Shanghai Asia-Pacific IPR CBD began construction recently. As an important carrier for Shanghai to become a center for Asia-Pacific intellectual property rights, this project features non-governmental elements.
It is promoted, invested, constructed and operated by private enterprises and will better utilize IPR projects, scientific and technological findings, and non-government capital in the future.

Shanghai Dongyi Investment Co, the operator of the project, has collected 5 billion yuan ($814.5 million) in advance for development. According to the plan, the whole project is divided into three phases. Phase one includes infrastructure construction that will establish an IPR Square, including a service building, an exchange building and an innovation building.

Phase two will create an IPR competent personnel training base, establishing the Shanghai IPR research institute and including a post-doctoral station that targets science and engineering graduates and teaches them related knowledge about IPR and introduces them to innovative enterprises. The program differs from existing IPR colleges in universities in that it trains professional managers, not college students. Its content is better suited to connect seamlessly with the demands of enterprises.

Phase three includes an industrialization base, which will serve as an incubator for patent transformation enterprises.

At a meeting held recently in Beijing, the head of the preparatory committee of Shanghai Asia-Pacific IPR CBD said in order to develop clusters of IPR service, investment and innovative enterprises, they will draw on lessons from the IPR market at home and abroad as well as provide IPR services, professional technology services, and investment and incubation services to innovative enterprises through the integrated innovation of market mechanisms.

In order to attract a better pool of applicants, the State Intellectual Property Office gave prospective patent agents an additional week to sign up for the national qualification exam this year.

The office began accepting applications on May 28, one week earlier than it had during previous sessions, and it closed enrollment on June 17.

After the online application period, applicants must submit their credentials in person at a selected site named by local IP authorities between June 3 and 24.

The exam is scheduled to begin concurrently in 20 cities across China on Nov 2, with Hangzhou and Chongqing added to the testing sites this year.

Eligible people from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan can choose to sit the exam in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou or Fuzhou.

SIPO has organized the exam 14 times over the past few years, and the number who have taken it continues to rise rapidly.

In 2009, the number of examinees surpassed the benchmark of 10,000, and in 2012, it increased 21.2 percent from a year earlier to 16,780.

Currently, more than 17,700 people across the country have become qualified patent agents. Among them, some 8,200 have been granted a license to practice by SIPO.

The number of patent applications received by SIPO has grown at an average annual rate of more than 20 percent in recent years.

In 2012 alone, the number of applications exceeded 2 million, and roughly 70 percent of them were processed by agencies.

Industry insiders say there is a shortage of patent agents, leaving agencies unable to cope with the growing market demand for professional services.

“Each of us files nearly 100 patent applications on an annual basis. For an invention patent, documentation requires even more time,” said Cai Shiwei, assistant manager of Fuzhou Yuanchuang Patent Agency Ltd, in an interview with China Intellectual Property News.

Lack of professionals has become a bottleneck in the patent agency industry, Cai noted.
The problem is more extreme in some regions than in others.

An official at the Gansu provincial IP administration said that the number of locally filed patent applications has surpassed 8,000, but the entire province only has three patent agencies, with a total of 23 agents among them.

To address the issue and ease the stress, SIPO lowered the score required to qualify for the exam for designated regions in 2012.

Once examinees from the regions meet the lower requirements, they will be given a limited license, enabling local practice.

In Gansu, one of the provinces covered by the preferential policies, patent applications surged to more than 8,200 last year, up 56.3 percent compared to 2011. Most of them were handled by local agents.

Authorities will continue the policies to nurture local patent agents, ease the conflict between the service supply and demand, and promote the healthy growth of the agency industry, SIPO officials said.

They may also adjust and reform the policies in accordance with the latest development of the industry, they added.

