Olympic marks registered

The State Administration for Industry and Commerce said 69 logos related with the Olympics were filed on record and seven special marks were registered with the administration for protection of intellectual properties related with the 2008 Olympic Games. Applications to protect the emblem and mascot designs for the Games in Beijing have also been filed.

A group of 20 companies authorized to use those intellectual properties also put copies of their licensing agreements into administration records.

The administration said that from 2004 to 2006, some 1,128 cases of suspected infringements on intellectual property rights (IPRs) related to the Olympics were investigated with a value of 14.89 million yuan. Convicted companies and individuals were fined 8.38 million yuan and seven people were brought to court.

Shanghai markets warned

As many as 600 clothes and commodities marketplaces in Shanghai were told to stop selling products bearing trademarks of over 20 brands including Giorgio Armani, Versace, Gucci and Rolex beginning April 19.

It is the second ban from the Shanghai municipal government on selling products with international famous brands since October 2004, which banned sales of over 40 international brands in marketplaces that were suspected of selling counterfeits.

The government said any vendors selling listed products in those marketplaces will be charged with selling counterfeits and can be subjected to criminal charges.

Newspapers not registered

As many as 87 percent of Chinese newspapers and 82 percent of magazines do not have their trademarks registered, according to a survey by the China Trademark and Industrial Economy Working Group.

The survey among 2,709 newspapers in China showed that only one-fourth of newspapers in Beijing registered their trademarks, which is the highest percentage in the country.

Trademarks of some famous newspapers such as Shanghai's Xinmin Evening News and Hunan's Changsha Morning Post were already registered by other parties.

Tianjin IPRs

Almost 80 percent of enterprises in Tianjin Economic Development Area (TEDA) have developed their intellectual property strategies and established organizations, as companies have begun to pay more attention to their intellectual property.

Last year, companies in TEDA applied for 600 patents, 76 percent more than in 2005. Participation this year is higher, with three patent applications a day filed.

As many as 77 percent of the companies filing patents have commercialized their patents or licensed them to others.

Complaint center opened

Beijing Municipal Intellectual Property Protection Working Office and Beijing Economic and Technology Development Area opened the first IPR complaint center on April 26 in a national economic development area and outsourcing base in the country.

The center will process complaints from enterprises in IPR infringements, provide consulting services and help companies defend their rights.

180,000 fakes destroyed

Huangpu Customs in Guangzhou recently destroyed over 180,000 counterfeits as 28 international famous trademark holders were invited to witness the action.

Li Peilin, chief of the customs, said that as customs builds efforts in fighting counterfeits, fake goods makers and dealers also change their ways. One new characteristic is that foreign buyers purchase fake products in China and then ask domestic exporters to handle customs clearance processes.

Another new approach is that counterfeiters do not use exactly same trademarks as before, but use similar designs. The postal service has also become a new channel for delivery. Last year, 37 percent of all counterfeit cases investigated by customs nationwide used postal services to send goods.

Electrical patent dispute

CHINT, a domestic industrial electrical company, filed a suit against French competitor Schneider Electric in a court in Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, where CHINT is headquartered.

The Chinese firm claimed five products of Schneider Electric infringed on its patents and asked the latter to stop selling and destroy the products. It also demanded 330 million yuan in compensation, the largest amount ever in China.

Schneider Electric's lawyers defended the company by saying that CHINT's patents are already public knowledge and should not be regarded as effective patents. They also said CHINT's estimation of sales from the five products did not include auditing on costs, so sales should not be taken as a basis to estimate the claimed losses.

A Schneider Electric spokesman in China also said the involved products have been produced in China since 1990, well before the application of CHINT's patents.

(China Daily 05/14/2007 page9)