China

In the framework of the support to EU-CN Customs Action Plan, IP Key China organised, in cooperation with DG TAXUD, a study visit for a Chinese delegation (5 GACC representatives and Chinese Customs Officers) to the customs facilities of important EU seaports or airports, aiming at exchanging knowledge and experience on each other’s IPR enforcement policies and practices to develop new initiatives and strengthen the actual collaboration, as part of key action 5 of the CN-EU Action Plan.

IP Key China and the China Anti-infringement and Anti-counterfeiting Innovation Strategic Alliance (CAASA) co-hosted a two-day event in Haikou, China on 21 and 22 November 2019. This year’s event built on the theme of online counterfeiting and piracy, which was the focus of the IP Key China-CAASA conference held in November 2018. This year, the event featured presentations from the EU Delegation to China, the Ministry of Commerce, Alibaba, Tencent, Nike and other rights holders, enforcement authorities and law firms from the EU and China.

China’s Patent Law, which lays the foundation for the legal protection of inventions, was adopted in 1984, and amended three times in 1992, 2000 and 2008. In December 2018, a draft of the fourth amendment to the Patent Law was approved at the State Council level. In early January 2019, the National People’s Congress published the latest version of the draft amendment and issued a public call for comments, which the EU has subsequently responded to.

Designed and set up by IP Key China, the EU-China IP Academic Network (EUCIPAN) supports exchanges between EU and Chinese academia with a view to ensuring sustainable collaboration. It provides a steering group, research opportunities and an online platform (eucipan.org). A forum took place in Shanghai last year, followed on 21-22 October 2019 by a steering group meeting and the Fourth EU-China IP Academic Forum, both hosted by the University of Alicante. The forum included main sessions on:

CPVO and two Chinese PVP authorities, MARA and NFGA, signed administrative arrangements (AA) at the occasion of the 9th National Forum on Agricultural Intellectual Property which took place in Qingdao, China on 15 November 2017.

The AAs focus on exchanges and cooperation in administrative and technical matters in the context of increasing demand for PVP in China. Many of the activities planned, funded by the EU IP Key project and by the Chinese authorities, aim to increase the throughput by enhancing the efficiency and qualifying new DUS centres.