Tightening the reins

The National Working Group for Intellectual Property Right (IPR) Protection and the Ministry of Commerce called upon 54 national economic development zones, 27 service outsourcing zones and 50 IPR complaint service centers to sign an agreement to tighten the reins of IPR protection in economic and outsourcing zones.

New complaint service centers will respond to rights holders and will help protect their rights in the zones.

The ministries and agencies of the Chinese government will develop more regulations to better protect IPR in the zones.

The 50 complaint service centers handled more than 70,000 inquiries and received 2,464 complaints in the first seven months.

CIFIT center

A complaint service center was established at the China International Fair for Investment and Trade (CIFIT) in Xiamen to respond to complaints from IPR holders and protect their interests.

The National Working Group for Intellectual Property Right Protection set up the center at the fair. Setting up IPR protection service centers has become standard practice for many large exhibitions in the country, because China seeks to thwart IP infringements at such events.

CIFIT is one of the largest trade fairs in China and has run for 11 years. About 10,000 foreign participants took part in the fair.

Joint training

A joint IP law enforcement-training program involving the cooperation of Chinese and German officers ran from September 5 to 10 in Huangshan, in East China's Anhui Province. A total of 90 Chinese law enforcement officers participated in the training.

The National Working Group for Intellectual Property Right (IPR) Protection, the Ministry of Public Security and GTZ, an enterprise promoting international cooperation on sustainable development, organized the events.

It is the first time that law enforcement officers were trained in a Sino-foreign joint program. German procurators were also invited to teach at the training sessions.

Knowledge contest

A total of 102 winners were awarded on September 5 in a knowledge contest organized by the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO). Staged on International Intellectual Property Day on April 26, the contest attracted about 50,000 participants from 30 provincial regions of the Chinese mainland.

New IP pilot city

Xinyu City, in East China's Jiangxi Province, became the latest IP pilot city in the country, bringing the total number up to 35.

Lin Binhui, deputy commissioner of SIPO, awarded a certificate to the city at a ceremony and urged the city to upgrade its IP administration, creation and protection capabilities.

SIPO has approved 35 pilot cities so far and plans to increase the awareness of local governments about protecting and encouraging the creation of IP. Some cities even send patent officials or agents to companies and individuals to provide services and financial aid or handle complaints from rights owners onsite.

3M retracts allegations

The US-based diversified technology firm 3M, maker of Scotch and Post-it, in September dropped Lenovo from the list it filed with the US International Trade Commission for patent infringement investigation.

Lenovo had been accused of violating 3M's patents on lithium ion batteries, but 3M later reached settlements with Lenovo's two suppliers - Matsushita Electric Industrial Co Ltd and Sony Corp - and the infringement allegations against Lenovo were dropped.

3M's cathode materials, containing nickel, manganese and cobalt, are believed to be important technologies for current and next-generation lithium ion batteries.

AVS likely to go national

The Chinese audio and video standard (AVS) proposal is likely to become a national standard this year, says Huang Tiejun, chief of the AVS working group.

AVS, which is used for coding and decoding audio and visual signals and is a competitor of MPEG4 in the United States and H.264, filed its audio proposal with the Ministry of Information Industry. Approval is likely to be given within this year.

The video part of the standard was approved to be a national standard last February. So, if the audio part is also approved, it will become a full standard.

AVS, MPEG4 and H.264 are expected to be widely used in any audio and visual devices, including TV sets, mobile phones and even online video.

AVS will only charge 1 yuan on patents - just a fraction of what the other two competitors charge.

Osram shows gratitude

German light-maker Osram sent a representative from its headquarters to Fangcheng, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, to express gratitude to local police departments for their efforts in stopping counterfeit Osram products.

The local police and Osram officials destroyed fake products together in a show of determination.

Last April, the local police found more than 35,000 fake Osram motorbike lights worth 100,000 yuan. Later, two people involved in the case were imprisoned and fined.

Claim rejected

An intermediary court in Beijing recently ruled that the Japanese firm Nemoto & Co Ltd's claim for a rare earth-emitting light patent was invalid, ending a 15-month-long patent dispute between a Chinese firm and the Japanese company.

Last year, Nemoto and its Hong Kong subsidiary filed a suit against Sichuan Sunfor Light Co Ltd, claiming the latter violated its patent and seeking 500,000 yuan in compensation.

Sunfor, a major, rare earth light-emitting-device maker in China, fought back, claiming the technology was developed by a Chinese university 15 years ago.

New brands

Foshan, in Guangdong Province, is the city with the most famous brands in China, and it recently announced its intentions to create three globally famous brands before 2010. Those brands will get 500,000 yuan in reward, the city government says.

Currently, the city has 53 nationally famous brands and 16 well-known brands, as well as 151 provincially well-known brands and 156 globally famous brands.

Foshan is known for ceramics, home appliances, rubber and food processing, and has regarded brand building as a key strategy for upgrading its industries.

LCD breakthrough

TCL, the biggest Chinese TV maker, said on September 10 that it had achieved a breakthrough in LCD TV lighting technologies and was applying for more than 100 patents on the Chinese mainland and overseas.

The technologies have been licensed to LCD TV panel makers in Taiwan Province and Japan.

The company claims the breakthrough resolved a traditional weakness of LCD TV sets: the sharp brightness of which leads to a weariness of eyes during long viewing periods. But the power-saving TCL technology simulates natural lighting and significantly improves video quality and reduces eye weariness.

The first product, H78, also the thinnest LCD TV at 72 mm, was released on the day of the announcement.

(China Daily 09/17/2007 page9)

2013-07-17