Beijing Mengkela Technology Co., Ltd (Mengkela) and Yihaodian, one of China’s largest online supermarkets run by Shanghai Yishiduo E-Commerce Co., Ltd (Yishiduo) were sued by CARTIER International (CARTIER) for infringing its registered trademarks. Shanghai Pudong District People’s Court rendered a judgment that the two defendants should cease infringement and pay damage of 130,978 yuan.

The Paris-based CARTIER has been the brand leader in luxury jewelry and watch manufacture since built in 1847. Yihaodian is the first Chinese online store run by an E-commerce website called Yishiduo. On May 27, 2011, Mengkela acquired the registration of “梦克拉”, certified to be used on Class 14, clock and watch.

CARTIER discovered in August 2011, the Yihaodian, without its authorization, used some descriptions like “Cartier classic crown diamond ring” on the product introduction of Mengkela jewelry on the website. CARTIER then required some notaries to preserve the evidence.

CARTIER maintained that Yishiduo and Mengkela highlighted “Cartier” and “卡地亚” on Yihaodian to harvest inequitable interests, which constituted the trademark infringement.

However, Yishiduo claimed that Mengkela was a shop run by independent vendor on the Yihaodian website and Yishiduo was just a web service provider which did not participate in any act of infringement. Mengkela also held that it did not infringe CARTIER’s trademark rights on the ground that the descriptions of “Cartier classic crown diamond ring” marked on the product introduction was not used as a trademark and Mengkela owned its registered trademark of “梦克拉”.

The court took the view that although Mengkela owned its trademark tagged on the product in order to identify its source, Mengkela advertised itself as“Cartier” and “卡地亚” on the product information in the process of the manufacturing and sales. Mengkela also took advantage of the CARTIER’s reputation on purpose to gain visibility. The logo function of CARTIER may significantly decrease. Such acts ran counter to the principles of good faith and led to infringement of the CARTIER’s trademark.

A national campaign aimed to enhance public awareness on intellectual property (IP) rights was launched as officially announced by 25 central government departments including the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) and the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee at 10 a.m. on April 19.

China’s modern IP regime has experienced an unprecedented development despite its young age, said SIPO Commissioner Tian Lipu, pointing out a continued rapid growth seen in IP filings, grants and registrations, as the system grows stronger and international cooperation becomes more extensive.

In 2012, patents granted for inventions hit 217 thousand, equal to 3.2 per every ten thousand population. That year also saw an accumulation of 7.65 million trademark registrations, including 6.4 million valid registered trademarks. 688 thousand copyright registrations for works and 139 thousand for software were achieved at the same time, both hitting historic high records. Filings for agricultural and forestry new plant varieties filings exceeded 10 thousand and 1 thousand respectively.

The achievements demonstrate a comprehensive improvement of business operators’ ability in IP creation, utilization, protection and management, said Tian, who also told that IP’s important role in national core competitiveness and the transfer of economic development mode would be further revealed.

Francis Gurry, Director General of the World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO), also sent a video to extend his congratulations on the launch of the national campaign. He said that the next generation of creation would belong to China, which has made tremendous achievements in commercializing its IP innovations based on inheritance of its rich historic and cultural heritage. In terms of patents and designs, SIPO has become the world’s biggest IP office, while China’s Trademark Office also surpassed its foreign counterparts in the field of trademarks.

Copyright industry has contributed as much as 10% to local GDP in some big cities in China, a great achievement that people should be proud of, said Gurry.

Themed as “Implementing IP strategies to support innovation-driven development”, the 7-day long national campaign will be conducted around the country in the forms of consulting services, forums, lectures, open day activities, among others.

The Guangdong High People’s Court on April 17 published 10 major court cases involving infringement of intellectual property rights in 2012, aiming to raise local companies’ poor awareness in protecting IPRs.

The major IPR-related cases the court handled last year raised broader concerns from home and abroad and involved large amounts of compensation, according to a press release from the court.

IPR infringement cases that came under close public scrutiny in 2012 included the iPad trademark dispute between US tech giant Apple Inc and Shenzhen Proview in February last year.

