IP scene

Beijing

No unauthorized use of celebrities' names

The names of public figures, including personalities from the worlds of politics, economics and culture and religious leaders, cannot be registered as trademarks without authorization, according to a new policy announced by the Supreme People's Court last week. The unauthorized registering of such names will face sanctions on the grounds that it would mislead the public into believing that the use of such names has been authorized by, is linked to, or is otherwise connected to the celebrities in question, Song Xiaoming, chief judge of the court's intellectual property tribunal, said at a news conference.

People's Daily

Zhejiang

Surge in overseas filings from Yiwu

A growing number of online businesses based in Yiwu, a city known as one of China's leading wholesale hubs, have begun applying for overseas trademarks, with their reported filings increasing significantly last year from a year earlier, according to a local intellectual property service association. The United States topped the city's overseas trademark filing destination chart by country in 2016, followed by Russia. Applications with the US Patent and Trademark Office from e-commerce companies based in Yiwu were mainly in the clothing sector. Major US shopping portals including Amazon and eBay require that companies should be registered with the US Patent and Trademark Office as a prerequisite to trading.

Jhnews.com.cn

Shaanxi

Growth in new patents ranks top nationwide

The province in Northwest China reported a 45.7 percent increase in new patents last year from 2015, which was the fastest rate of recorded growth nationwide, Governor Hu Heping said during his work report at the annual provincial congress on Sunday. Home to 594 high-tech companies, Shaanxi pushed forward with its innovation-driven strategy in 2016 and earned a series of national awards in science and technological inventions.

Cnwest.com

Jiangxi

Large jump reported in registered copyrights

More than 6,000 copyrights were registered in the province in East China in 2016, surpassing the total in 2005-14, said a spokesman of the province's copyright authorities. Last year, the government streamlined registration procedures, expanded access to public services, and initiated a series of promotional events to increase copyright awareness.

Jiangxi Daily

Jiangsu

US hotelier Westin wins trademark case

An intermediate people's court in Wuxi ruled in favor of Westin, a US hotel chain owned by Marriott International, in a recent trademark case. The defendant, a local hotelier, was ordered to stop using the Chinese version of Westin as its logo and pay the company damages totaling 310,000 yuan ($44,930).

China Intellectual Property News

Guangdong

Apple Inc sued for mounting damages

Apple Inc faces a $129 million damages claim in a patent case filed with an intermediate court in Shenzhen, which is reportedly the highest of its kind for intellectual property complaints in China. The plaintiff, Hawaii-headquartered GPNE Corp, alleges that Apple-branded iPhones and iPad tablets infringe on one of its patents, which is fundamental to General Packet Radio Services and was granted in China in 2001. The court has held three hearings since it began dealing with the claim in 2013. There has not yet been a final ruling in the case.

Sznews.com

(China Daily 01/19/2017 page17)