NTD INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

NTD INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ISSUE 01, 2006 Main Contents: 1. Online Search of Trademark Registration Information Available to the Public 2. Criminals of Patent Frauds Sentenced to Prison in Hubei Province 3. Development for Intellectual Property Protection in China in 2005 4. Local Governments Provided Subsidies or Financial Assistances for Granted Patents or Filing Patent Applications 5. Measures for the Protection of Intellectual Property at Exhibitions to be Implemented 6. Applications for Patents Reached 476,264 in 2005 7. Measures for the Administration of Exterior Representations of Automobile Products to be Implemented Online Search of Trademark Registration Information Available to the Public 2006-01-04 The Trademark Office under China s State Administration for Industry and Commerce (hereinafter CTMO) held a press conference on December 26, 2005. Mr. An Qinghu, Director General of CTMO, made a brief introduction to the automation system for trademark registration and administration, and announced that CTMO would start to provide online search of trademark registration information to the public. This means anyone can search relevant trademark registration information via China Trademark Website (http://www.ctmo.gov.cn or http://sbj.saic.gov.cn ) from December 26, 2005. It is said that the trademark information available for search includes both registered trademarks and trademark applications. There are three types of information available on the website: identical or similar trademarks, general trademark information and trademark application status. Search of identical or similar trademarks refers to the search which is to find out whether the applicant s trademark is identical with or similar to the trademark of another person that has, in respect of the same or similar goods, been registered or, after examination, preliminarily approved; search of general trademark information refers to the search for information related to a trademark whose registration number (or application number), the name of applicant (or trademark owner) or trademark characters are already known. Search of trademark application 1

status is to find out the present status of a trademark application in the workflow in accordance with application number or registration number. There are mainly three features in respect of online search of trademark registration information: First, users are free to search on line; Second, the pre-application search provided to the public is basically similar to that used by trademark examiners in CTMO; Third, the trademark search database will be updated once a week. and suspected of patent frauds by pretending to be officials from an inexistent National Award Review Committee of Patent for Invention, were tried in an open court of Hongshan District People s Court in Wuhan, Hubei Province. In April of 2005, those five suspects defrauded some patent applicants of 5,000 RMB as review fees in the name of Investment Management Center of Patent under University of Science and Technology of China. In July, they defrauded of 17,000 RMB by selling fake perspective equipment. He also pointed out that the trademark online search to the public means China s trademark automation, transparency of government affairs and social service have reached a higher level, which will definitely contribute much to the use of trademark information by the public, protection of the exclusive right to use a registered trademark and enhancement of the trademark awareness of the whole society. Mr. An Qinghu also stressed that CTMO will make every effort to provide trademark information as accurate as possible and keep updating the information in trademark search database. Once information is found in error, the public can submit Error Report through the website, and CTMO will correct the relevant information in time upon verification. It is said that China Trademark Website is the only website for online search of trademark registration run by the State Administration for Industry and Commerce. Criminals of Patent Frauds Sentenced to Prison in Hubei Province 2006-01-12 Recently five criminal suspects, arrested in 2005 The court held that the five defendants had committed patent frauds, involving a total sum of 57,200 RMB. Four of the criminals were sentenced in prison for 5 months and fined 5,000 RMB respectively; the other one was fined 8,000 RMB without imprisonment. Development for Intellectual Property Protection in China in 2005 2006-01-13 In 2005, the administrative agencies worked closely with judicial organs in China and made great achievements in the protection of intellectual property rights (IPR). In 2005 a total of 4,767 patent infringement cases were investigated by the administrative agencies for patent affairs, 15 of which were transmitted to the public security organs; 8,060 copyright infringement cases were investigated by the administrative agencies for copyright, 282 of which were transmitted to the public security departments. By the end of December 2005, during the Eagle Action (a campaign targeted at protection for intellectual property) started from November 2004, the public security departments throughout China recorded 3,534 IPR infringement cases, 3,149 of which had been solved, with 5,981 2

criminal suspects arrested. The prosecutorial departments approved the arrest of 3,195 criminal suspects who were involved in IPR infringement, manufacturing or selling fake products and goods of bad quality; the courts throughout China received a total of 3,250 cases concerning IPR infringement, manufacturing or selling fake products and goods of bad quality, and illegal business operation. 2,947 cases were concluded. In order to help the industry with the administration and protection of intellectual property, some training courses or programs were held for legal professionals and managers of enterprises. Hunan Province has held nearly 100 training courses of intellectual property rights, providing trainings for more than 10,000 people. Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region invited experts to give lectures to about 70 officials of patent administration. The increase of IPR infringement cases was not only a result of the government efforts in strengthening protection of IPR and maintaining a market-oriented economic environment, but also the increasing awareness of the public for protecting IPR. Consequently, the enforcement officials and organs were able to find more cases through different channels such as hotlines or reports from the public. Local Governments Provided Subsidies or Financial Assistances for Granted Patents or Filing Patent Applications 2006-01-13 To encourage invention-creation and lessen the expenses of filing or maintaining patent for inventors or creators, some local governments in China provided subsidies or financial assistances for granted patents or filing patent applications. The State Office of IPR Protection organized a grand campaign named IPR Protection on Action in 2005, aiming at how the IPR is protected in China. More than 100 media organizations from China and abroad reported the status of IPR protection in more than 300 cities of 28 provinces and municipalities. In April 2005, for the first time China s State Council published the White Paper on Intellectual Property Developments in China in seven languages. With regard to coordination for administrative enforcement of patent, 16 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, including Beijing and Shanghai, jointly passed the Cross Province Coordination Agreement on Administrative Enforcement for Patent; 10 provinces and cities in the delta of the Yangtze River also build up a regional system of cooperative law enforcement, fighting against IPR infringement. In 2005 Tangshan of Hebei Province provided subsidies to 316 granted patents with a total sum of 147,200 RMB. Of the patents subsidized, 26 were patents for inventions, 228 forutility models, and 62 for designs. Each inventor or creator got a subsidy ranged from 200 RMB to 800 RMB. Chongqing Science and Technology Commission and Chongqing Intellectual Property Office started to provide financial assistance for filing applications of patent for inventions in 2005. By the end of 2005, the first group of 468 patents for inventions from 70 individual inventors and 60 enterprises had received financial assistances. Since 2001, Jining Science and Technology Commission and Jining Intellectual Property Office of Shandong Province have provided financial assistances to individual inventors or creators of granted patents, 2000 RMB for patents for inventions, 500 RMB for patents for utility models, 3

