Courts to find IPR balance

China's courts will balance the encouragement of innovation and fair competition when handling intellectual property rights (IPR) cases, says Cao Jianming, vice-president of China Supreme People's Court.

The development of a monopoly by a handful of technologically advanced companies resistant to fair competition has aroused public concern and led to civil lawsuits.

Cao says that legal officials should work diligently to deconstruct illegal technological monopolies and remove obstructions to technological advancement through trying anti-trust cases related to the Anti-Unfair-Competition Law and the Contract Law, paying particular attention to technological contract disputes.

Fair competition should be preserved by identifying invalid terms in technological contracts that result in R&D restrictions, compulsory grant-backs, implementation obstructions, bundling sales, limited releases and validity suspicions, Cao says.

"All IPR products must be protected in order to encourage innovation. Other products shall be put in the public domain to ensure free use and competition," says Cao.

Exhibitors unite to protect IPR

Beijing Municipality launched its "Blue Sky Trade Show Action" in mid-February with the aim of preventing companies from exhibiting products that infringe upon the rights of IPR holders.

A score of international exhibition companies and more than 30 IPR legal service agents signed cooperation agreements at the launching ceremony.

Liu Zhengang, head of the Beijing Municipal Intellectual Property Office, says violations tended to "cluster" at trade shows, because many organizers pay little attention to the IPR issue and give the go-ahead to all companies eager to display their products. Liu says that in the second half of this year, the city will work out detailed measures on the implementation of the Regulations on IPR Protection at Trade Shows.

MySpace video filter

MySpace's recent announcement that it will use a pilot program to block videos with unauthorized copyrighted content posted on its site makes it the largest Internet video site to offer free filtering to copyright holders.

MySpace's filter screens video uploaded by users and blocks any video matching a fingerprint in its database by using digital fingerprinting technology licensed from Audible Magic. MySpace's video filter is the latest addition to the industry-leading suite of tools it has developed to help copyright owners protect copyrighted works on MySpace.

The use of MySpace's new video filter comes on the heels of the audio filtering system it unveiled last fall. MySpace has also developed a special content takedown tool to make it easier and more efficient for copyright owners to request the removal of any user-posted content they claim is unauthorized.

Karaoke bars pay royalties

Twelve karaoke bars in Kunming, capital of Southwest China's Yunnan Province, have decided to pay copyright royalties a month after the National Copyright Administration issued an order proclaiming such fees mandatory.

The karaoke bars signed agreements with the China Audio and Video Association (CAVA) to pay the royalties within 15 days, according to CAVA's liaison office in Kunming.

After receiving positive feedback from the bars, CAVA decided to charge a preferential daily rate of 8 yuan for each private room at the bars.

The National Copyright Administration of China set the highest daily rate for a private room at a karaoke bar at 12 yuan late last year.

Meanwhile, 30 other karaoke bars in the city say they are willing to sign agreements with CAVA, according to the liaison office.

Online piracy crackdown

China shut down 205 illegal websites and investigated 436 cases of online piracy from September to January, according to Yan Xiaohong, deputy chief of the National Copyright Administration.

Yan says that during the four-month crackdown, the administration has collected 705,100 yuan in fines and penalties.

Seventy-one illegal servers have been confiscated, he says, adding that six cases of online piracy have been transferred to judicial departments.

About 130 cases involved foreign copyright holders, and nearly 90 percent of these cases have been dealt with, Yan says.

Gift industry on the rise

The output value of China's gift industry rose 12 percent year on year to about 200 billion yuan in 2006, the latest official statistics show.

Currently, China has more than 10,000 gift enterprises, some of which boasts an annual output value of more than 500 million yuan.

Made-in-China gifts and souvenirs such as fashionable ornaments, picture frames, festival lamps, Christmas articles, soft toys and leisure commodities make up the lion's share of the world market, according to light industry association sources.

Piracy syndicate raided

After a year-long investigation, the Hong Kong Customs & Excise Department in mid-February raided 20 premises in Hong Kong connected to an optical disc piracy syndicate controlled by an organized criminal gang, arresting 14 men and women and seizing more than 120,000 pirated optical discs.

In a synchronized sweep, 130 officers from Hong Kong Customs' Special Task Force (STF) raided premises in Hong Kong's Kwun Tong, Cheung Sha Wan, Tsing Yi, Kwai Chung, Tseung Kwan O, Ngau Tau Kok, To Kwa Wan, Lam Tin and Causeway Bay districts, shutting down piracy operations in three warehouses, three retail shops and 14 residences.

(China Daily 03/05/2007 page9)

2013-07-17