Madrid, A Bit Chilly For China's International Trademark Filings

• China's international trademark filings under World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)'s Madrid System for the Registration of Marks decreased from 1,585 in 2008 to 1,358 in 2009 (-14.3 percent).

• China is still the most designated country, with 14.766 in 2009, which was a drop of 17.2 percent from 17,829 in 2008.

• According to the State Administration of Industry and Commerce (SAIC)'s statistics China's domestic trademark applications in 2008 were estimated to be around 800,000. See article ChinaIPR here.

• Novartis of Switzerland that was the largest filer in 2009 (136 international trademark applications) followed by Lidl (Germany), Henkel (Germany) and Zhejiang Medicine Company. How many this Chinese company filed WIPO did not say.

• China is both a member to the Madrid Agreement and Protocol.

Catherine Saez of Intellectual Property Watch wrote that WIPO's director general Francis Gurry said that the interest in China is not so much the infringement threat but the fact that China represents a massive market, and companies may face a lot of competitors.

Read more about the impact of the global financial crisis on the number of international trademark filings in 2009 here and Catherine Saez' article for Intellectual Property Watch, here.

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Neither US Nor China Appeals Against WS/DS362 report

Ms Kaitlin Mara has an excellent post on Intellectual Property Watch about the acceptance of and reactions to the WTO Dispute Settlement Report (WS/DS362) by the US and China. China is expected to tell how it will implement the changes that are prescribed by the report.

The International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) co-organised with the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) an event on February 23, 2009, to analyse the implications of the WTO Dispute Settlement Report.

Ms Mara gives an overview of some of the remarks made by the speakers, which included:

• Professor Peter K. Yu, director of the IP Law Center at Drake University Law School in Indiana, who gave an interesting presentation about the 'Key Legal Findings and Implications of the US-China Panel Report';
• Professor Joost Pauwelyn, international law at the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva;
• Atul Kaushik of the Consumer Unity & Trust Society International and former Indian negotiator at WTO;
• Dr. Xuan Li, Coordinator Innovation and Access to Knowledge Programme of the South Centre gave also a presentation: 'US-China case: Implications for the protection and enforcement of IPRs in China'.

Read Ms Mara's article here.

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EU Internal Market Commissioner: Anti-counterfeiting and -piracy Solutions To Be Found In Public-private Cooperation

On a 13 May commission-sponsored high level conference, the Internal Market Commissioner Mr Charlie McCreevy stressed that regulation is not the only answer to fight counterfeiting and piracy, but that the private sector itself is best placed to lead the battle against the fakes. Tomorrow exactly two years ago, when Mr McGreevy visited China to advance the international regulatory agenda, he probably had higher hopes for regulation, read here (pdf).

Marc-Antoine Jamet, president of l’Union des Fabricants, whose members include Pfizer, Lacoste, Microsoft and Disney, said:

"There is qualitative change as activities become global, and diversification into goods and products such as wine, car parts, clothing, and toys, he said. Counterfeiting is increasingly carried out by organised crime, and industrialisation means tourists no longer have to travel to Thailand to buy fakes from China but can find them anywhere, including online [..]".

Read Dugie Standeford's article for Intellectual Property Watch here.

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