IP scene

1.Beijing

Officials bag fake ducks

Industry and commerce administration officials seized more than 220 packages of fake branded Peking Roast Duck during an investigation last week that checked 81 vendors at two railway stations and the popular tourist destination Qianmen near Tiananmen Square.

More than 20 operations to find fake Peking Roast Duck have been mounted in the city this year. Illegal sellers have been fined nearly 50,000 yuan ($7,691).

(legaldaily.com.cn)

2.Hebei

Illegal gas station logos

A suspect surnamed Hou was recently arrested for violating the well-known Sinopec and PetroChina brands at the eight gasoline stations he operates in Wuan.

To gain attention and increase sales, the 42-year-old had the stations outfitted with Sinopec and PetroChina's trademarked logos in both Chinese and English without authorization.

He also had his staff wear uniforms and hats with the logos and marks.

Police said the unauthorized use of trademarks and logos helped the stations generate 787,500 yuan ($121,284) in illegal sales.

(jcrb.com.cn)

3.Zhejiang

Local brands biggest victims

Brand infringement has long been monitored by customs officials in Yiwu, known as the "global supermarket" for the range of goods made here.

Yet last year saw a change in counterfeits - for the first time domestic trademarks were the biggest victims, followed by infringements on brands from the United States, Germany and Japan.

Both famed and lesser-known domestic brands have become targets of counterfeiters.

As a result, 29 Yiwu companies have registered with the customs office for intellectual property protection.

(Zhejiang Daily)

4.Fujian

Cross-Straits copyright expo

Thirty-five deals worth a combined 6.1 billion yuan ($938 million) were signed last week at a cross-Straits copyright expo in Fuzhou, capital of the province.

Agreements were made on projects in animation and games, arts, industrial designs, architecture, advertising and tourism.

About 530 institutions and individuals from both sides of the Straits presented more than 1,500 exhibits.

The five-day event is reportedly the largest between creative industries working across the Straits.

(Fuzhou Daily)

5.Guangdong

Prison for pirate Blackberrys

Four defendants were recently sentenced to prison terms for counterfeiting Blackberry cellphones in Shenzhen.

The Futian district court found that the defendants made fake Blackberry cellphones after collecting used or waste phone bodies and buying components to assemble finished products.

The counterfeits had a potential retail value of more than 290,000 yuan.

Different from traditional handsets, the counterfeit smartphones had strong data processing capacity and could work like tablets.

The four counterfeiters were sentenced to prison terms ranging from one year and four months to three and a half years.

(xkb.com.cn)

(China Daily 05/25/2011 page17)