For the past two years, China has been undergoing significant legislative development in the fields of generic drugs and anti-trust. The new patent linkage system allows drug patent owners to obtain a stay of generic approval while litigating their rights. The new framework, which does not provide an automatic permanent...

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For the past two years, China has been undergoing significant legislative development in the fields of generic drugs and anti-trust. The new patent linkage system allows drug patent owners to obtain a stay of generic approval while litigating their rights. The new framework, which does not provide an automatic permanent injunction unless an effective decision is obtained, has been long awaited by innovative pharmaceutical companies. It remains to be seen whether the Beijing IP Court and the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) can maintain this level of speed as they process the growing number of originator-versus-generic lawsuits passing through the new system. On the competition front, China's State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) is closing a consultation on revised competition rules that include a provision focusing on trade secrets. The proposed provision seeks to strengthen protections and establish a trade secrets protection system that integrates self-protection, administrative protection and judicial protection. In 2019 amendments to the law provided for punitive damages for malicious infringement, shifted the burden of proof onto defendants and raised the upper limit of statutory damages. Provinces such as Guangdong, Shandong and Hunan have issued local regulations and guidelines on trade secrets protection, with the Chinese government building trade secrets protection bases directly connected to the SAMR. This creates local and more accessible and convenient avenues for administrative protection, and multinational companies may be more willing to use this protection in the future.

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