This week the “usual suspects” are Counterfeit Chic and China Law Blog. Their postings about intellectual property in China were concentrated on Tuesday.
Monday, September 25
Tuesday, September 26
Counterfeit Chic’ Knockoff News 33 supplied a mer à boire for IPR in China:
Alex Littlefield wrote for Radar Online the article Knockoff Nation with great pictures, here.
Oupa Segalwe reported for All Africa about South Africa Revenue Services’ Commissioner Pravin Gordhan and the Chinese Minister General Administration of Customs Mu Xinsheng, signed an agreement to strengthen bilateral cooperation between the two countries’ customs administrations in order to combat the smuggling of counterfeit goods. Read here.
The European Union and China increase customs cooperation to fight terrorism and counterfeiting. To hasten checks at Rotterdam in the Netherlands, Felixstow in Britain and Shenzhen in China, a pilot project with container screening technology will be set up with the participation of Hutchison Whampoa of Hong Kong, a conglomerate controlled by Li Ka- shing, Hong Kong richest business man. Read Bloomberg and Reuters story that was run by the International Herald Tribune here.
Dan Harris of China Law Blog has a good post about Trademark Law and refered to his article he wrote for the China Trade Law Report here.
China Law Blog had also a post about the US-China Business Council (USCBC) 2006 survey about the perception of American companies on the operating and investment climate in China, as well as China’s progress in implementing its WTO commitments, including IPR enforcement, see here.
“IPR enforcement ranks as third most important operating issue. IPR propetection’s dip in this year’s rankings may reflect the greater immediate concerns confronted on the human resources and licensing fronts. It may also reflect the business community’s view that the PRC central government now acknowledges the importance of IPR enforcement and is taking steps to address it, although problems remain in the implementation of laws at the provincial and local levels.”
“For the second straight year, most respondents (57 percent) reported that China’s IPR enforcement had remained unchanged, though 33 percent reported some progress. The remaining 10 percent of respondents said enforcement had deteriorated. These results are slightly better than 2005, when 59 percent of respondents reported no change in China’s IPR enforcement, 26 percent noted some improvement, and 11 percent indicated deterioration in enforcement.”
“The survey further asked respondents about specific legal changes that China has made in the past year. In April 2006, China issued new rules for transferring IPR cases fro criminal prosecution. Thirty-five percent of survey respondents indicated that these rules, plus the Supreme People’s Court 2004 judicial interpretation on IPR, had not improved the prospects for criminal prosecution of IPR violations. Thirteen percent of companies noted that it was easier to effect criminal prosecutions. Another 30 percent indicated it was too early to assess the new rules.”
“The legal framework for IPR, as distinct from enforcement of those laws, ranked among the top 10 concerns in 2003, 2004, and 2005, but fell to 11th place in the 2006 survey, reflecting the continuing build-up of IPR regulations. Enforcement of those regulations, however, will likely remain among the top priorities for companies doing business in China for the foreseeable future.”
Source: USCBC 2006 report pages 4 and 5, here (pdf).
Wednesday, September 27
Thursday, September 28
Friday, September 29
