Celebrating EU-China IP Cooperation

A balance of IP Key (2013-2017)

An event to celebrate the successful completion of four years of cooperation in the field of IP between the EU and China through the last cycle of the IP Key project (2013-2017), implemented by the EUIPO, took place on 2 June 2017 in Brussels on the margins of the 19th EU-China IP Summit.

Keynote speeches by Mr Christian Archambeau, EUIPO’s Deputy Executive Director, Mr Chen Fuli, Deputy Director General at the Chinese Ministry of Commerce (MofCOM) and Mr Ulrich Weigl, Head of the Trade Section at the EU Delegation to China, were followed by a panel discussion on “IP and Innovation in the context of the EU-China cooperation” with experts from EFPI, CEPS, Ericsson, CAASA, University of Alicante and Renmin University.

In the 2013-2017 period, IP Key organised more than 250 activities (peer-to-peer exchanges, workshops, roundtables, study visits, studies and analysis, etc.) reaching over 6000 EU and Chinese stakeholders.

The 16 major Chinese agencies dealing with IP issues, under the coordination of MofCOM, were engaged in cooperation activities with IP Key, covering all IP areas, including trade marks, designs, patents, copyright, geographical indications, trade secrets, anti-unfair competition law, IPR enforcement by customs and police and IPR infringement on-line (e-commerce).

Over the life of the project, Chinese integration into Designview and TMclass was completed. More than three million Chinese registered designs are now freely available online in all EU languages. The integration of TMclass is an important step towards harmonization of procedures for EU rights holders seeking trade mark protection in China.

Cooperation with members of the judiciary and academia has been another priority area with training sessions for judges in Europe and well attended symposia where EU and Chinese judges and academics have exchanged views and best practices on IP issues.

During this period, the IP Key website received almost 70,000 visitors accessing and downloading more than 3,000 documents available on IP issues in China. All the resources and deliverables of the IP Key project 2013-2017 are available here .