Disney domain arbitration

The China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission recently rendered a ruling in favor of the US-based Disney Enterprises Inc. The respondent in the case is held having registered the domain name disneybaby.cn.

Disney has registered the namesake trademark in 15 classes of goods in China while holding top domain names in disney.com and disneybaby.com, the latter of which represents a brand targeting infants and babies.

The commission held that there is an explicit and exclusive association between the registered trademark Disney and the Disney Enterprises. No one is allowed to use the registered trademark Disney without authorization. As sought by Disney, the respondent will transfer the domain name to Disney free of charge.

Seminar on protecting online IP

A seminar on Olympic online IPR protection was recently held in Shanghai to discuss the IPR issues in the marketing of major sports and global events. The seminar was organized by E-commerce and Information Network Law Study Committee and Intellectual Property Law Study Committee of the Shanghai Bar Association, and Shanghai IP Research Institute.

The lawyers discussed the South Korean broadcast leaking of the rehearsal of the Games' opening ceremony, Olympic Internet broadcasting and ambush marketing and gave suggestions for IPR protection of the 2010 Shanghai World Expo.

Patent industrialization

The State Intellectual Property Office recently approved the establishment of a national patent industrialization pilot base in Xiamen. Seventy-five companies with nearly 3,000 research and development personnel will enter the pilot base, the first of this kind in Fujian province. The base will receive 35.7 million yuan investment from the government and explore new mechanisms and ways in patented technology industrialization to provide high-quality services for the commercialization and industrialization of innovative technologies.

Science & tech enterprises

The number of the science and technology enterprises of Jiangsu province arrived at 18,584 by the end of last year, ranking the second most in the whole country, according to statistics newly issued by the Ministry of Science and Technology.

Local private science and technology enterprises have become the most innovative and strongest power of the private economy. The total income of Jiangsu's private science and technology enterprises reached 1.234 trillion yuan last year, only behind Guangdong province. And their research and development input amounted to 26.37 billion yuan.

Emergency command center

Qinhuangdao of Hebei province recently established an emergency command center for IP infringement affairs to enhance IP protection work. The mayor of the city acts as the commander-in-chief. The center is aimed at improving the city's capability in dealing with IP infringement emergency cases. It will better coordinate the different functions and improve the efficiency of 12 government departments and agencies, including the local administration of industry and commerce, the science and technology bureau, the cultural bureau and the public security bureau, when dealing with IP infringement cases.

IPR protection aid center

The State Intellectual Property Office recently approved the establishment of China (Changzhou) IPR Protection Aid Center, which makes Changzhou one of the first cities to set up IPR aid center. At present, all preparatory work is in process.

In order to promote local enterprises' independent innovation and invention activities, the municipal intellectual property office implemented a series of policies and measures to support inventions and protect IPR.

The city has established coordination mechanism to protect intellectual property rights and explored assistance services for IPR protection. The establishment of the IPR aid center is expected to help to perfect IPR aid system and promote the development of IPR aid services in Changzhou.

Innovation fund projects

The Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Finance have approved the first batch of projects in 2008 under the Innovation Fund for Small Technology-based Firms.

The projects cover a wide range of fields such as electronic information, biomedicine, new materials, new energy and environmental protection. A total of 970.24 million yuan will be channeled to 1,592 projects.

The project list will be released and undergo public scrutiny for two weeks.

(China Daily 09/01/2008 page9)