Pirated textbooks

Chinese schools are not allowed to photocopy foreign textbooks, said the Ministry of Education during the country's latest move to fight book piracy.

"All foreign textbooks used in Chinese universities and colleges should be the original edition or the authorized domestic edition," it said in a statement.

It said publishing houses affiliated with Chinese schools can publish domestic editions of foreign textbooks only after getting permission from the foreign publisher.

School leaders should be punished if illegal copies of foreign books are found in Chinese schools, it said.

Patent litigation seminar

Sponsored by the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO), a seminar on patent litigation in the United States was recently held in South China's Hainan Province. More than 100 representatives from enterprises and IPR-related departments attended the seminar.

The seminar aimed to offer broad and in-depth guidance and consultation concerning patent litigation practices and response strategy for regional IPR administration departments, enterprises and IPR agencies.

Vice Director of SIPO He Hua said that by simulating the entire trial procedure of patent infringement cases by the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, China's enterprises can know more about US procedures in patent lawsuit.

Piracy crackdown

China's National Copyright Administration (NCA) recently launched an unprecedented nation-wide campaign against piracy.

During the special action, illegally providing unauthorized film, music, software, teaching materials and other copyrighted materials will be severely punished.

Nineteen cities and provinces are named as major inspection regions, including Shanghai, Beijing and Zhejiang Province.

Piracy in Beijing was highlighted as the most serious.

According to the Beijing Bureau of Copyright Administration, in two weeks, the bureau will publish a list of websites suspected of Internet infringement.

General Protecht decision

General Protecht, China's major manufacturer of Ground Fault Circuit Interrupters (GFCI) has started producing products with its own intellectual property rights (IPR) for the Olympic stadiums in Beijing.

In early June it received an order over a two-year patent dispute lawsuit with the US electric company Leviton.

According to the order, the court accepted the claims of General Protecht that its products are beyond the scope of Leviton's patent; General Protecht's products do not violate Leviton's patent rights.

In April 2004, Leviton, a major GFCI manufacturer of in the United States, filed several patent infringement lawsuits against General Protecht's US clients, claiming that General Protecht's GFCI products violated Leviton's patent rights.

Counterfeit cigarrettes

Xi'an Tobacco Monopoly Administration uncovered a truck of counterfeit cigarettes last week. It is the largest single incidence of cigarette trademark infringement in Northwest China's Shaanxi Province.

The cigarettes mainly counterfeited popular products in Xi'an, with 16 brands and a value of 2.72 million yuan (US$344,000).

The counterfeited cigarettes copied the official control numbers printed on packages to protect against fake goods, indicating that the cigarettes were specially produced for the Xi'an market. The case is under investigation.

(China Daily 11/20/2006 page9)