Recently, a work seminar on joint and cooperated patent law enforcement of 11 provinces and municipalities within the Yangtze River Economic Zone was held in Chongqing. Intellectual property (IP) office officials and law enforcement responsible persons from Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Jiangxi, Hubei, Hunan, Chongqing, Sichuan, Yunnan and Guizhou attended the seminar.

Participants from IP offices from the above-mentioned provinces and municipalities made speeches and had discussions on regional joint and cooperated patent law enforcement work, signed the 11 Provinces and Municipalities of Yangtze River Economic Zone Joint and Cooperated Patent Law Enforcement Memorandum. The departments that sign the memorandum will stick to the principles of being responsible and cooperative, strengthen administrative patent law enforcement cooperation, and actively implement one's duties in accordance with the relevant provisions and rules. The departments should inform each other in no time about clues of the cross-region patent infringement cases and counterfeiting patent cases, timely exchange information related to law enforcement, and further strengthen communication about administrative law enforcement experience. For large or difficult patent cases, the relevant offices may file requests to the State Intellectual Property Office in accordance with the relevant provisions for guidance and supervision, carrying out cooperation in filing and managing cases and joint law enforcement.

At the seminar, participants had in-depth discussions on how to further improve cross-region cooperated and joint law enforcement mechanism, and join each other in cracking down counterfeiting patents and patent infringement cases, in order to create a good environment for IPR protection, joint innovation-driven development of provinces and municipalities along Yangtze River Economic Zone. (Translated from SIPO Website Chinese Version)