With IP Key China’s continuous commitment, the cooperation between the EU and China on Plant Variety Protection (PVP) has advanced in recent years. Proper protection for plant varieties in the Chinese market not only benefits the breeders, farmers, and producers but also serves end consumers and citizens. European Union breeders show an increasing interest to invest in China and are the first foreign applicants in numbers for many species. [...]
Since 2017, IP Key China has offered qualified technical assistance to increase political and public awareness of the importance of intellectual property protection in China’s IP landscape, including through continuous communications with the public sector and academia. [...]
Fair and effective enforcement of intellectual property rights is essential to EU businesses and right holders in China’s business landscape. [...]
E-commerce has been developing rapidly in recent years, fueled by the COVID-19 pandemic as consumers and businesses prefer online trading due to lockdowns and social-distancing policies. But the online environment has been a more popular target for online infringers, which challenges the EU business and right holders to protect intellectual property in the Chinese online market. [...]
Design rights constitute invaluable intangible assets to EU right-holders. [...]
The Patent system intends to spur innovation by providing an exclusive right to inventors for 20 years in exchange for making their inventions known through publication. Robust and efficient protection of Patents is key to assuring that this system can be maintained, thereby benefiting right holders, researchers, and the economy as a whole. [...]
Trade marks are of significance to EU business in China. Ensuring sufficient protection of trade marks is vital to maintain repute and hold market share. Since 2017, a variety of activities implemented by IP Key China have addressed several issues which remain prevalent on the Chinese market. These include bad faith applications, the onerous burden of proof, and the protection of well-known trade marks: Alignment of Legislation: [...]
Trade secrets are an essential component for businesses to protect confidential information which provide them a competitive edge. They are broad in scope and unlimited in time but reasonable steps need be taken to keep them from being revealed. [...]
With the new advances in technology in the digital landscape, the expansion of virtual marketplaces and fresh business models are reshaping the copyright system. As a result, many aspects of copyright, including legislation, enforcement and the types of cooperation used, need to be adapted. Faced with a challenging environment, IP Key China has continuously explored and implemented a variety of cooperation practices. It achieves this with the participation of multiple stakeholders, who respond positively to EU copyright holders in the Chinese market. [...]
In business, politics and society as a whole, we can only reach our full potential if we use all of our diversity. Using only half of the population, half of the ideas is not good enough. International Women’s Day is a chance to celebrate achievements and look at the road ahead. We still have a long way to go: statistics from the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) show that, women’s share in international patent applications was 16.5% in 2021. Women inventors matter, unfortunately inequalities persist. [...]