In 2002, the SIPO made new achievements in the aspect of patent administrative enforcement.
In January, the SIPO accomplished the statistics of 2001 regarding patent administrative enforcement of the local IP administrations.
The SIPO issued and circulated the Notice on Enhancing the Cracking Down on Counterfeits to Meet the Needs of China's Accession to the WTO before March 15, International Consumer Day, requiring all IP administrations to adapt to the new situation after China's accession to the WTO, to enhance understanding through learning, to further crack down on counterfeits, to pay attention to major cases, to improve enforcement efficiency through the taking of full advantage of modern technologies, to strengthen coordination among IP enforcement agencies and communication between the agencies and the public, and attach to importance to carrying out special enforcement activities. The local IP administrations carried out independent enforcement actions or coordinated with administrations for industry and commerce, public security bureaus, copyright bureaus, customs agencies, and quality supervision bureaus to effectively crack down on counterfeits, to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of consumers and IPR owners, to enhance IP protection awareness in all walks of life, to further play the role of the IP system in promoting technological innovation and to create a favorable marketing and legal environment.
According to the spirit of the Notice on Strengthening Coordination in Investigating and Handling Criminal Cases Violating IPRs co-issued by the Ministry of Public Security, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC) and the SIPO, on February 8, 2002, the Economic Criminal Investigation Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security, the Trademark Office of the SAIC, the Fair Trade Bureau of the SAIC, and the Coordination and Administration Department of the SIPO organized the first joint committee meeting of 2002. All member units of the joint committee reported on the work undertaken and accomplished in 2001 in regulating and standardizing the economic and market order, introduced the important working plan and arrangement in 2002, and discussed n how to further enhance the coordination between them in enforcement practices, especially as concerned the issue of transferring cases suspected as crimes during the investigation and handling of cases. After the meeting, the SIPO circulated the Notice on the Summary of the First Joint Committee Meeting of 2002 Co-organized by the Economic Criminal Investigation Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security, the Trademark Office of the SAIC, the Fair Trade Bureau of the SAIC, and the Coordination and Administration Department of the SIPO, requiring all local IP administrations to take positive measures and to act in the spirit of the Notice.
According to statistics, the IP (Patent) Administrations of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the leadership of the Central Government handled 1442 patent disputes, 1291 of which were resolved. Among the patent disputes, 1390 were related to infringement, 29 related to patent ownership, and 23 related to other disputes. In addition, 104 cases related to patents for inventions, 622 related to utility models, and 716 related to industrial designs. A total of 262 Cases were resolved through administrative treatment, while 711 through mediation, and 239 for withdrawal of cases, 28 through administrative ruling, and 51 for refusal.
From 1985 to the end of 2002, the above-mentioned IP (patent) administrations received a total of 9,095 patent disputes, 7,959 of which were resolved.
In 2002, the IP (patent) administrations prosecuted 177 cases on counterfeiting patents and 1,679 cases on the passing off of patents.