IPR teamwork

The United States will strengthen its co-operation with China in protecting intellectual property rights (IPR) and cracking down on infringements and piracy, US assistant secretary of commerce David Bohigian said in Shenyang.

China and the United States both realize that the economic development and prosperity of a region should be based on the protection of IPR and innovations, Bohigian said at the end of a recent three-day visit to Shenyang, capital of Northeast China's Liaoning Province.

Bohigian said that China is working to increase its capacity for innovations, and that the protection of IPR is critically important for innovations.

China needs to do much more in the protection of IPR, he said.

Yahoo China faces suit

Major music companies are preparing to sue Yahoo China over complaints that the popular search engine violates copyrights by linking to websites that offer pirated music.

John Kennedy, chairman of the International Federation of Phonographic Industries (IFPI), which represents the music companies, said: "Yahoo China has been blatantly infringing our members' rights. We are taking the preliminary steps required by Chinese law for filing a lawsuit."

The IFPI says Yahoo China links to outside sites with unlicensed MP3 downloads of hundreds of songs.

Yahoo China, operated by Alibaba.com Corp, which is 40 per cent owned by US-based Yahoo Inc, is one of China's most popular search engines.

The IFPI could file its lawsuit within a few weeks, said Kennedy. His group represents more than 1,400 recording companies in 73 countries, including major US, European and Asian labels.

Kennedy wouldn't say how much money the lawsuit would ask for in damages. But he did say it would include a request for a court order to stop copyright infringement.

Yahoo China spokesman Porter Erisman said the search engine is acting "within the law."

Patent infringement resolved

China portable flash memory device manufacturer Netac and Chinese leading MP3 player manufacturer Beijing Huaqi Information Digital Technology announced on July 8 that they have finally reconciled after a four-year legal battle.

Details of the agreement were not announced. The China Electronic Chamber of Commerce served as mediator for the negotiations.

Netac sued several flash memory manufacturers including Huaqi, Acer (Beijing) and Lenovo for flash memory patent infringement in September 2002. Shenzhen Intermediate Court ordered Huaqi to stop producing MP3 players with flash memory and to pay Netac 500,000 yuan (US$62,500) in compensation in June 2004, which Huaqi appealed.

Breakthrough appointment

On June 20, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) mediation committee held its 54th meeting (the 18th special meeting) in Geneva.

On the meeting, Wang Binying, the incumbent executive director of WIPO from China, was successfully promoted to the Assistant Director-General (ADG). Kamil Idris, the Director-General, announced this WIPO senior position appointment, which was agreed to by all delegates.

The appointment of the first Chinese official as the ADG of WIPO has marked an extraordinary breakthrough in the past 26 years since China's accession to the WIPO. Before Wang's appointment, no Chinese officials had been appointed as WIPO senior officials. Wang's appointment has significant meanings for increasing China's influences in the intellectual property rights (IPR) field in the international community, promoting the work related to IPR within China and advancing the process of building China as an innovative nation.

Sources reveal that 49 members of the mediation committee and 11 observing member states of WIPO participated in the meeting, which was chaired by the Zambian Ambassador. The Chinese representative group was headed by Li Yuguang, the deputy director of SIPO of China.

Piracy crackdown

Some 223 pirate CD and DVD production lines have been closed since a crackdown began in 1996.

The latest two illegal production lines were discovered by local police in Shenzhen of South China's Guangdong Province on March 15, according to a report by the national anti-piracy office under the General Administration of Press and Publication.

Rewards of up to 300,000 yuan (US$37,500) have been offered to encourage members of the public to report any suspicious activity, which could be related to the production, transport, trading and sale of pirated optical disks. "More than 40 million yuan (US$5 million) worth of rewards have been paid since 1996, and we plan to expand our rewards system," said Wang Xikai, publicity director of the anti-piracy office.

In one Shenzhen raid, more than 60,000 completed pirated discs and 730,000 semi-finished discs were found. Suspects Huang Wenxin, Hou Linping and Li Zhihui were arrested after police found the bootlegging base.

In a similar case, some 360,000 pirated discs were found in a garage in Nanning, capital of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, on January 15.

According to the administration, a 100-day campaign urging people to say no to pirated discs and publications will be launched on July 15.

Fostering IT innovation

Chinese electronics and IT manufacturers need to enhance intellectual property rights (IPR) and optimize their products structure to broaden international markets, since most of their core technologies and parts still rely on imports.

The Chinese Government will give more support to enterprises focusing on IPR establishment and technology creation, said Lou Qinjian, vice-minister of the Ministry of Information Industry, said at the China International Consumer Electronics Show in East China's Shandong Province.

The vice-minister said the domestic electronics and IT sector has developed rapidly in recent years as competition in the sector improved.

Lou called for domestic electronics and IT firms to redouble their efforts in innovation, especially in setting technology standards, to improve competitiveness.

For the consumer electronics area, supporting the development of liquid crystal display TVs (LCD TV) is "absolutely the emphasis," Lou said.

(China Daily 07/17/2006 page9) 

2013-07-17