IP Key SEA and EUIPO experts shared insights at the ‘Workshop on Trade in Counterfeit Food, Beverages, Cosmetics, and Fast Moving Consumer Goods’ in Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam, on 2-5 April. The workshop highlighted the prevalence of global trafficking in infringing fast-moving consumer goods (FMCGs) and its economic impact, as well as measures and technologies to address the problem.

The 15th China (Wuxi) International Design Expo took place this year on 25-27 May in Wuxi, Jiangsu, China. IP Key China, in partnership with the China National Intellectual Property Administration and Intellectual Property Publishing House organised a one-day workshop on the margins of the Expo. Expert presentations and roundtable discussions took place concerning various aspects of design rights protection, enforcement and best practices.

The Fourth Revision of the Trademark Law in China was adopted in April 2019 and will come into force on 1 November 2019.  IP Key China, in cooperation with the China National Intellectual Property Administration organised this one-day workshop to discuss the latest changes in the law, outline its practical implications as well as address some of the on-going challenges. Given the challenges related to bad-faith trademark applications and the new provisions for tackling those, several presentations and discussions focused on this particular area.

China now files more patents than any other country in the world, including the U.S. In part, this has been fuelled by a government drive to encourage universities and technology firms to file. Yet whilst mobilising state policy to increase the quantity of applications has not been a challenge for China, the quality of its patent enforcement system has not fully kept up with this push for innovation. In view of the above, the Supreme People’s Court of the PRC (SPC) continues to make regulatory and procedural reforms that are closely observed by EU stakeholders.

With the support and organisation by IP Key, a Chinese delegation of the Supreme People’s Procuratorate of the PRC (SPP) and Local/Provincial prosecutors visited the EU in May for a ten day study visit in Sweden, the Netherlands and Spain respectively.