IP scene

Beijing

Pirate tools haul seized in swoop

The Beijing customs office recently seized nearly 1,000 counterfeit Wedo nonsparking tools, designed to increase safety in flammable situations. It was the largest case the Beijing customs has handled this year in which a domestic company's intellectual property rights were infringed in the export section. The enforcement move was also a joint Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei operation, as the rights owner of the brand is a Tianjin company and the consignor of the cargo is in Hebei province.

Legal Daily

Invention, design awards conferred

The 2017 WIPO-SIPO Awards for Outstanding Chinese Patented Inventions and Industrial Designs were granted to 895 projects at a ceremony on Wednesday. Among them, 25 gold award-winning projects had led to a combined revenue of 939 million yuan ($143.4 million) by the end of last year. Organized by the State Intellectual Property Office and the World Intellectual Property Organization, they are China's top patent awards. Nearly 5,000 projects have been awarded since the awards started in 1989. More than 1,500 projects took part in the selection campaign this year.

China Daily

Tianjin

Auto engineers go on the move

The Society of Automotive Engineers of China set up an intellectual property branch. Gao Hesheng, head of the branch, said China has witnessed rapid growth of patent numbers in the auto industry, especially those related to new energy vehicles and internet-connected cars, and the IP awareness of domestic carmakers has been on the rise. He said the newly founded organization will build exchange platforms, and help build IP alliances in some key fields.

China Intellectual Property News

Hunan

Changsha leads way to integration

Changsha has integrated the administrations for patents, copyright and trademarks into one office, the first provincial capital to do so. A unified intellectual property office will improve IP protection efficiency, local IP officials said. The city started the attempt to combine its patent and copyright administrations in 2010, and the trademark authority was integrated according to the latest reform starting in late September. Changsha is a national pilot in the IP operations services system.

Sanxiang City Express

Shanghai

Suspects held in Japanese case

Four suspects have been placed in criminal custody for producing and selling counterfeit scale models for Japanese animation figure Gundam. Shanghai police received a complaint from the copyright owner in mid-September, saying the unlicensed models were sold online, at a price one-third that of the genuine article. The head of the suspect counterfeiting group said he bought genuine models, made slight modifications to the design, then sold them as his own.

Thepaper.cn

(China Daily 12/14/2017 page17)