Following a two-day expert roundtable in June 23-24, 2016 in Beijing (see relevant activity description), between October 11 and 18, 2016 IP Key and the Chinese State Administration for Industry & Commerce (in short, SAIC) carried out - for the second time since the start of the Action - a series of “roving seminars” to explain to the European audience the reforms adopted in 2014 by the State Council to the Chinese Trademark Law.

To further strengthen the foundations of EU-China IP dialogue platforms and mechanism, IP Key collaborate with Chinese Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) to facilitate exchanges between Chinese government and the EU.  One Chinese official delegation led by MOFCOM visited Europe from 7 -16 November 2016. The Chinese delegation is comprised of officials from 9 ministries, judges from provincial high court and Beijing IP Court, procurator from the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) as well as academic representatives.

In the margins of the EU-China IP Forum, IP Key will be organised a follow up workshop to further develop EU-China academia cooperation in the field of intellectual property.  

This workshop aimed to develop some of the components of the EU-China IP Research and Network agreed during the feasibility study workshop held in June 2016.

In particular the EU-China Research and Networking program and the EU-China IP Research and Network Portal.

IP Key, in cooperation with the Queen Mary University of London, organised the second EU-China IP Forum.

IP Key and Chinese experts selected by China’s Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) and China’s State Forestry Administration (SFA) (the “study team”) held a series of roundtables from July 4^th-7^th 2016 in Europe (Angers and Brussels) as part of an ongoing feasibility study on China’s potential accession to UPOV ’91. The Chinese study team met with European stakeholders to discuss the impacts of UPOV ’91 accession in the EU, and issues related to China’s potential accession to UPOV ’91.

With the new draft Chinese Anti-Unfair Competition Law recently passed to the Legislative Affairs Commission of the National People’s Congress (LAC) for final revision and enactment, the European Commission and the State Administration for Industry & Commerce of China partnered in a two-day seminar and expert roundtable in Nanning, Guangxi, with the technical support of IP Key.

PRESS RELEASE ON BEHALF OF THE EUROPEAN UNION DELEGATION

EU and China commit to tackle online counterfeiting

The 18th meeting of the EU-China IP Working Group was held in support of the EU-China IP Dialogue on Tuesday 31st May 2016 at MOFCOM in Beijing, China.  Co-chaired by Mr Fernando Perreau de Pinninck, recently appointed as the Head of Unit, DG Trade, European Commission  and Mr Chen Fuli, Deputy Director  General, Treaty and Law Department, MOFCOM.

China and most EU member states are countries of civil law system therefore they share commonalities to a large degree in their intellectual property legislation and judicial adjudication practices.  IP Key project is organising a study visit on court organisation, management and efficiency. 10 Chinese judges will visit three EU member states (Germany, France and Italy) from 20-29 June, 2016.  The Chinese delegation is composed of judges from the SPC, Beijing IP Court, Shanghai IP Court, Guangzhou IP Court and two provincial high courts.

The IP Key Project and China’s Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) and State Forestry Administration (SFA) are holding a Stakeholder roundtable on feasibility of China’s accession to UPOV ‘91 on May 31st 2016 at the Ministry of Agriculture’s headquarters in Beijing. The roundtable is one part of ongoing research for a feasibility study on China’s potential accession to UPOV ‘91 that IP Key is facilitating for a team of Chinese researchers selected by the MoA and SFA.