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”.

IP Key, the China IPR SME Helpdesk and the EU SME Centre will deliver a webinar on “Entering China’s Food & Beverage Market”. Together they will discuss the current landscape of the Chinese F&B market and the methods EU SMEs should take when considering entering the market. The webinar will focus on F&B products in the wine, olive oil, beer and spirits sectors and how these products can be protected through Intellectual Property and GIs.
 

IP Key facilitated the participation of two participants from the SAIC to a workshop addressed to non-EU offices which have integrated IT tools. The Chinese participants were involved only in the workshop session dedicated to TMclass as it is the only tool which the SAIC has integrated this far, in particular regarding data set management in the Terminology Maintenance Console (TMC).

The China-EU Seminar on the Reform of PRC Anti-unfair Competition Law has been co-organized by IP Key and SAIC at the School of Administration of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province on June 10th, 2015 opening a series of technical training sessions for AIC officers organised by SAIC in the same week.

The seminar was addressed on the aspects as below:

In the context of the EU-China Action Plan (2014-2017) on IPR Customs Enforcement of IPR, IP Key organised a study visit of two customs officers from European member states to China from May 25 to 29, 2015. After the two working group meetings respectively held in Ningbo, China (May 6 to 9, 2014) and Rome, Italy (November 25 to 27, 2014), this visit aims at contributing to the Key Action 5 (KA5) – Exchange of knowledge and experience of each other’s IPR enforcement policies and practices – as set out by the aforementioned Action Plan. 

Counterfeiting and piracy, and infringements of intellectual property in general, are a constantly growing phenomenon which nowadays has an international dimension, a serious threat to national economies and governments that appears to be increasingly linked to organized crime. Counterfeiting is considered by large public opinion a “victim-less” crime, while its impact on legal economy and the role of transnational organized criminal organizations seems to be still largely underestimated.

Roundtable discussion regarding the new specialised IP courts on May 14, 2015 in Guanzghou.

Under the context of the recent establishment of Guangzhou’s IP specialised court, the second IP Café will be held in partnership with Sun Yat-sen University and will focus on the new Specialised IP Courts.  Davide Follador, Long term expert of IP Key brings together key experts from the European Union and China, asking them what are their expectations to the development of China’s new specialised IP courts, and its ramifications to enforcement. 

Confirmed speakers

IP Key held a workshop on inventor remuneration rules at Renmin University Law School in Beijing on July 17th 2015. The purpose of this workshop is to provide an understanding of how government-mandated systems for inventor remuneration function in EU Member States and China, and to investigate the impacts of these systems. These insights and related research under IP Key are intended to assess the optimality of state-mandated inventor remuneration rules, with a view to proposing a system that minimises the most avoidable costs and risks therein to employers while encouraging innovation.