IN BRIEF (Page 9)

IPR education campaign

The opening ceremony for an intellectual property rights (IPR) education campaign in Yunnan province schools was recently held in Jinghong.

The campaign was led by the Xishuangbanna Intellectual Property Office and Bureau of Education.

Gao Songshan, director of the Yunnan Intellectual Property Office, said IPR education programs in schools are designed to promote the goals of the Outline of the National Intellectual Property Strategy, popularizing knowledge about IPR and encouraging young people to learn more about science and technology to inspire independent innovation.

The Xishuangbanna Intellectual Property Office and Bureau of Education invited experts to give lectures on IPR basics and innovation.

Leaders of the Xishuangbanna Intellectual Property Office, Bureau of Education, Science and Technology Association, 27 universities, middle schools and primary schools participated in the opening ceremony.

Patent infringement case

Manfred Lupke, a legal representative of Corma Inc, reached agreements involving an enforcement settlement with three defendants for patent infringement cases in Shanghai.

A total of 750,000 yuan has been adjudged as compensation to Lupke after two successful lawsuits.

The patent infringement case centered on Corma's exclusive Mold Block Quick Return Technology, the use of which increases output rates while offering the pipe producer a reduction in the capital expenditure for mold blocks.

The three defendants were Chinese manufacturers: Shanghai Jewel Machinery Co, ERA Construction Materials Development Co and Anhui Guotong High-Tech Pipes Co Ltd.

A court ruled that the companies had manufactured, sold and used products infringing on Lupke's patents for business purposes. The companies were ordered to pay civil penalties and to cease production of the infringing products.

Google talks

Erik Hartmann, head of Google Book Search Strategic Partnership Development for Southeast Asia, recently came to China for a second round of talks with the China Written Works Copyright Society (CWWCS).

The US-based Internet search engine company and CWWCS are involved in a dispute over copyright issues involving books being scanned and made available on Google's website.

Zhang Hongbo, deputy executive director-general of CWWCS, said that Google agreed to one request made by the Chinese side, which is to offer an inventory of the Chinese books it has already scanned.

Google, however, did not promise to meet the rest of the Chinese side's requests, which were more substantial, according to Zhang.

CWWCS wants Google to agree not to scan Chinese writers' works without authorization, and to submit proposals to the Chinese Writers Association by the end of 2009 to resolve the dispute.

Zhang said he believes the inventory is a step in the right direction, although there is still much more to discuss with Google in the future.

Geely, Volvo talks

Geely Holding Group Co, which is in talks to buy Volvo Car Corp, said that the Swedish car maker will retain intellectual property rights. However, an analyst said that the deal may not suit the best interests of China's automotive industry, Shanghai Daily reported.

The privately owned Chinese car maker, which wants to acquire 100 percent of Volvo from Ford Motor Corp, will be allowed to use Volvo's core intellectual property rights (IPR), including safety and environmental protection, the company said after Geely Chairman Li Shufu completed a recent week-long visit to the European Union and Sweden, where Volvo is headquartered.

"Volvo will retain the ownership of core IPR technologies, as well as the right to use some of Ford's IPR it needs for business development," according to a statement.

Ford, which is selling the money-losing Volvo brand to focus on its own business, named Geely as the preferred bidder for the Swedish brand in October.

Earlier media reports said discussions between Geely and Ford might fail on the issue of IPR ownership.

But an analyst now sees the deal, which had earlier been touted as being able to improve Geely's technology capability, as different than originally described.

"Geely is not allowed to use the IPR on its own brand vehicles, which makes the deal incomplete," said Xu Caihua, an auto analyst at Guodu Securities Co.

"Geely wants to develop new products to suit the Chinese market. But it lacks capital, management expertise and necessary technologies. As a weaker Chinese company, acquiring a stronger international brand will be very difficult to make successful," Xu said.

The Geely group is said to be willing to pay about $2 billion for Volvo, which is about a third of the price that Ford paid when it bought the brand.

(China Daily 12/05/2009 page9)