IP scene

Beijing

Record trademark filings

The national trademark authority received 2.3 million trademark applications last year, a 21.5 percent increase from 2013, according to a report by the State Administration for Industry and Commerce. The number surpassed the 2-million benchmark for the first time and topped the world rankings for the 13th consecutive year. More than 60 percent of the applications were filed online. China had 8.39 million valid trademarks by the end of 2014.

China intellectual property news

Shanghai

Infant food makers fined

Shanghai-based infant food maker Abbott won a lawsuit against three Engnice-branded infant cereal producers in Hunan and Jiangxi provinces and one related product package producer in Hunan. The four defendants were fined 1 million yuan ($159,900) in compensation for violating Abbott's design patent. A court in Beijing also ruled that the four defendants should stop producing and selling the infant cereal and must destroy finished and semifinished bottles and moulds.

economic information Daily

Ningxia

Patent training starts

The IP authority in the autonomous region organized a two-day training session for 247 patent specialists in companies in Yinchuan and Wuzhong cities on April 1, the first of its kind in the region. The authority invited two experts from the State Intellectual Property Office to introduce procedures and management of preliminary review of patent applications at SIPO, as well as methods for online patent applications. Similar training sessions will be organized each quarter this year.

sipo.gov.cn

Jiangsu

Plans in place for IP city

Nanjing government released guidelines for building an IP demonstration city. The provincial capital plans to improve the mechanism for filing IP complaints through a hotline, IP database to include patent, trademark and copyright violations in company records and a personal credit information system. It also plans to establish a municipal IP rights safeguard center and help districts and high-tech industrial parks set up related branches.

Xinhua Daily

Jiangxi

Help to reduce disputes

A hundred intellectual property rights commissioners were sent to 1,000 companies across the province to help them improve their innovation capacities, IP management and protection and reduce IP disputes. The commissioners were scholars and specialists selected from universities, IP agencies and law firms. They will offer consultation services and train 1,000 additional commissioners.

Jiangxi Daily

Publishers win top prize

Nanchang-based 21st Century Publishing Group was announced as the Asian winner of the Bologna Prize for the Best Children's Publishers of the Year on March 30, the first of its kind on the Chinese mainland. The prize was set up by the Italian Publishers' Association and the organizer of the Bologna Children's Book Fair in 2013 for global publishers at the forefront of editorial projects, professional skills and innovation.

Xinhua news agency

Zhejiang

WeChat seller sentenced

A court in Hangzhou delivered a verdict in the first criminal case in the province involving fake goods sold via social media platform WeChat. The defendant surnamed He was sentenced to one year in jail with two years probation and was fined 60,000 yuan ($9,594). In 2013, local police found her using two WeChat accounts to sell goods with fake trademarks including Chanel, Prada, Cartier, Louis Vuitton and Omega. She made 100,000 yuan in illegal income by 2013.

cztv.com

Shandong

Asia's largest ferry

Bohai Mazhu, a roll-on/roll-off ship, recently made its maiden voyage from Yantai to Dalian, with more than 800 passengers and 150 vehicles. The largest ro-ro of its kind in Asia, the ship was built by Bohai Ferry Co Ltd with proprietary technologies and an investment of nearly 400 million yuan ($64.4 million). The ship can accommodate a maximum of 2,300 passengers and its three car decks can carry more than 300 vehicles.

Xinhua News Agency

(China Daily 04/09/2015 page17)