Major acts in recent days (08-06-30)

Earthquake relief

The State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) recently issued a circular on offering preferential policies to parties related to patent affairs in regions severely hit by the earthquake.

The circular says if the original patent certificates get lost or are destroyed by the earthquake, IP authorities can reissue new certificates to related organizations and individuals in the quake-stricken regions upon their applications.

If the applicants, patent holders and related parties fail to go through related procedures timely because of the earthquake and consequently lose their rights, they can, within two months, apply to resume their rights according to the law and do not need to pay for the resumption.

If the parties in disaster regions need to participate in hearings related to reexaminations or requests for invalidation, the date for the hearings can be determined according to the circumstances of the parties concerned.

Olympic ads

The State Administration for Industry and Commerce recently issued an edict regulating Olympic-related advertisements.

It requires industrial and commercial administrative institutions at all levels to intensify law enforcement and to severely punish violations of the trademark rights of Olympic logos in advertising.

Awards for IP protection

The National Copyright Administration (NCA) recently said it will award 3.295 million yuan to 120 government agencies and 94 individuals for their achievement in major cases in investigating and fighting IP infringement and piracy.

It is the first time that the NCA has given such awards.

Record patent applications

The latest statistics issued by the State Intellectual Property Office showed that 924 patent applications were filed in Anhui province in May, hitting a record of monthly applications which are up 117 percent over the same period of last year.

Among all applications, 252 were invention patents, accounting for 27.3 percent of the total; 354 utility model patents, 38.3 percent; and 318 design patents, 34.4 percent. Wuhu, Hefei and Chuzhou boast the most patent applications among all cities in Anhui.

IPR research center

The first IPR research center in Heilongjiang province was recently set up at Heilongjiang University.

The establishment of the center is expected to strengthen IP law research and improve the legal system regarding local science and technology research and development.

The research center will conduct IPR research, personnel training and legal services.

Patent trade center

Kunming Patent Technology Exhibition and Trade Center was named a State-level patent trade center on June 19 after two months of trial operation.

The center has realized a patent trading turnover of more than 10 million yuan in the first two months.

It provides enterprises with free patent technology exhibitions, patent protection, tax consulting and legal aid.

So far the center has an information database of over 1,500 patents that can be found at www.kmipo.com.

Information center opens

China's first domestic IPR information center in automobile and motorcycle manufacturing was opened in Chongqing recently.

The State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) and the Chongqing municipal government began building the center last year.

With support from SIPO, the non-profit organization will provide IPR information for motorcycle and auto manufacturers.

The center owns China's full-text patent database and bulletins since 1985.

Copyright model city

Officials from World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) have announced that Nantong in Jiangsu province has been identified as the first model city for copyright protection in China and that its copyright protection experience in the textile industry will be promoted in other countries.

Nantong began a textile industry copyright protection program in 1996. In the past 12 years more than 18,000 textile companies have applied for copyright protection.

Copyright protection helps the city encourage and regulate the textile industry.

With annual turnover of more than 30 billion yuan, Nantong accounts for 50 percent of the national textile market and has become the world's third largest textile center after Fifth Avenue in New York and Frankfurt in Germany.

Research shows that about 4 percent of a city's GDP and 6 percent of its employment could come from copyright protection and Nantong's copyright protection also provides a strong example for this, WIPO says.

Trademark protection

Anhui province will enact legislation for the identification of well-known trademarks to protect the rights and interests of the trademark owners and users, according to the provincial government of Anhui.

The draft of the regulation has been published online where officials are soliciting opinions from interested parties.

The public may give feedback to the legislative affairs office of the provincial government before July 10.

The regulation says that identification of a well-known trademark shall adopt the principle of voluntary application; the trademark shall be in continuous use for three years after registration and shall not be involved in any dispute; the sales, tax, profit, market share and other major economic indicators shall have also been an industry leader for the past three years.

The industry and commerce administrations shall publish the qualified applications in newspapers, magazines, or websites for a period of 30 days.

If the public disputes the application, the industrial and commercial administrative departments will conduct an investigation.

If the objection is established, the application shall be rejected or be reassessed.