Discussions on the Rules of Interpreting the Functional Technical Features in the Patent Law authored by Huang Jianguo, W&B partner et al Won the Second Prize for Outstanding Paper at the 14th Lawyer’s Forum of East China
From October 17th to 18th, 2016, the 14th Lawyers’ Forum of East China, co-hosted by Shanghai Lawyers Association and the lawyers association of six provinces including Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Fujian, Shandong and Jiangxi and organized by the Lawyers Association of Zhejiang, took place in Radisson-Baille Hotel in Hangzhou, Zhejiang. Themed “Legal Service under a New Normal Economic Condition”, this forum met representatives of lawyers from six provinces and one municipal city in the East China. Zheng Jindu, Chairman of the Lawyers Association of Zhejiang, presided over the opening ceremony. Wang Junfeng, Chairman of the All China Lawyers Association, and Wang Jianman, PCC Vice Chairman of Zhejiang, attended the opening ceremony and delivered speeches.
The lawyer delegation of 22 representatives from Shanghai Lawyers Association participating in the event was led by Guan Jianjun, Vice Chairman of the Shanghai Lawyers Association and Wang Xufeng, Deputy Secretary General of the Shanghai Lawyers Association. Among the representatives, Huang Jianguo, W&B partner specialized in patent litigation, was invited to the “Sub-Forum of Innovation Promotion and IP Rights Protection” and delivered a speech titled Discussions on the Rules for Interpreting the Functional Technical Features under the Patent Law.
The forum started to solicit contributions from the six provinces and one municipal city in East China from July 2016. The Discussions, authored by Huang Jianguo and Deng Wen, as evaluated and recommended by the lawyers associations in the said regions, won the second prize for Outstanding Paper at the forum. The paper discusses in detail and demonstrates the challenges that the current rules for interpreting functional technical features are faced with in the judicial practice, and proposed bold advice on the comprehensive exploration of the protection for functional technical features. It also has practical implications for the intensified reform of the patent system and the strengthened protection of rights owned by patentees.
Established in 1981 and formerly known as “Experience Exchange of Legal Practice for Lawyers of East China”, the Lawyers’ Forum of East China changed into its current name in 2003. The lawyers association of the six provinces (Fujian, Zhejiang, Shandong, Jiangxi, Jiangsu, Anhui) and one municipal (Shanghai) in East China take turns to host the forum, which, after development of over a dozen years, has grown into one of the oldest and most influential regional lawyers forums catering to the highest number of lawyers.
This forum has been a fruitful occasion that witnessed the perfect integration between theories and practices, ideas and intelligence. The prize for Huang Jianguo marks yet another remarkable achievement of W&B in the field of IP laws.