IN BRIEF (Page 9)

IP academy established

Xiamen University and the Fujian Provincial IP Office recently established the Intellectual Property Academy. The move is an important step of implementing the national IP strategy on the basis of local conditions, officials say.

The academy serves as an IP research and talent cultivation base. It will carry out IP talent cultivation and training and provide IP policy consultation for governmental departments on the basis of the resources of scientific research and education of Xiamen University and develop IP exchange and cooperation with Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and foreign countries.

Annual IPR test launched

The State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) recently launched the annual examination work of patent agencies and agents. For patent agencies and agents that meet the qualifications for the annual examinations before October 31, SIPO will announce further information before November 30. In case some patent agencies and patent agents cannot meet the deadline and make corrections. Local IP administrations should verify corrections before December 31 and report the results to SIPO. SIPO will announce the inspection results before January 31, 2009.

Those who do not participate in the annual examinations or fail the examinations cannot handle patent agency business for SIPO and various regional IP administrations before they pass the next annual exams.

Alcohol company sued

Diageo, the London-based company that manages Johnnie Walker whisky, is seeking 2 million yuan in compensation from a Chinese alcoholic beverage company for unfair competition and packaging violations, the Shanghai Daily reports.

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

Diageo accused Blueblood (Shanghai) Wine Co Ltd of adopting similar packaging to its Johnnie Walker Black Label for Blueblood's Polonius whisky brand. Diageo said the Polonius brand used the same square bottle as Johnnie Walker and the three labels, in black and gold, were attached in the same positions. They also used similar bottle caps with the same color and font.

The plaintiff also accused Blueblood of selling Polonius whisky online with pictures of Johnnie Walker, which confused customers.

Diageo said the local market watchdog had fined Blueblood twice for using similar packaging to Jonnie Walker. The Shanghai Industrial and Commercial Administrative Bureau believed Blueblood was engaged in unfair competition, the court heard.

Blueblood argued it uses its own designers for packaging and it was using the packaging before Johnnie Walker Black Label entered the Chinese market. It also told the court it had stopped production of the whisky.

Free music download

Google Inc recently launched free music search and download services in China to catch up with market leader Baidu.com. The US company will work with a Chinese website, Top100.cn, to provide the music service in the world's most popular Internet nation. The deal is Google's first free music download service globally.

The new service allows users to listen to or download licensed songs. Google provides search technology and content. Top100.cn, in which Google has a minority stake, will share online advertising income. Google and Top 100.cn's play list features tens of thousands of songs obtained from several hundred music publishers.

Beijing-based Top100.cn was founded in 2005 and used to provide users with paid music download service. China's basketball super star Yao Ming is one of its investors.

IP protection center set up

The Fujian Provincial Intellectual Property Protection and Aid Center was recently established, which makes Fujian one of the provinces authorized to establish IP protection and aid centers.

The center is expected to work as a platform for the province to implement the National IP Strategy and IP protection campaign, the Fujian Provincial IP Office says.

3G mobile TV handset

China has launched its first domestically branded mobile TV handset based on the TD-SCDMA/CMMB standard as the country speeds up its efforts to promote the home-grown third generation mobile phone standard. The handsets, offered by China Wireless Technologies Limited subsidiary Yulong Coolpad, were part of China Mobile's bidding for the TD-SCDMA network. Experts hope these Mobile TV handsets would help promote China's home-grown 3G network.

Editor's note: The IPR Special is sponsored by the State Intellectual Property Office and published by China Business Weekly. To contact the Intellectual Property Office, the IPR Special hotlines are 8610-64995422 or 8610-64995826, and the e-mail address is ipr@chinadaily.com.cn.

(China Daily 08/18/2008 page9)