In order to strengthen IPR protection in commodity circulating field, Zaozhuang IP Administration of Shandong Province recently launches a large-scale inspection on patented commodities throughout the city in the spirit of SIPO and Shandong Provincial IP Administration on launching the special IP law enforcement actions of the "Thunder Storm" and "Net of the Heaven", making outstanding achievements.

A total of 244 patented commodities in 22 units, worth nearly 700,000 yuan, are inspected. Five patent rights are found to have been invalidated because of the lack of annual fees before 2008, and one is found to have been expired before 2008. Zaozhuang IP Administration orders related units to remove the commodities out of the markets and adopt rectification measures within limited period of time.

Aiming at improving the patent protection capacity and level of the sales units of patented commodities and helping them establish and improve the system of patented commodity administration, the inspection is launched in three stages, focusing on food, medicines and household appliances. In the first stage, a batch of business enterprises, hospitals and medicine sales units are selected and required to conduct self-inspection. In the second stage, Zaozhuang IP Administration retrieves the validity states in a centralized way. And in the third stage, Zaozhuang IP Administration and various district (municipal) IP administrations launch joint on-the-spot inspections.

In order to ensure the special action a smooth development, Zaozhuang IP Administration holds a special working conference on patent law enforcement in mid-August and establishes a leading group for the special action headed by Liu Ruisheng, Director of Zaozhuang IP Administration. Meanwhile, the administration hands out the Regulations on the Patent Marks and Ways of Labeling Patent Numbers and the Concrete Operation Guide of Patented Commodity Administration of Zaozhuang Business Units and other regulations to various units and requires them to launch self-inspection, receiving warm applause from various units in the city.

The special action standardizes the sales of patented commodities and protects the legal rights and interests of the masses of consumers, achieving sound effect.