On October 6, Exhibition Office, Bureau of Science and Technology, Administration for Industry and Commerce and the Culture, Broadcast and News Bureau of Yiwu City, Zhejiang Province jointly issue the Measures of Yiwu City on Exhibition IPR Protection (hereafter referred to as the Measures).

The Measures is applicable to patent, trademark and copyright protection in various activities such as economic, technological and trade exhibitions, exhibition fairs, expos, trade fairs and exhibitions (excluding material exchange fairs in rural areas) held within the administrative area of Yiwu. The Measures stipulates the rights and obligations of exhibition sponsors and participants, clarifies the structure and working mechanisms of the exhibition IPR complaint office, sets up the process of case acceptance, transfer and handling and strictly limits the timeline for a case handling. It fully reflects the legal principal of equity, justice and transparence and the service concept of facilitating the people, science and high effectiveness, protecting the legal rights and interests of IPR holders.

The issuance and implementation of the Measures indicate a new breakthrough in the area of exhibition IPR protection of Yiwu City, and will effectively resolve the difficulties such as frequent IPR disputes, hard complaint process and complicated handling procedures, playing an active role in standardizing exhibition order and improving exhibition quality.

In recent years, Yiwu’s exhibition industry maintains rapid development. Statistics show that nearly 30 specialized exhibitions are held in Yiwu Meihu Conference and Exhibition Center annually. Yiwu has become China’s first county-level city authorized to hold exhibitions abroad, and has won the title of China’s top 10 best exhibition cities several times. Starting 2002, some law-enforcement departments of patent, industry and commerce and copyright jointly enter some important exhibitions such as China Yiwu International Commodities Fair and Culture Expo to protect IPRs. However, owing to the lack of maneuverability and effectiveness in the existing laws and regulations, how to resolve the problem of exhibition IPR protection is still a new topic facing related competent departments that need urgent solutions.