In 2014 IP Key and the State Administration for Industry and Commerce facilitated exchanges between European and Chinese experts on trade mark best practices. Building on the outcome of such exchanges, a number of areas requiring further investigation were identified.

Expert exchanges therefore continued in 2015, in view of the implementation of recently revised Chinese Trade Mark Law.

Celebrating 10 years of the EU-China IP Dialogue Mechanism

On the 16th October, representatives from Chinese universities meet to discuss the 2nd EU-China IP Academic Forum. The first forum was held in the Suzhou Campus of Renmin University in 10th May 2015, and successfuly attracted over 200 participants. Next year the forum will be held in London and will be led by QMUL in April 2016. The EU-China Research Network Feasibility Study was also launched during this meeting. 

As of 14 September 2015, the State Intellectual Property Office of the People's Republic of China (SIPO), the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO), and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) have made their industrial design data available to the Designview tool, a searchable database for IP users set up by the EU's IP office OHIM (Office for the Harmonisation in the Internal Market).

On the 24th of August, IP Key met with 15 key Chinese agencies dealing with IP issues to discuss the Yearly Action Action Plan for 2016 (YAP3).  In the meeting Benoit Missone gave an update of the activities carried out  between IP Key and  Chinese agencies and Chinese agencies had the opportunity to comment and give suggestions for future activties.

The YAP process started in July when an email was sent to EU stakeholders to solicit feedback.  YAP3 will be carried out over six months as IP Key will wrap up in June 2016 after three  successful years of cooperation.

The Legislative Affairs Commission of the National People’s Congress, Standing Committee of the PRC (in short, LAC) is in the process of further revising the Chinese Criminal Code (lastly revised in 2012), LAC Department of Criminal Law is going to be working, in particular, on the amendment to the chapters regulating IPR crimes.

IP Key and LAC recently partnered in the organization of a study visit for a DG-level delegation of the Legislative Affairs Commission, which unfolded in peer to peer exchanges in Rome (Italy) and Alicante (Spain) between November 11th and 18th, 2015.

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.