1,000 talents wanted

Under a new program to hire 1,000 overseas specialists, the central government will offer each 1 million yuan in subsidies. If employed, they will also be able to enjoy fundamental social security policies including medical care and pensions. The spokesman of the Organizational Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee made the announcement in an interview with Xinhua on March 20.

The official said the general principles of the program were as follows:

An eligible candidate, regardless of his or her nationality, should be aged 55 or younger, should stay in China for six months or longer every year, have an academic title equivalent to professor, or currently work as a senior manager with a well-known international company or banking institution.

Candidates also include those who have developed technologies or patents and those who have set up their own businesses abroad and are familiar with international rules in a certain industry. Those who want to apply for the program should contact institutions involved in central government-funded innovation programs, laboratories, companies or state-owned banking institutions and hi-tech parks.

China firm ranks 8th

International trademark activity remained robust overall in 2008 with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) receiving a record 42,075 applications under the Maried system for the international registration of trademarks, according to the WIPO report of March 10. China ranked eighth with 1,585 while a Chinese company broke into the top 10 for the first time. The company was Zhejiang Medicine Company in East China's Zhejiang province, whose international registration of trademarks ranked eighth on the WIPO list.

9 GI trademarks

The State Administration for Industry and Commerce recently approved the geographical indications (GI) trademark registration of another nine popular products made in East China's Zhejiang province, including the Lin'an walnut, Tianmu dehydrated bamboo shoot and Zhoushan large yellow croaker. GI trademarks in Zhejiang province have so far accounted for one fifth of the nation's total, ranking at the top of GI trademark registration in the country.

(China Daily 03/30/2009 page11)