA. The List is jointly released by the magazine China
Trademark and the database IPhouse under the guidance of the China Trademark Association.
Watson & Band Intellectual Property Agent Ltd., with its long-term professional service, excellent performance andgood reputation within the trademark agency service industry, was honored as one of the Top 40 Foreign Trademark
Agencies in the said List.
The said List uses official data to establish a systematic evaluation model from morethan ten dimensions, such as the number of foreign-related trademark applications,foreign-related trademark opposition cases, foreign-related trademark review cases,etc., to evaluate the trademark agencies that have been filed at the Trademark Officeof the China National Intellectual Property Administration, and finally selects themost outstanding 40 foreign trademark agencies.

PatentCNIPA publishes Statistics on Patents (January to April 2024)
Recently, the CNIPA released the main statistical data of intellectual property rights from January to April 2024.
Compared with the same period of 2023, the number of invention patents granted during the month increased by
109,655 at the annual growth rate of 43.42%, while the numbers of utility models and designs dropped by 20.73% and14.26% respectively.
By the end of April 2024, the total number of all three types of patents in force reached 20,819,564.

Patent

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PatentFrom January to April 2024, the CNIPA accepted a total of 21,100 PCT applications, of which 19,200 were filed bydomestic applicants.
Also during the said period, Chinese applicants filed a total of 676 international applications for design patents, anda total of 700 published international applications for design patents designated China.
Statistics based on the type of the patentees show that from January to April 2024, except for the public institutions,the numbers of domestic utility model patents granted to all the other four types of patentees all declined.
The number of utility model grants to institutions of higher learning decreased by 14.63%; the number of utility
model grants to individual decreased by 49.66%; and the number of utility model grants to enterprises decreased by19.45%.
The number of invention patent grants reached an annual growth rate of 46.24%. Among them, the invention patent
grants to institutions of higher learning increased by 7.41%; the invention patent grants to individuals increased by58.4%; and the invention patent grants to enterprises increased by 61.7%.

(Source: China National Intellectual Property Administration)

From June 1, 2024 and on, the CNIPA will issue the new-version patent certificate.
Recently, the China National Intellectual Property Administration (the “CNIPA”) issued a notice on the revisionof the patent certificate (No. 581), for patents whose grants are announced after the date June 1, 2024 (including thatdate), the CNIPA will issue a new-version patent certificate. The new-version patent certificate will follow the A4
vertical layout, and will optimize and adjust the layout of the description items of the patents.
Samples of the new-version patent certificates for inventions, utility models and design patents are provided below
for reference:

Page 6Patent(Source: China National Intellectual Property Administration)

Trademark
CNIPA publishes Statistics on Trademarks (January to April 2024)
From January to April 2024, the number of trademark registrations increased by 393,139 compared to the same
period of 2023, reaching an annual growth rate of 29.53%. The numbers of applications for opposition, reviewof rejection and invalidation all increased with respect to the same period of 2023. The increase in the number ofapplications for review of rejection reached a remarkable rate of 18.04%.

(Source: China National Intellectual Property Administration)

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Other IP Rights

CNIPA publishes Statistics on Geographical Indications and Layout Designs of IntegratedCircuits (January to April 2024)

In addition, from January to April 2024, 3,503 applications for registration of layout designs of integrated circuits
were filed in China, and 4,189 registration certificates were issued.
(Source: China National Intellectual Property Administration)

WIPO releases the 2024 World Intellectual Property Report
Recently, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) released the World Intellectual Property Report
2024 (the “Report”). The Report explores the intersection between human innovation, economic diversification andindustrial policy, arguing that the key for countries to achieve sustainable growth lies in making the development oflocal innovation capacity a policy priority.
China's patent boom has narrowed the technological capability gap with the developed countries. The Reportshows that over the past 20 years, China's technological capability has improved significantly due to the booming
development of patent applications, and the degree of technical capability specialization has jumped from 16% to94%.
The Report maps the innovation capacity of more than 150 countries over a 20-year period, pinpointing how
different countries are diversifying their economies in technology, science and exports. The Report analyzed nearly 40
million patent applications, more than 70 million scientific papers, and exports of goods and services worth more than$300 trillion, and found that innovation is highly concentrated in a small number of countries. The economies at thetop of the technology and productivity rankings are either high-income countries (such as the United States, France,
Germany, Japan, and South Korea) or large economies (such as China and India).
Over the past 20 years, the top eight innovative countries, such as the United States, China, and Germany, haveaccounted for 50% of global exports, 60% of scientific publications, and 80% of international patents granted. Amongthem, China, India and South Korea have significantly increased their technological diversification. These countries
have become substantial players on the global innovation stage.
Focusing on case studies across the eight countries in industries such as motorcycles, agricultural technology, andvideo games, the Report reveals how innovators and policymakers are forging their own unique development paths
through enhanced innovation capabilities.
(Source: China Intellectual Property News)