Trademark group launched

The Tianjin Trademark Association, initiated by owners of famous registered trademarks and trademark experts, was formally established recently and held its first plenary conference. The association has 117 members.

It will publicize and implement national trademark-related laws, regulations and policies, guide and assist members to use trademark strategies. It will also give guidance on applications, make suggestions to trademark authorities, safeguard the trademark rights of members and offer legal consultations for members.

Patent subsidies granted

The Hubei Provincial Intellectual Property Office recently issued the Notice on Issuing the Subsidies to the First Batch of Granted Patents in Hubei in 2008. More than 1.8 million yuan subsidies will be allocated directly to application units.

The subsidizing policies have been implemented for more than a year and have played a role in raising social IP awareness and encouraged inventors in Hubei.

Technology innovation

The Jiangsu Science and Technology Department recently announced the list of Jiangsu Provincial Top 100 Technology-based Enterprises at the first Jiangsu Science and Technology Venture Week.

Fourteen enterprises from Nanjing entered the list. The 14 enterprises cover electronics, environmental protection, machinery, medicine and construction materials industries. They are four-and-a-half years old on average and have total assets of 40.57 million yuan on average. They all have been focusing on independent innovation and increasing research and development (R&D) investment. They hold 89 IP rights. R&D investment takes up 12.04 percent of their sales revenue and R&D talents account for 33 percent of their total number of employees on average.

IP loans for SMEs

Technology-based small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Beijing can apply to the Bank of Beijing for mortgage loans intellectual property as collateral to solve the financing difficulties of enterprise development.

The Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission and Bank of Beijing recently signed an overall strategic cooperation agreement and promoted the financial product of IP mortgage loans for technology-based small and medium-sized enterprises in Beijing.

The Bank of Beijing will grant IP mortgage loans of 300 million yuan in the next three years. The Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission will give interest allowances to the technology-based enterprises that obtain the loans.

Invention patents, utility model patents and trademark exclusive rights will all be considered as collateral for the loan applications.

Guangdong-HK IP cooperation

The seventh meeting of Guangdong-Hong Kong IPR Protection Cooperative Group was held in Hong Kong recently. The two parties reviewed the IPR development, exchange and cooperation in the two regions since last meeting and determined the IPR cooperation projects for the next stage.

The future projects include: continue promoting the activity of promising copyrights and goods in the two regions; carry on the serial seminars of IPR and SMEs development co-hosted by the two parties in Guangdong; improve the trans-border IPR cooperative handling mechanism; continue the IPR exchange and training; make use of conferences and exhibitions to increase the understanding of enterprises and the public on IPR systems in the two regions.

Patent numbers rise

The amount of patent applications and granted patents increased 3.3 percent and 6.2 percent in the first half of this year in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, over the same period of last year. The amount of patent applications reached 3,311, including 396 invention patents, 1,289 utility model patents and 1,626 design patents, respectively rising by 20.7 percent, 29.8 percent and 13.7 percent year-on-year.

The amount of granted patents reached 2,850, including 98 granted invention patents, 1,152 granted utility model patents and 1,600 granted design patents, respectively increasing by 34.2 percent, 5.6 percent and 5.3 percent over the same period of last year.

Karaoke copyright case

A South China court has ordered a karaoke company to pay damages of 30,000 yuan in what is reported to be the country's first karaoke copyright infringement case, Xinhua News Agency reports.

Haoledi Entertainment Company, the karaoke bar management firm, was also ordered to delete three music videos from its database after being sued by Beijing-based New Run Entertainment Company.

New Run, a performance management and audio-visual production firm, filed the suit at the people's court in the Chancheng district of Foshan in Guangdong province in April.

A member of the Music Copyright Society of China (MCSC), New Run produced Chinese singer Pang Long's EP album in 2007. The album featured 23 videos in a bonus DVD, including the three involved in the case.

The case, according to the Legal Daily, is the first karaoke copyright infringement case brought to court in China.

Last year, 15 provinces and municipalities, including Beijing and Guangdong, agreed to collect karaoke copyright royalties. The practice was spreading nationwide, according to the MCSC.

Karaoke operators must pay a daily charge of 12 yuan for each karaoke room - less in underdeveloped regions - for the use of musical and video products, according to a National Copyright Administration notice issued in November 2006.

China has an estimated 100,000 karaoke establishments - each with an average of 10 private rooms - generating almost 1 billion yuan in turnover annually.

(China Daily 08/04/2008 page9)