On October 15 (local time), Liu Junchen, Member of the CPC Leading Group of the State Administration for Market Regulation of China, Secretary of CPC Leading Group and Deputy Commissioner of China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA), met with Director General Peter Strömbäck of Swedish Patent and Registration Office (PRV). The two sides made in-depth exchanges on issues of latest development of IP in China and Sweden, IP institutional reform of China, trademark examination and future cooperation between CNIPA and PRV, and signed the Memorandum of Understanding between China National Intellectual Property Administration and Sweden Patent and Registration Office (Updated) . Ambassador Gui Congyou of Embassy of China in Sweden attended the signing ceremony.

Liu Junchen expressed that CNIPA and PRV had maintained prolonged and friendly communication and cooperation since 1998. In May 2010, the memorandum of understanding on cooperation was signed, and on July 4, 2014, cooperation agreement on Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) between the two sides was implemented. At present, a new memorandum of understanding on cooperation has been signed with addition of cooperation in the field of trademark; hopefully taking the opportunity of this new MOU, CNIPA and PRV may enhance communication and practical cooperation on aspects of trademark registration and protection, information exchange, exchange between examiners and holding of seminars, so as to bring IP work of both countries to new heights.

Peter Strömbäck welcomed the visit of the delegation, and expressed his faith that the new MOU would further facilitate economic and trade exchanges between Sweden and China. He also remarked that scientific and technological advancement in today's world has been growing exponentially, hopefully the bilateral cooperation on IP may be better integrated with such development tendency.

Later, the two offices held a round-table conference on trademark. Experts on trademark from the two offices had in-depth exchanges and discussions on issues including latest developments of IP in China and Sweden, development tendency of trademark-related legal system in China and Europe, examination practice of trademark as well as practice of judicial protection.

Before the visit to PRV, Liu Junchen led the delegation to visit the Finnish Patent and Registration Office (PRH), had in-depth communication with Director General Antti Riivari of PRH on latest development of the two sides, IP institutional reform of China and cooperation between CNIPA and PRH, and reached an important consensus on cooperation in the field of trademark. After the meeting, the two sides held the first round-table conference on Chinese trademark; altogether 60 representatives from PRH, relevant enterprises, industry associations and agencies attended the conference. (Translated from CNIPA Website Chinese Version)