It’s an important year for IP Key as we celebrate our fourth year supporting the EU-China IP cooperation. 

Originally planned for a duration of 3 years, IP Key was extended by an extra year with the current iteration coming to an end in June.

During these 4 years we have conducted over 250 activities and engaged with more than 6,000 individuals working for EU and Chinese IP related government agencies, judiciary and practitioners, as well as from industry and academia. 

With the reform of China’s E-commerce Law advancing in the legislative agenda, the European Commission and MOFCOM are going to host a roundtable on online IP protection, tackling in particular voluntary cooperation models to curb IPR infringement on e-commerce, liabilities of intermediaries and other topics.

In the context of the EU-China Action Plan (2014-2017) on IPR Customs Enforcement, IP Key  co-organised, together with DG TAXUD and GACC – a meeting of the “KA1 – Joint Group of Risk Management Experts specialised in IPR”. The event will took place in Florence, Italy, from 20 to 21 March, 2017. The Action Plan sets out 5 Key Actions (KA) to strengthen customs enforcement in the fight against the trade in IPR infringing goods. KA1 is devoted to the “Joint analysis of seizure statistics to detect general trends and risks”.

Seminar on the study of UPOV ‘91’s impact on the development of agriculture and forestry in China

IP Key partnered with the Legislative Affairs Commission of the NPC (in short, LAC) in a 8 days study visit that touched Paris and Brussels, to discuss various policy issues in the reform of China’s e-commerce law.

Meetings involved experts from government agencies, industry, IPR owners and e-commerce platforms in Paris, as well as EU officials from DG TRADE, CNET and JUST in Brussels. A separate meeting with the colleagues of the EU Parliament Legal Affairs committee concluded the mission.

The European Commission and the Supreme People’s Court, with the technical support of IP Key, will partner in the organisation of a two-week advanced judicial training program in France (Strasbourg) addressed to judges of the IP Courts. 

The 19th meeting of the EU-China IP Working Group was held on Friday 11th November at the European Commission in Brussels, Belgium. The Working Group meeting  supports the EU-China IP Dialogue and was thefirst time the session was held in Europe.

On 12-20 December 2016, accompanied by IP Key, a DDG delegation of the Ministry of Public Security of China visited Spain, France and Sweden for engaging in peer-to-peer exchanges with national law enforcement departments on IPR criminal enforcement practices.

Counterfeiting is still erroneously considered by large public opinion a “victim-less” crime, while policy makers are increasingly aware of the impact of counterfeiting on legal economy as well as the role played by international organized criminal organizations.

Between October 25 and 28, 2016 IP Key had the pleasure to cooperate with the Supreme People’s Procuratorate in a set of peer to peer exchanges for European and Chinese criminal prosecutors.

The meetings were courteously hosted by the Shanghai and Guangzhou Public Prosecutor Offices, who provided the venue and hospitality to develop two days of extensive discussions on issues of common interest for Chinese and European prosecutors in the fight of IP crimes.

The European Union Delegation to China, Treaty & Law Department of the Ministry of Commerce of China (MOFCOM), Xiamen University, and IP Key organised an “EU-China Innovation Policies” roundtable on December 9th 2016 at Xiamen University in Xiamen, China. The roundtable enabled a select group of policymakers and academics from China and the EU to share experiences about how to craft optimal IP-related innovation policies and laws. Specific areas of policy and law were selected based upon past IP Key activities, including: