Wednesday, August 02, 2006

IPR Enforcement in China: Keep On Rollin'

Heeling Sport's strenuous efforts to enforce its patent and trademark of Heelys (shoes with embedded wheels) in China was covered by Katherine Yung of the Dallas Morning Post and published by York Weekly.

Michael Staffaroni CEO of Heeling was disappointed that the administrative authorities did not forward the case to the police for prosecution.

"According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, fewer than 1 percent of the total copyright and trademark cases handled by Chinese administrative enforcement authorities last year were turned over to the police for prosecution."

Read Yung's article here.

In the story Lian Hoon Lim, a consultant at Kearney in Hong Kong was interviewed. Lim recommends, in another story by Elaine Kurtenbach for Seattle PI about companies fighting counterfeiting with price and pack, to use a portfolio approach:

"A combination of secrecy, careful research of local partners, new technology and business strategies, as well as legally enforcing patents and trademark rights."

Read Kurtenbach's article here.

Lim is the co-author of a AT Kearney report called 'Staying Ahead of China's Counterfeiters', about strategies to prevent and enforce IPR infringements, read here.

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