Major acts in recent days (07-11-12)

National IP strategy soon

Tian Lipu, commissioner of the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO), said on October 30 that the national strategy on intellectual property rights (IPRs) will soon be issued after more than 20 research projects for it have been completed.

He said at an IPR strategy and asset evaluation forum in Beijing that the national strategy is a comprehensive guideline on IP that will guide the country's IPR work for a considerable time.

The strategy aims to promote the use of IPRs by increasing their creation, commercialization and industrialization, as well as to protect them.

The national strategy has been in the pipeline for two years with the participation of over 30 government agencies.

Medicine amendment

The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress ratified an amended version of the Agreement of the Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, which attempts to achieve a balance between IPRs and public health.

On December 6, the General Council of the World Trade Organization passed the amendment that allows members to produce and export patented medicines in an emergency, which changes the previous regulation that unlicensed medicines can only be used in domestic markets.

According to the amendment, developing economies and the least developed countries can give compulsory licensing to make patented medicines for AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and other serious epidemics without needing licensing from patent holders.

Liu Chuntian, a professor of law with the Renmin University of China, said the new amendment allows China, which experienced SARS in 2003 and the bird flu in 2005, to better cope with epidemics.

By the end of September, about 10 WTO members including the United States, Switzerland, South Korea and India had ratified the amendment.

Intellectual asset evaluation

The 2007 China Asset Evaluation Forum: IPR strategy and asset evaluation was held in Beijing on October 30. Senior officials from the SIPO and the Ministry of Finance discussed policies and strategies on intellectual property and asset evaluation.

Tian Lipu, SIPO commissioner, said both IPR and asset evaluation are two promising fields in China, with the combination of both even more significant. He added IP asset evaluation is a key link in implementing the national IP strategy and promoting industrialization of IPRs, so China should accelerate building an IPR asset evaluation workforce.

Zhu Zhigang, vice-minister of finance, said his ministry will support the implementation of the national IPR strategy and promote the evaluation work of IPR assets.

The forum focused on four topics, including enterprise innovation and asset evaluation; IPR trading and asset evaluation; financing innovation of IPRs and asset evaluation; and IPR protection and asset evaluation. More than 300 participants joined in the forum.

Clarifying laws

The second IPR law application seminar was held in Jinan University in Guangzhou on October 22 and 23, trying to solve problems in IP lawsuits.

Jiang Zhipei, chief judge of the IPR Tribunal of the Supreme People's Court, several other senior judges from the tribunal, professors from Jinan University and IPR officers from the US and EU diplomatic missions in China responded to questions from judges, company managers, legal professionals and students in the university.

The topics included issues in patent, trademark, and copyright cases, unfair competition cases, audio and video copyrights, technological IPRs, contract disputes, new legislative developments and rulings on IPRs.

Jia Yimin, vice-president of Jinan University, said that due to an absence of consistent ruling principles, judges and legal professionals all face ambiguities on interpretation and application of patent, trademark, and copyright laws.

Trading platform

Nineteen patent trading platforms announced on October 28 in Beijing that they would form an alliance and integrate their resources.

Luo Zhixiong, deputy director of the IP trading center with the Beijing Property Exchange, said that with the alliance, a patent needs to list in just one exchange and be promoted on the other 18 platforms, which saves energy and costs for patent holders and also facilitates buyers in finding the right patents for them.

Fake cigarettes seized

On October 31, Fuzhou customs officials in East China's Fujian Province seized 541 cartons of fake cigarettes including brand names Superking and LNB in 20 postal parcels. It was the 65th shipment infringing on IPRs that customs found in postal services in one month, after the General Administration of Customs launched a nationwide campaign called Dragon Boat to crack down on IPR infringements.

The Dragon Boat effort, the most aggressive border control IPR initiative in the recent years, will last for five months from October to March.

The customs have upgraded their equipment and increased the frequency of inspections. The priorities are goods shipped in containers or through postal services to the US, European Union, the United Arab Emirates and Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.