Model city evaluation

SIPO has started an evaluation program on IP model cities in the nation, it said on its website on October 25.

The country now has more than 10 model cities for creating and protecting IP rights, with the designation to be reviewed after two years, but an evaluation system had been absent.

The nine main measurements for the model city title include IP management capability, IP creation capability, IP protection effectiveness, patent industrialization, IP rights education, and measures on encouraging innovation.

SIPO started evaluation on Chengdu and Wuhan recently and will then modify the evaluation indexes.

Emergency drug licensing

Yin Xintian, director of the department of treaties and regulations with SIPO, said on October 23 that compulsory licensing of drugs has been introduced for the first time into the patent law under revision.

He said Article 49 of the law states patent agencies of the State Council can issue compulsory licensing orders on drugs in order to prevent, treat or contain pandemics. Drug makers with the compulsory licensing orders can also export the drugs to other developing countries without licensed production.

Compulsory licensing is usually used in case of emergencies or for the purpose of public interests.

Pfizer's prevails over Viagra

The Beijing People's High Court ruled that a SIPO review committee on revoking Pfizer's Viagra patent was invalid, thus possibly putting an end to a six-year dispute, the Beijing News reported on October 28.

In September 2001, SIPO granted patents on Viagra to Pfizer. But 11 domestic companies filed a request to a SIPO patent review committee and asked the committee to nullify the patent status. In July 2004, the committee announced the Pfizer patent was invalid.

Pfizer then brought the review committee to an intermediate court in Beijing, which later ruled in favor of Pfizer. Domestic companies followed by appealing the case to the high court, but their requests were rejected.

Protecting cultural heritage

A China intangible heritage protection tour was launched in Yinzhou District, Ningbo, East China's Zhejiang Province on October 25. Feng Jicai, a novelist and an activist in the protection of traditional culture, led the nationwide tour to research traditional culture and intangible heritage, as well as raise awareness of the society on the protection of its cultural heritage.

Feng said while many Chinese focus on applications to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization for designation as heritage sites, it is more important to research and protect them.

Yinzhou District has been cited to have five specific national heritages and seven provincial heritages.

Prison for piracy

A court in Wuhan, Hubei Province, sentenced two people selling pirated audio and visual discs to 11 months and 10 months in prison respectively, according to the website of the Ministry of Culture.

Yu Chuanlin and Wang Shengxiang were apprehended on January 9 selling pirated discs at a shopping center in Wuhan and 21,716 piracy discs were found on the spot.

After eight months of investigation and court hearings, the two were sent to prison and fined 10,000 yuan each.

Hunan well-known brands

The Hunan provincial government gave awards of 5 million yuan to 10 enterprises for Chinese well-known brands, the Xinhua News Agency reported on October 25.

It's part of the provincial government's efforts to encourage companies to create well-known brands and protect them.

At present the Central China province has 36 national well-known brands and 599 provincially well-known brands.

In the first half of the year, the province also investigated 967 trademark violations, confiscated 18,560 items with counterfeit trademarks and destroyed 22.17 tons of fake products.

International copyright forum

An international copyright forum will be held in Beijing on November 9, on the sidelines of the second China (Beijing) International Cultural and Creative Industry Expo from November 8 to 11.

The theme of the forum is that creativity creates fortune and copyrights facilitate distribution. Participants will discuss how copyright protection will help grow creative industries.

(China Daily 11/05/2007 page9)

2013-07-17