IN BRIEF (Page 9)

Sino-Thai meet

Commissioner of the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) Tian Lipu recently met the visiting director of Thailand's Department of Intellectual Property (DIP).

The two sides signed the Minutes of Talks between China's State Intellectual Property Office and Thailand Department of Intellectual Property, which demanded further cooperation on operational exchanges and IP protection.

Tian said that in recent years, the two IP Offices have steadily pushed forward the communication and cooperation in the IP field. SIPO will provide experience to DIP in terms of talent training and implementing PCT systems.

The director of Thailand DIP introduced new IP headway and expected further exchanges and cooperation with SIPO.

In the minutes of the talks, the two sides reiterated expectations in strengthening cooperation and reached agreement for mutual visits of leaders of the two offices and the exchange of IP documents.

New Wuxi IT training center

Microsoft China plans to set up an IT training center in Wuxi to turn out skilled professionals to work in the city's emerging IT industry, according to a Xinhua News Agency report.

Wuxi New District, the city's hi-tech zone, will provide infrastructure to the training center, while Microsoft will bring the technical platform and program. The center is expected to offer professional IT training to 10,000 students a year.

Wuxi plans to attract 100 companies providing international outsourcing services and exporting software by 2010. Each company will employ at least 2,000 staff and will have an export volume of $30 million.

Zhang Yaqin, head of Microsoft (China), said the company is willing to help Wuxi achieve its outsourcing goal. Wuxi's solid industrial foundation and overseas business network will help it develop a strong outsourcing service industry.

IPR lecture for Chinese firms

To help Chinese-funded enterprises in Britain know more about IPR-related laws and protection systems in Britain and Europe, properly deal with the IPR disputes and actively avoid them and safeguard their own intellectual property rights, the Economic and Commercial Counselor's Office of the Chinese Embassy in the UK recently invited Rouse IPR Consultation Company to give a lecture on "business in Europe - challenge, threat and opportunity in IPR".

Representatives from Chinese-funded enterprises, such as Nanjing Automobile (Group) Corporation, China National Aero-Technology Import & Export Corporation, China Construction Bank, Air China, and the Shanghai Foreign Investment Development Board attended the lecture.

Jeboo sues US movie firms

Jeboo.com, one of the biggest Chinese online movie websites, has filed a suit against five major US movie companies as well as the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA).

Jeboo.com said the defendants' announcement on March 6 damaged its reputation and claimed a total of 1 million yuan in compensation at Beijing No 2 Intermediate People's Court. The court will hear the case in the near future, according to China News Service.

A few months ago, the defendants, which include Walt Disney, Columbia and Universal, sued Jeboo.com twice over piracy for allegedly airing US movies online without authorization, but settled out of court.

Jeboo.com reportedly paid for the alleged unauthorized movies found in two Shanghai Internet cafes, even though the videos in dispute were later confirmed not to be from Jeboo.com. Jeboo.com paid to show its sincerity and to end the dispute as quickly as possible, the report said.

However, the five US movie giants and the MPAA issued statements on the MPAA's official Website saying Jeboo.com had stopped its infringement and apologized for its illegal activities. The address also quoted Frank Rittman, vice-president and Asia-Pacific Regional Counsel for MPAA as saying: "Services like Jeboo have profited from copyright infringement and undermined the development of legitimate online services."

Jeboo.com said the remarks were untruthful and violated the agreement signed by the two parties. That has severely harmed its reputation and its image as the biggest authorized online media provider in China, the firm said.

China Aomei to apologize

China Aomei, a computer game operator, has been ordered to apologize for damaging the reputation of Shanghai Shanda Networking Co Ltd, the largest online game developer on the Chinese mainland, after it alleged that Shanda had infringed its copyright at a news conference.

On April 26, 2006, China Aomei Network Co Ltd filed a lawsuit against Shanghai Holdfast Online Information Technology Co Ltd, a subsidiary of Shanda, to the Shanghai No 1 Intermediate People's Court, charging that it infringed the copyright of its five network games and asked for 100 million yuan in compensation.

Aomei said it had obtained exclusive rights to run the games on the mainland in October 2005.

Holdfast, Aomei alleged, used loopholes in the game software to let users play online at its site, and even allowed them to use pirated versions of the game software.

On May 9, 2006, Aomei held a news conference in Beijing, claiming that "Holdfast had long violated its copyright" but "Holdfast and its parent company Shanghai Shanda waved aside its warning and continued the violation".

Since Shanda is a listed company on Nasdaq, Aomei threatened to inform the US securities supervisor of the "illegality". Aomei also described Shanda as "a rascal" and "a robber".

The court said Aomei, as a company in the information technology industry, shouldn't have confused Shanda Networking with Shanda Entertainment.

(China Daily 03/31/2008 page9)