Pudong stimulus plan

The government of Pudong New Area of Shanghai recently passed a 20 million yuan plan to help finance technology-oriented companies.

The plan allows these companies to use their own intellectual property as pledges to get loans from banks, which are 2 to 2.5 times the previous sizes. To date, seven companies got 10 million yuan. The new mode is expected to increase 40 million loan guarantees.

Yichun projects signed

Nine projects from Yichun, valued at 450 million yuan, were signed in the Second China (Jiangxi) Patent Week & Jiangxi IP Achievement Exhibition.

The event was held in Nanchang last week, and jointly hosted by People's Government of Jiangxi Province and State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO).

Yichun city prepared several innovative projects for the event. The successful signature of 9 projects is expected to greatly help promote Yichun's overall technology level.

Xiangfan patent center

National Patent (Xiangfan) Exhibition and Trade Center, one of three national patent centers in Hubei province, was set up recently. The new center will serve as a trading and innovation platform for local patent holders and enterprises.

China (Xiangfan) Patent Week began the same day. More than 200 patented techniques were displayed. The themes of the event included: practicing IPR strategy, developing the IPR market, building an IPR industrialized platform and encouraging the flow of prior resources to patent innovation through the market.

Beijing patent exhibition

The 2008 Beijing Patent Exhibition & Trade Week was held in Beijing Economic and Technological Development Area last week.

An official from the Beijing Intellectual Property Office said at the event that Beijing's total patent applications ranked sixth nationwide, with more than 31,680 applications last year. However, the amount was far behind Guangdong province, which ranked first in the number of patent applications.

But Beijing takes a lead in the patent approval rate.

The development of bio-medicine industry is a priority in Beijing and that industry's patent quantity ranks high as well. The Beijing Patent Week mainly exhibited patents in bio-medicine industry, attracting over 70 universities, institutes, enterprises and venture capitals.

Yiwu promoting innovation

The government of Yiwu, Zhejiang province, has issued a new campaign to promote innovative companies in Yiwu, a city traditionally renowned for small commodities.

The campaign encouraged universities, scientific research institutes, big companies and national technology-transfer centers to set up branches in Yiwu Innovative Park, offering them with rent-free facilities in the first three years. To those who set up units in the park, as well as cooperate with the Yiwu government on technology-transfer, the government subsidizes half of the investment, on condition that it does not surpass 500,000 yuan.

Yiwu government has rolled out a dozen policies to fuel industrial innovation in recent years. These policies cover a wide range, from organizing several national and provincial level scientific research programs, to helping enterprises establish innovation centers, and to invite scientific research academies outside the city to cooperate with local companies.

Yiwu has been officially designated as one of China's 50 IP pilot cities, the only county-level city in the nation.

China's oldest trademark

Established in 1719, "Wu Liangcai", the 289-year-old eyeglass brand, was declared the oldest living trademark at the 2008 Shanghai Trademark Exhibition.

Statistics from the organizer of the exhibition show the number of registered trademarks in Shanghai has been growing at an average annual speed of 16 percent in recent years. By the end of 2007, the total number of the registered trademarks reached 122,000, with well-known trademarks and Chinese well-known brands reaching 489 and 61 respectively..

Genuine software

Sixty-seven Internet cafs in Nanchang, Jiangxi province, recently began to install genuine home-made software for server systems, and over 600 other businesses will finish installation according to the plan. Those who do not use genuine software by the end of the year will not be allowed to renew their annual operation licenses.

It cost 5,000 yuan to delete the pirated software and install the real ones, an owner of an Internet caf was quoted by a local newspaper as saying. The owner said the price was acceptable.

New IP strategy

The intellectual property office of Jingmen, Hubei province, has carried out a series of measures to promote its IP strategy in a possible economic slowdown.

Along with intensifying publicity efforts, the office decided to cut patent application fees by two thirds, and support local patent agencies to reduce agent fees by 20 percent.

In addition, each international patent application under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) will be subsidized 50,000 yuan. Each authorized invention by companies will be subsidized 3,000 yuan and each authorized patent, by individual or utility, model and design by companies will be subsidized 1,000 yuan.

(China Daily 12/01/2008 page9)