To implement the June 2022 revised Anti-Monopoly Law of the People’s Republic of China (“Anti-Monopoly Law”), the State Administration for Market Regulation (“SAMR”) began drafting a revision of the Provisions on Prohibiting Abuse of Intellectual Property Rights to Exclude and Restrict Competition (“2015 Provisions”) promulgated in 2015, and adopted a new comprehensive version of the Provisions on 25 June 2023. The newly revised Provisions (“2023 Provisions”), will come into force on 1 August 2023, changed from 19 Articles in the Provisions 2015 to 33 Articles, retaining only the original Article 11, modifying the other 18 Articles, and adding 14 new Articles.
According to Article 3 of the 2023 Provisions, the abuse of intellectual property rights to exclude or restrict competition refers to monopoly agreements, abuse of a dominant position in the market, or the implementation of a concentration of undertakings that has or may have the effect of excluding or restricting competition concluded or conducted by the exercise of intellectual property rights by undertakings in violation of the provisions of the Anti-Monopoly Law. According to Article 5 of the 2023 Provisions, the relevant market includes the relevant product market and geographical market. The relevant product market includes the relevant technology market constituted by the competition between the technologies involved in the exercise of intellectual property rights and similar technologies that can be substituted for each other. Read more