In the occasion of an official visit by SAIC Vice Minister to the EU, IP Key organised a set of roving seminars in Budapest, Prague and Warsaw with the participation of trade mark experts from the Chinese Trade Mark Office and Appeal Board, aimed at presenting an updated picture of the Chinese trade mark administration and enforcement system.

European stakeholders can benefit from improved awareness of the benefits of using and how to use the patent system in China, which includes invention patents, utility model patents, and registered design patents. IP Key, in partnership with China’s State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) and the Danish Patent and Trademark Office (DPTO), Italian Patent and Trademark Office (UIBM), and Hungarian Intellectual Property Office (HIPO), held a roving seminar series explaining how to use the Chinese patent system to maximise value to EU companies and properly protect their patents.

Following the training organised in Chengdu in 2014,  IP Key has been invited by Ministry of Culture (MoC) to contribute EU expertise to the 2015 MoC online enforcement training on 31 August in Zhengzhou, Henan Province.  Three experts engaged by IP Key spoke on 31 August to around 110 cultural market enforcement officers from 26 provinces and 17 cities to raise their awareness on the online copyright protection trends in the EU and internationally and more importantly to focus on good practices of case investigation and evidence collection. The training is structured as follows:       

After a few steps of reforms, Copyright protection and the fight to piracy are still of concern for the creative industry in China.

Following extensive consultations with domestic and international stakeholders, in June 2014 the Legislative Affairs Office of the State Council released a third draft of the new law. The draft amendments to the Copyright Law will then be presented to the Legislative Affairs Commission of the National People’s Congress for further review and final enactment.

The Memorandum of Understanding on reinforcing the EU-China IP Dialogue Mechanism was signed (with Ms. Cecilia Malmström, Commissioner for Trade, and Mr. GAO Hucheng, Minister of Commerce of China) on the sidelines of the EU-China Summit, on 29 June 2015 in Brussels.  

The Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China, (MOFCOM), and DG Trade of the European Commission, celebrated the 10th anniversary of the EU-China IP Dialogue Mechanism with a high-level event in Brussels on the 29th of June. 

Innovation fuels economic growth by creating new markets and increasing productivity. Empirical analysis suggests that an efficient and well-structured IP system accelerates innovation. The Office for the Harmonization of the Internal market (OHIM) and the European Patent Office (EPO) jointly published a study entitled “Intellectual property rights intensive industries: Contribution to economic performance and employment in the European Union”.

The EU and China have maintained close and effective dialogue on intellectual property with fruitful results achieved and commitment made to continue carrying out the IP Key Project. In order to deepen mutual understanding on IP protection, extensive exchanges are necessary with relevance to IP related policies, the legislative framework and enforcement of IP rights.  Today’s globalised and digital economies are reshaping the world.

The third IP Café was held in partnership with South China University of Technology and focused on Court Enforcement of Trade Secrets and Unfair Competition Law. IP Key and SCUT brought together key experts from the European Union and China, and asked them to provide insights on the judicial protection of trade secrets and anti-unfair competition law in the light of the new scenario of Chinese IP Courts. Comparisons were drawn between EU – in particular Netherlands and Spain – on the one side and China on the other.

Speakers: 

  3rd Meeting of the IPR Working Group

Workshop on "Efficient Communication between Customs and Businesses on IPR Border Enforcement"

In the context of the EU-China Customs Cooperation Action Plan (2014-2017) on IPR Enforcement, IP Key is organising the “3rd IPR Working Group Meeting” and a workshop on "Efficient Communication between Customs and Businesses on IPR Border Enforcement”.