30 proposals

The State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) said on its website that a total of 30 proposals on intellectual property work were filed by legislators of the fifth session of the 10th National People's Congress, which was held in March, eight more than the number in last year's session.

A total of 12 proposals are about the administration system of intellectual property. Legislators suggested the country should unify the authority on patents, trademarks and copyrights into a single administrative body for better execution.

Eight proposals called for better legal protection of intellectual property rights (IPRs) and increased punishments on violators. Seven proposals urged the nation to increase support for the creation of IPRs.

Six emphasized the importance of talent in intellectual property work and another six called for the establishment of an appeals court on IPRs.

Franchise rights urged

IPR protection has become one of the concerns for catering and service companies, a report by the China Chain Store and Franchise Association said.

The association conducted a survey among 158 franchise chains and found three main problems for the companies building a comprehensive modern management system, regulating franchised companies and building brands. IPR protection was also listed.

An annual report by the association indicated there were 2,600 franchise chains and almost 200,000 chain stores, growing by 13 percent and 16 percent respectively. Over three million jobs have been created in the industry.

Guangdong joins HK and Macao

Guangdong Province began almost 30 joint actions with neighboring Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions and coordinated on over 30 cases, according to Li Zhongduo, director of Guangdong Provincial IP Administration.

He said the three sides exchanged over 200 pieces of intelligence and met more than 20 times to discuss how to curb piracies and IPR infringement. They also instituted campaigns to fight piracy of discs, which led to a sharp decline on the number.

The three parties also began special campaigns on software copies and goods, and a seminar on IPRs for small and medium-sized enterprises.

Students file patents

Primary and high school students in Shanghai filed 1,035 patent applications last year, as the enthusiasm of young students in innovation has been rising in the Chinese economic hub.

The Shanghai Municipal Education Committee and Shanghai Intellectual Property Administration named 16 schools as pilot institutions for intellectual property to encourage efforts in innovation.

Some innovations have good commercial prospects one that helps a baby cart to find its mother interested a buyer, while another that assists blind people to notice traffic lights also aroused interest from a non-governmental organization.

Beijing IPR hotline

After the Beijing municipal government opened the IPR complaint hotline 12312 last June, the center received 206 complaints, 56 percent of which were from foreign rights owners.

The Beijing Intellectual Property Office has started an English website for complaints, www.beijing12312.com. Foreign rights owners are urged to file complaints in written form, as IPR protection information usually involves complex technological jargon.

Beijing Municipality raided over 200 locations for infringement and held five IPR tribunals last year. This year, it will open another three complaint centers, in the Yizhuang, Chaoyang and Haidian areas, where many foreign-invested companies are located.

Fakes destroyed in Shenzhen

Shenzhen Customs destroyed counterfeit goods with a value of over 50 million yuan on April 20 to show its determination and "teach a lesson" to makers of fake goods.

Products destroyed included cosmetics, auto parts, game consoles, watches, handset chargers, and handbags with brand names like Nokia, LV, Philips, Sony, and Canon. Representatives from over 20 companies that own rights were invited to witness the action.

Damages for pirated pens

Chongqing Supreme People's Court held a briefing on April 19 to disclose results of IPR judgments in 2006.

A bookstore in the city was fined 5,000 yuan for selling two fake Parker pens. Last January, Parker China filed a suit against the bookstore and demanded 150,000 yuan in compensation. The court ruled that the bookstore bought the pens from a stationery retailer and itself did not have the intention to infringe the rights of Parker China.

The bookstore was ruled not responsible for damages, but was ordered to pay reasonable fees for Parker's action to stop infringement, so the bookstore was fined 5,000 yuan.

Invitation card patent upheld

The patent review board of the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) ruled recently that a challenge on an invitation card patent from Wenzhou, East China's Zhejiang Province, was ineffective and upheld the right of the patent.

In Wenzhou, people like sending artistically designed invitation cards or wedding jewelry cases, so Jin Xiangyang, general manager of Jinyang Jewelry Shop, filed several patents on designs for invitation cards and wedding jewelry cases to SIPO and was granted the rights.

Last year, Jin found some shops in the city were selling cards with his designs, so he contacted them and all of them except for a shop named Jinwannian made apologies and paid compensation.

Jin finally decided to sue Jinwannian and asked 80,000 yuan in compensation.

Last March, Jinwannian also supplied evidence and asked the review board of SIPO to nullify the patents of Jin Xiangyang, but the bid was not successful.

(China Daily 04/30/2007 page9)
 

2013-07-17