China

The IP Key China Project Leader, Ms. Gyta Berasnevičiūtė-Singh, was present at the 12th China Intellectual Property Annual Conference in Jinan on 20 September and delivered a presentation highlighting the importance of constant exchange between international stakeholders. Ms Berasnevičiūtė-Singh expressed her pleasure at participating in this nationally renowned intellectual property conference on behalf of the IP Key China project and emphasised that the project will continue to support EU-China exchanges on intellectual property rights.

European and Chinese judges can already claim long-lasting and productive judicial cooperation. This cooperation began with an EU-China judges forum, held in February 2016, supported by IP Key. Both the forum, and notably the follow-up workshop, reflected the mutual interest in peer-to-peer exchanges and the sharing of best practices, as well as building a foundation for continuous cooperation.

IP Key China organised an IP Café on the EU-China geographical indications cooperation on 21 September in Beijing, China. This event brought together European Union authorities, experts and academics from the EU and China for comprehensive discussions on the challenges and issues, sharing best practices and promoting international cooperation.

As an initiative by IP Key China, IP Cafés take place periodically to explore intellectual property issues on how IP law is developing in both Europe and China. On 20 September, IP Key China was in partnership with the Fudan University Law School and Fudan University Intellectual Property Research Centre to co-host an IP Café on the university campus. This event brought together European judges, experts, professors and students to discuss intellectual property protection on internet platforms.

IP Key China and the Supreme People’s Court of China have maintained productive collaboration over the past years. This year, the cooperation continues with the organisation of the annual EU-China Judicial forum which focused, among other topics, on IP in the application of China´s Anti-monopoly Law. It was held from 18 to 19 September in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province of China.

Initiated by IP Key China, IP Café is a series of interactive discussions on current intellectual property issues affecting intellectual property law development in China and Europe.

Following exchanges among academics and activities carried out since IP Key China's current phase was kicked-off, a closed-door IP Café was held on 10 July 2023 in Beijing. This was the first IP Café in the current phase of the Project.

World-renowned professors representing leading EU and Chinese universities discussed and shared their insights on topics including:

IP Key China continues its cooperation with the Community Plant Variety Office (CPVO), the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MARA) and the National Forestry and Grassland Administration (NFGA) of China to organise a three-day technical training course for Chinese experts in November 2023.

This training course aims to enhance skills in the technical examination of plant variety rights applications and foster the exchange of best practices among the EU and China authorities.

IP Key China and the Quality Brands Protection Committee of China Association of Enterprises with Foreign Investment (QBPC) will co-host the 2023 EU-China forum on criminal IP enforcement, which will take place on 18-19 October in Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, China.

This forum will bring together representatives from IP enforcement authorities, experts and rights holders from the EU and China for extensive discussions on the new trends and challenges in criminal IP enforcement, sharing best practices and promoting international cooperation.