Group photo of volunteers helping out at an intellectual property forum, at the 101st session.

Fair organizers dealing with an infringement complaint.

For decades, one fair in China has stood out from all the rest as a barometer of foreign trade growth, but now it is also becoming a measure of the growth in intellectual property rights (IPR) protection.

As if to prove this, when the China Import and Export Fair (Canton Fair) had its 109th incarnation this past April, the organizing committee handled 616 IPR infringement complaints from companies taking part.

More than 800 exhibitors were accused of infringements and 465 companies received disciplinary action, which in some cases meant being expelled from the fair.

Over the years, the Canton Fair has gained a global reputation for safeguarding the interests of its exhibitors and more recently, has taken a firm step in seeking international cooperation in this.

While the fair was going on in April, it held an international symposium on IPR protection involving Chinese and Japanese officials and experts.

The Canton Fair was one of the very first large Chinese trade fairs with a special administration that deals with IPR complaints. It has established an efficient IPR dispute settlement system with appropriate regulations and system of mediation.

There is even a special office for receiving complaints of IPR violations. The complaints are usually categorized in three ways: by patent, by brand, or by trade dispute. And the State Intellectual Property Office, Ministry of Commerce, and State Administration for Industry and Commerce can send a special task force to the fair to handle any arbitration.

In 2005, the fair adopted a system for handling IPR violations, and told all chambers of commerce and exhibitor groups to have special staff to deal with IPR issues.

There have been IPR regulations enacted by the organizing committee since 2001 and, in 2002, it began ordering companies to provide evidence to prove their innocence if it was accused of an IPR infringement.

Some of the harsher punishments for violations that have been meted out over the years run from being expelled to being permanent banned from the fair.

All exhibitors are required to sign a sort of oath saying they have not been accused of IPR violations previously before they are allowed to take part in the fair.

A special IPR database has also been set up to help companies track the progress any complaint they may file.

And, chambers of commerce and exhibitors are informed whenever a company is charged with having committed IPR infringement.

Any company that is found guilty of a serious infringement is now named and shamed during the fair to stop other companies from following suit.

This protection work of the Canton Fair has gained it central government recognition and, in 2004, the State Council itself issued an action plan for IPR protection that demanded that all trade fairs take a lesson from the Canton experience.

The fair also played an important role in getting the country to set up its first trade fair IPR protection regulations, in 2006.

It now considers IPR protection awareness to be a major part of each fair.

In fact, the State Intellectual Property Office and commerce bureaus arrange their IPR protection awareness activities to coincide with the fair, which is held twice annually.

Over time, more fairs across the country have adopted the Canton approach and have set up special departments to deal with IPR infringement.

And, on the softer side, while it is busy safeguarding the interests of exhibitors, the Canton Fair is also prompting its exhibitors to do more to develop new products and get their own patent.

The fair is held every spring and autumn, and has a 53-year history. The first was held way back in 1957. Its large, comprehensive scale and many connections with overseas buyers give it the greatest business turnover of any fair in the country.

(China Daily 09/29/2011 page6)