The Guangdong High People’s Court broadcast live updates on the case, which attracted a great deal of attention at home and abroad.

Courts in the southern province which borders the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions have seen the number of such cases they handle rise by an average of 5.2 percent a year over the past three years.

Feng Xiaoqing, a law professor specializing in intellectual property rights with China University of Political Science and Law, spoke highly of the disclosure of the 10 typical cases, saying advanced technology is a key cause of the increasing number of e-commerce infringements.

He said many companies prefer to develop e-commerce platforms, which also brings disputes.

“Such disputes relate a lot to local economic development,” he told China Daily on April 18.

The Pearl River Delta region has many new industries, including network and telecom enterprises, which is another reason that e-commerce violations happen there.

“Such cases will become more prevalent as more companies step up their efforts to protect their IPRs,” Feng said.

He urged government departments and companies to pay more attention to cracking down on IPR infringement in the following months.

Courts across China handled 83,850 civil lawsuits over intellectual property rights in 2012, up 44.1 percent year-on-year, according to an IPR white paper that the country’s top court released on Monday.

Because of the rising awareness about IPR issues, courts in China also saw a sharp rise in the number of related civil lawsuits they received last year, said Sun Jungong, spokesman for the Supreme People’s Court, at a news conference on Monday about the white paper.

Also in 2012, courts across the country received about 87,420 new civil lawsuits over IPR issues, a year-on-year jump of 46 percent.

More than 60,000 suspects were detained for IPR infringement and producing and selling substandard commodities in 43,000 cases in 2012, with a total value of 11.3 billion yuan ($1.83 billion), according to the white paper.

The iPad trademark dispute between US tech giant Apple Inc and Shenzhen’s Proview topped a list of 10 major court cases involving IPR infringement last year.

The court also released 50 typical IPR cases from 2012 and, for the first time, 10 “innovative cases” involving new legal fields or matters, which experts said can be used as a guide on how to handle similar lawsuits.

Wang Chuang, vice-president of the third tribunal for civil trials at the top court, said the number of IPR cases involving an overseas party is on the rise, and there’s an increase in the number of cases in which transnational companies are accused of infringing rights of Chinese firms.

Without disclosing an exact number, Wang said that transnational companies are becoming defendants of IPR lawsuits in a rising number of sectors.

“The IPR rules are about the same around the world, but transnational companies should still carefully study the laws and regulations of China to avoid infringing others’ intellectual property rights,” Wang said.
He also said transnational companies can have full confidence in China’s judicial protection of intellectual property rights because of improvements China has made in recent years on the issue.

Wang Yancang, president of Suzhou’s Huqiu district court, said Chinese companies are gaining awareness of IPR protection issues, and although foreign companies taking their Chinese counterparts to court is still more common, the number of cases in which Chinese companies are accusing foreign players of IPR infringement is on the rise.

Two of the most common sectors are infringement on the patent and trademark of Chinese companies, she said.

She cited the case of Shanghai PepsiCo, one of the soft-drink maker’s joint ventures in China, being sued for infringing on a small brewery’s rights to the “Blue Storm” trademark in 2007 — an incident that shows Chinese people and companies are increasingly safeguarding their intellectual property rights.

In that case, the High People’s Court of East China’s Zhejiang province reversed an earlier verdict of a lower court and decided in favor of small brewery Lanye, awarding it 3 million yuan as compensation from PepsiCo for the trademark infringement.

The ratio of invention patents for every 10,000 Beijing residents reached 33.6 last year, ranking the city at the top of the country, Fu Xiaohui, deputy chief of the city’s intellectual property office, announced on April 10. “Intellectual property has added vigor and motivation to the change in the capital’s economic development model,” Fu said. To enhance the IP environment, local authorities campaigned to fight infringement and strengthen cross-regional protection last year, he said. Beijing police investigated more than 1,700 IP cases in 2012.