Major acts in recent days (08-01-21)

HK-mainland copyright seminar

A two-day Hong Kong and mainland copyright protection and enforcement seminar was held recently with the nearly 100 participants including government officials and copyright and law experts from both regions.

Director of Hong Kong Customs and Excise Department Richard Yuen said the seminar further enhanced mutual understanding on copyright laws, strengthened copyright protection awareness and intensified the battle against piracy in Hong Kong and on the mainland.

Yuen said Hong Kong Customs has continued enforcement efforts to crack down on counterfeits. In the past three years, about 10,000 infringement cases were investigated each year, 93 percent of which involved piracy.

The seminar was jointly held by China Copyright Association, Hong Kong Customs and the Hong Kong Intellectual Property Department.

New information measures

SIPO recently issued interim measures to guarantee the legal right of citizens and organizations to access government information. The measure also regulates SIPO's communications to promote IP development.

The new framework says information should be routinely released to the public, including the organizational structure of SIPO, its functions and procedures of daily work, as well as patent application, approval and reexamination procedures.

The document also requires that SIPO publicize information on its website, including announcements, commissioner's orders, patent bulletins, its China IP News, press conferences, and updates about the patent receipt hall and service center.

Olympics IPR efforts

China Customs has drafted a plan for IPR protection during 2008 Beijing Olympics that includes regulations on goods shipped by post or carried by passengers that involve in piracy and infringement. It also plans to closely monitor imports and exports related to the Olympics and publicize IPR protection concepts to overseas tourists.

Among violations already found were 10 illegal copies of a cartoon series about the Olympics discovered last November at Xiamen Gaoqi Airport. it was the first audio-video IP case related to the Olympics by people leaving the country uncovered to date.

Customs shine

China's total import and export volume had an average annual increase of 26.4 percent in the last five years, ranking the nation in the top-three worldwide. Along with the growth intellectual property protection by Customs in China has received extensive recognition, according to the National Conference of Customs Directors held recently in Beijing.

In the past five years, 7,002 intellectual property infringement cases in imports and exports were investigated that together had a value of 680 million yuan.

Gucci sues over stationery

The Italian fashion giant Gucci S.P.A. is seeking 500,000 yuan in compensation from a Shanghai stationery maker, accusing it of using the Gucci trademark on its notebooks.

The Hongkou district outlet of Century Lianhua Supermarket is also named as a defendant, the Shanghai Daily reports.

The Shanghai No 2 Intermediate People's Court heard the case recently, but has not yet delivered a verdict.

Gucci said it received approval for the GG pattern trademark in China in October 2006 and the trademark is now under the state protection. It has used the trademark pattern on stationery, including notebooks, and promoted the image since it was registered. It says the trademark is now widely recognized.

In August 2007, the plaintiff found notebooks bearing the GG logo on sale at the Century Lianhua Supermarket Hongkou outlet.

The notebooks carried a label on the back that read Mailun Stationery along with a telephone number. The plaintiff found the notebooks were produced by the Shanghai Mailun Office Equipment Co Ltd.

March deadline for aircraft firm

China has set a March deadline to establish its first jumbo passenger aircraft company as it moves to join the countries technically capable of manufacturing large jets.

Huang Qiang, secretary general of the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense said a director and a chief engineer of research would be appointed by that time to ensure the work goes as planned.

Shanghai Securities News reports the new company will only be responsible for the design and assembly of jumbo aircraft, while the production of components and parts would be left to other aviation enterprises.

Currently, only the United States, Russia, France, Germany, Britain and Spain have the capability to build jumbo aircraft, with Boeing and Airbus taking the lion's share of sales in the international market.

Power generating patents

China's largest power producer Huaneng said it developed 17 patents for its ultra-supercritical generation plant technology. The company has built such power plants with capacities of both1,000 mW and 600 mW. Its Yuhuan plant in East China's Zhejiang province is now the largest power plant to use the latest generation of such technology.

South Beauty 'well known'

South Beauty Group, an upscale Chinese restaurant chain, last week announced that both its Chinese name Qiaojiangnan and English name South Beauty were certified as well-known trademarks by the State Administration for Industry and Commerce.

The restaurant chain, purveyor of contemporary Sichuan cuisine, is preparing for listing in 2009, says Zhang Lan, chairwoman of South Beauty. But she declines to tell the destination for the listing.

South Beauty plans to open about 30 outlets around China in 2008. Its first overseas restaurant will be opened in Tokyo in this spring.