Patent agreement

Nokia and Nokia Siemens Networks recently said they have reached a licensing agreement on standard basic patents, which covers the right of use of all standard basic patents in global market, including GSM, WCDMA, CDMA2000, optical fiber network and WiMAX.

Huawei became the 35th company to gain the standard patent licensing for Nokia's cellular mobile communication system, People's Daily reported.

"Nokia Siemens Networks considers the agreement as the most important intellectual property licensing pact it has made," says Gottfried Weidel, an official of Nokia Siemens Networks, who is in charge of intellectual property affairs. "The agreement is conducive to creating a more foreseeable commercial environment and further helping to realize the target of industrial innovation."

Nokia is the leading wireless technological innovator and R&D for GSM and WCDMA. In the past 15 years, Nokia has invested nearly 30 billion euros in the R&D field and founded the most powerful and extensive intellectual property combination in the wireless communication sector, with 300 patents in GSM, 370 in WCDMA and 170 in CDMA2000.

New department

The State Intellectual Property Office recently set up a protection coordination department, responsible for organizing and coordinating IPR protection nationwide and work related to the implementation of the national IP strategy.

It was created after the former coordination and administration department was renamed the patent administration department.

The new department is responsible for formulating and promoting the implementation plans of the national IP strategy, boosting the establishment of inter-departmental coordination mechanisms of the national IP strategy work, and strengthening the overall coordination of strategy implementation. The patent administration department will also draft the general and specific policies of IPR protection work nationwide, coordinating the special actions of IPR protection and overseeing IPR-related law-enforcement.

IPR center for creative industry

The IPR Information Center for a Creative Industry Base was recently opened in Wuhan, Hubei province.

The center will provideservices, including IPR data searches, IPR strategy formulation, early warnings, publicity and training. The center has integrated patent databases of China, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, European Patent Office, World Intellectual Property Office and is equipped with the full-text database of China design patent instructions.

Illicit photocopying

Hong Kong Customs have arrested eight people for illicitly photocopying 174 copies of books. The copies and six photocopiers and six binding machines worth $77,000 in total were seized.

Officers raided six photocopying shops in Shau Kei Wan, Quarry Bay, To Kwa Wan, Sham Shui Po, Tseung Kwan O and Tin Shui Wai from September 29 to October 10, and arrested five men and three women, aged 20 to 53. Six were shop owners and two were shop assistants. They were released on bail.

The allegedly infringing photocopies seized included school and university textbooks, and reference books.

KTV operators face lawsuits

About 100 KTV operators in Beijing are expected to face lawsuits in the next few days for non-payment of royalty fees. China Audio-Video Copyright Association (CAVCA), entrusted to collect royalties on behalf of domestic singers and composers, will ask the courts to order violators to pay fees for 2007 and this year, mostly for the use of MTV material.

CAVCA Executive Vice-President Wang Huapeng says the association will continue to sue violators until all KTV operators pay their fees according to the law.

The association has collected enough evidence for the lawsuits and most of the suits are against medium and small KTV establishments, Wang says.

Last month, the association delivered an ultimatum to 300 Beijing KTV establishments, demanding payment of royalties by October 10. However, only 30 acknowledged receipt of the ultimatum and the others chose to ignore it.

According to a notice published by the National Copyright Administration on August 1, KTV royalty fees should be backdated from January 1, 2007.

However, less than 20 KTV establishments among 1,500 in Beijing have paid their fees. In Shanghai, more than 100 KTV establishments among 1,400 have paid their fees.

Fee standards differ in different Chinese cities. In Beijing, the fee is 11 yuan per room per day. Shanghai has the most expensive fee at 11.1 yuan, Guizhou the least expensive - 8 yuan.

Joint IP law enforcement

The IP offices and public security departments of 16 cities in Henan province plan to establish a joint IPR law enforcement task force.

From January 2007 to August 2008, IP offices at all levels had dealt with 115 patent disputes, initiated over 100 special campaigns and cooperated with public security departments for more than 120 times, which involves cases worthy nearly 4 million yuan.

Promoting SME growth

Liaoning Provincial People's Congress recently approved Regulations for Promoting SME (small- and medium-sized enterprise) Development.

The regulations are aimed at encouraging capable SMEs to work out IPR planning, possess their own IPRs through independent innovation, and enhance IPR management and protection.

(China Daily 10/20/2008 page9)