Newsletter September

1.Bridgeon Law Firm Ranked in the Notable Firm List in Intellectual Property of Asialaw Profiles 2020

Asialaw Profiles, a renowned legal rating agency, released its latest rankings of 2020 leading law firms and lawyers in the Asia-Pacific area on Sep 16th, 2019. Bridgeon Law Firm was awarded as Notable Firm in Intellectual Property.

Bridgeon Law Firm has specialized in IP area since its inception and made great achievements for its clients. This is a recognition for our expertise and brand image. With our specialty, we will commit ourselves to providing high-quality and full-spectrum IP counselling for clients.

Asialaw Profiles is a recognized directory dedicated to legal practice in the Asia-Pacific area under Legal Media Group. It has been publishing rankings for years based on its objective and comprehensive researches.  

2.Are Trade Secrets an Alternative Way to Protect AI

Ms. Youping Ma and Mr. Guoquan Yang, partners of Bridgeon Law Firm, published an article of “Are Trade Secrets an Alternative Way to Protect AI” in the September issue of MIP 2019. The article examined how AI could be protected by trade secrets, analyzed which aspects of AI technologies should be safeguarded using this approach, and interpreted how the China new Anti-Unfair Competition Law enhanced protection of IP owners. 

With the rapid developments of AI technology, more and more AI products have been launched. How to protect the technologies involved and how to protect the business has posed great challenges to IP owners.

Patents and trade secrets serve as two different tools for protecting IP rights. Patents focus on promoting public disclosure, while trade secrets put more emphasis on protecting internal innovation. These two tools can be backup for each other. An AI company shall use them comprehensively to safeguard its business.

3.  Bridgeon Law Won the “PICO” Trademark Application Dispute in Beijing IP Court

Bridgeon Law Firm represented the plaintiff of Beijing Pico Technology Co., Ltd in the trademark application dispute of “PICO” against China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA).  The Beijing IP Court issued an administrative judgment in the favor of Pico, which annulled the disputed decision made by CNIPA, and ordered CNIPA to issue a new decision regarding the disputed trademark.

The main dispute was whether the trademark application at issue conformed to the provisions of Article 30 of the Trademark Law, which stipulated that “Where a trademark application does not comply with the relevant provisions in this Law or is identical with or similar to a registered trademark used in connection with the same or similar goods, its registration shall be refused by the Trademark Office after examination and the mark shall not be published”.

In the trial, the quoted trademark against “PICO”, on which the review decision in dispute was based, had been revoked. The quoted trademark had lost its exclusive right and would no longer constitute an obstacle to the disputed trademark application. Therefore, the disputed mark shall be approved for registration within the designated categories.

PICO is specialized in producing electronic products in smart wear and VR areas and has been launching products around the world under the “PICO” brand. With this success, we helped the client in safeguarding its legitimate interests.