IP scene

Beijing

SIPO reshuffled, taking on new roles

According to a cabinet reshuffle plan submitted to national legislators on Tuesday, the State Intellectual Property Office will be restructured and merged into a new national market supervisor, which will combine the functions of the State Administration of Industry and Commerce, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, and the China Food and Drug Administration. SIPO, which is currently focused on patent work, will also be tasked with the filing and administrative adjudication of trademarks and geographical indications.

People's Daily

Shandong

CAS' patents to be auctioned off

The Chinese Academy of Sciences' nearly 1,000 patents will be up for auction in the provincial capital Jinan on Friday. With the 932 patents displayed online, more than 100 local companies have expressed their intentions to buy and scores of other business representatives from nearby provinces, including Anhui, have contacted the CAS for consultation. Patents related to such sectors as new materials, new-generation information technology and intelligent manufacturing have caught the most attention. After the Jinan leg, the auction will be also held in other cities in March.

Jinan Times

Jiangsu

Rice dispute ruling rewards academy

The Jiangsu High People's Court announced its annual key intellectual property cases for 2017 in late February, including a dispute over rights to a new rice variety during the patent filing period. It took more than four years for the Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences to secure the new plant variety status. The academy found a seed farm in Nantong involved in unauthorized commercial production and sales during that period. The court ruled in favor of the academy, supporting its claim for damages dating back to the temporary protection period, spanning from passing the preliminary examination to being granted.

Legal Daily

Guangdong

Watch, clock center opens in Shenzhen

Dedicated to overseas protection, an intellectual property center for the watch, clock and intelligent wearable device industries opened in Shenzhen on March 9, the first of its kind in the southern Chinese city. Dubbed as China's watch and clock capital, the city contributed more than 40 percent of the industry's global output. Over 60 percent of watches and clocks made in China are from Shenzhen.

Shenzhen Special Zone Daily

(China Daily 03/15/2018 page17)