Websites blacklisted

The State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine (SATCM) recently blacklisted 74 websites for selling fake Chinese herbal medicine, Xinhua reported. Names of those sites have been made public on SATCM's website at www.satcm.gov.cn.

Consumers are warned of buying any type of medicine from organizations such as the International Diabetes Institute of Genetic Engineering (www.010gbw.com), the China Research Center for Chinese Medicine (www.gxykf8.cn) and the China Cardiovascular Research Institute at (www.gxy007.cn).

Drugs sold on those websites claimed to be able to cure high blood pressure, skin diseases, diabetes and tumors.

SATCM has reported the 74 websites to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology for further investigation. Those sites could be shut down.

Yan Jiangying, spokeswoman with the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA), said only those sites with the SFDA license of Internet medicine business can sell over-the-counter (OTC) drugs to individuals.

"So far, only 10 websites across China have been issued with the license," she said.

The SFDA has published that list on its website (www.sfda.gov.cn) and urged the public to check it before buying drugs online.

IPR cases dealt

The Ministry of Culture recently said that culture administrations along with its enforcement arms nationwide handled 2,386 IPR cases and imposed over 20 million yuan in fines in the third quarter.

The administrations seized 770,000 yuan in illegal proceeds, imposed 21.26 million yuan in fines, suspended operation of 1,780 establishments, stripped licenses of 413 establishments, and handed 103 cases and 263 persons to police or prosecution authorities.

Agricultural IP protection

The Supreme People's Court recently released "Opinions on Providing Judicial Guarantees and Legal Services for Pushing forward Rural Reform and Development", which states that people's courts shall protect agricultural intellectual property rights and promote science and technology innovation in agriculture.

The document puts forward five measures to strengthen protection of modern agriculture. It makes it clear that people's courts shall intensify the protection of intellectual property rights in agriculture.

Specifically, the courts shall enhance the trial of agriculture-related IPR cases, intensify support for agriculture-related IPR, especially major science and technology achievements and new varieties of plants and strengthen IPR protection for agricultural innovation fruits.

Legitimate software use

The State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) and National Copyright Administration (NCA) recently held an experience-sharing meeting in Beijing to promote the use of legitimate software in central enterprises.

Deputy Director of SASAC Li Wei and Deputy Director of NCA Yan Xiaohong attended and addressed the meeting.

With the joint efforts of central enterprises, the work of promoting legitimate software is progressing smoothly and has achieved positive results in 2008, Li said, adding that 97 percent of the headquarters have realized the use of genuine software.

Li asked the central enterprises to give full financial support, strengthen construction of working system, enhance communication and training and continue their efforts to promote the use of legitimate software. In 2009, there are two objectives: one is to achieve full use of legitimate software in headquarters; the other is that the secondary central enterprises should achieve the basic use of legitimate software, Li said.

The meeting also organized software asset management training. A total of 170 representatives from central enterprises attended the meeting.

Copyright annual meeting

The first China Copyright Annual Meeting was recently held in Beijing. It was organized by China Copyright Association and the theme was "Internet Copyright Protection and Industrial Development".

The meeting also awarded the most influential people and enterprises in the copyright industry.

A total of 300 participants attended, including government officials from General Administration of Press and Publication, National Copyright Administration, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, State Intellectual Property Office, State Administration for Industry and Commerce, Supreme People's Court, experts and scholars from top research institutions, and representatives from leading enterprises.

Microsoft cuts prices

Microsoft plans to reduce the retail price of its Windows and Office products by nearly 60 percent in China, hoping to win customers from pirate software dealers.

It will cut the price of its Windows XP Home Edition from 960 yuan to 399 yuan in the next 12 months and the retail price of Microsoft Office 2007 software from 699 yuan to 398 yuan.

Microsoft's sales revenue in China has long been sluggish due to pirated software. Critics say it is Microsoft's high pricing that forced many Chinese users to turn to pirated software. Windows XP home edition was sold at 1,498 yuan in China last year, almost equivalent to the average monthly income of Beijing residents.

Patent auction

Seven patent technologies were sold at a total of 33.86 million yuan at a patent auction during the Second China Shanghai Patent Technology Exhibition and Exchange Week.

The patent technologies cover areas such as energy saving, environmental protection, electronics and bio-pharmaceuticals, including non-service inventions and top patent technologies in bio-pharmaceutical sector.

Patent auction is an internationally common practice of patent transfer and exchange. This is the first time for Shanghai Patent Technology Exhibition and Exchange Week to conduct patent auction.

(China Daily 12/22/2008 page9)

2013-07-17