Protection of Design Patents in China and Comparison with European Union Law: How Foreign Companies Can Protect Their Design Patents in China

Abstract

This paper is mainly focused on a specific aspect of Chinese intellectual property law: design patents and utility models related to foreign companies, especially in automotive and fashion industries. It aims to analyze and examine the protection of design patents and utility models featuring in foreground real cases in China and involving foreign companies, especially European and Italian companies. Holders of intellectual property rights and possible solutions to their cases are the focus and objective of this paper: how foreign companies can face these issues through the existing Chinese intellectual property law and, when Chinese law is not satisfactory enough or when there is a lack, trying to find new possible solutions and suggestions which might be beneficial for foreign companies. Considering interests and concerns which involve foreign companies and their products in the subject matter, Chinese intellectual property law has evolved in the past few years in order to safeguard foreign companies from infringement of their rights, which became quite frequent. Currently the aim of Chinese intellectual property law is not only to prevent lawsuits between foreign and local companies, but also the infringement itself by local companies. Comparing Chinese intellectual property law with European provisions concerning intellectual property rights system, the objective is trying to understand the differences and mostly the advantages that one system can show more than the other one, finding new strategies and remedies, such as updates and solutions that might be useful to insert in the current Chinese intellectual property system and which might be efficient and functional for foreign companies’ business in China as well as to protect their intellectual property rights in the best way.