and 300 RMB for patents for designs. By the end of 2005, 471 granted patents had been financially assisted, with a total sum of 230,000 RMB. Measures for the Protection of Intellectual Property at Exhibitions to be Implemented 2006-01-17 On January 11, 2006, Ministry of Commerce, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, the National Copyright Administration, and the State Intellectual Property Office jointly issued Measures for the Protection of Intellectual Property at Exhibitions (hereafter referred to as the Measures), which are to be implemented on March 1, 2006. The Measures are formulated in accordance with the Foreign Trade Law of the People s Republic of China, the Patent Law of the People s Republic of China, the Trademark Law of the People s Republic of China, and the Copyright Law of the People s Republic of China, applicable to the protection of patents, trademarks and copyrights in all kinds of exhibitions, fairs, or trading fairs held in China. The Measures stipulates that sponsors of exhibitions or fairs should take the responsibility of protecting the legal rights and interests of owners of intellectual property rights. For those exhibitions or fairs lasting three days or more, if necessary, sponsors should set up a complaint-receiving office to deal with disputes on intellectual property rights during exhibitions or fairs. The office should include officials from local intellectual property offices. If such office is not established, sponsors should publish relevant information such as the liaison person and the telephone number of the local intellectual property offices where the exhibitions or fairs are held. During exhibitions or fairs, owners of intellectual property rights can make complaints either to the complaint-receiving offices or directly to the local intellectual property offices. The complaint-receiving office at the exhibition or fair should hand over the documents provided by the complaint or petitioner to relevant intellectual property offices within 24 hours. If the case is accepted, the administration offices of intellectual property should inform both organizer of the exhibition or fair and the complainee or the respondent. Time limit for the complainee or the respondent to respond should be designated. Unless the cases need further investigation, local intellectual property offices should make decisions in time and deliver it to both parties. If exhibitors are held to have infringed intellectual property rights, local intellectual property offices and administration for exhibitions or fairs should decide punishment on exhibitors based on relevant laws. For those exhibitors who are twice held to have infringed intellectual property rights, organizers of the exhibitions should not allow them to participate in the future exhibition. According to the Measures, the administrations for exhibitions or fairs should send warnings to those organizers who fail to effectively protect intellectual property rights at exhibitions or fairs, and deny their future application for organizing similar exhibitions or fairs. If the cases are not yet decided at the end of exhibitions or fairs, the case with its facts and evidence, upon confirmation from the organizers, should, within 15 days, be handed over to the local intellectual property office that has the jurisdiction over the case. 4

Applications for Patents Reached 476,264 in 2005 2006-01-25 On January 24, 2006, at a press conference held by China s State Intellectual Property Office, Zhang Qin, Deputy Commissioner of the State Intellectual Property Office, briefed on the patent applications received in 2005. In 2005, the State Intellectual Property Office received a total of 476,264 applications for inventions, utility models and designs, of which 383,157 were domestic applications and 93,107 foreign applications. Among all the patent applications from China received in 2005, 158,882 were filed by enterprises, colleges, universities, institutes of scientific research, and other organizations; 62,270 were domestic patent applications for inventions, of which 41,750 were from enterprises. The numbers illustrate that in 2005 patent applications accounted for a major part in those from China. In 2005 the State Intellectual Property Office granted a total of 214,003 patents, of which 171,619 were granted to Chinese applicants and 42,384 to foreign applicants. Of all the granted patents, 53,305 were patents for inventions, 79,349 for utility models, and 81,349 for designs. Measures for the Administration of Exterior Representations of Automobile Products to be Implemented 2006-01-28 Measures for the Administration of Exterior Representations of Automobile Products (hereinafter the Measures), by China s National Development and Reform Commission, will be implemented on February 1, 2006. With the implementation of the Measures, automobiles produced by joint ventures in China must have exterior Chinese marks including the place and the name of manufacturers, indicating China s capacity of manufacturing automobiles. From now on, Audi automobiles made in China might bear the mark 一汽奥迪, while BMW automobiles made in China might carry the mark- 华晨宝马, so 北京奔驰 for Mercedes-Benz In the past, joint ventures of automobile manufacturers in China always put the marks of foreign investors in the front of automobiles, and some luxurious automobiles only have foreign marks, concealing the capacity of China s automobile manufacture industry. The Measures stipulate that the automobiles manufactured in China must have at least one mark including the place and the name of manufactures on an obvious place of the body if they are sold in China, otherwise they are not allowed to be sold in China. The names of manufacturers are required to be made in Chinese characters with certain size and material. The trademark must be made of the same material as that of the name of manufacturer. From May 1, 2006, all types of automobiles contained in the List of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers and Products should accord with the Measures; otherwise, the types of motor vehicles will be removed from the list. The implementation of the Measures helps the automobile manufacturers in China improve the awareness of quality and brand. 5