Shenzhen Intellectual Property Index Starts Before Hong Kong's

Race has only just begun, everything is still possible...

Congratulations to Shenzhen with its own IP Index. There is a fierce competition going on between Asian cities to become the IP hub of Asia. And have your own IP index is conducive to attain this goal. For Hong Kong, with its peculiar patent system, read here, the competition seems difficult, but who knows, the race has just started.

Read Anita Lam's SCMP article here. Hat tip to Ron Yu.

continue reading ...

Shake or Crush Your Hand: Huawei versus ZTE versus Huawei

Photo: Danny Friedmann
Shake Or Crush Your Hand, you choose. 

What if you are developing a product but your competitor has patented some technology needed to achieve the technical result? And at the same time you have some patents that you know you competitor likes to use? You might consider to cross-license. However, from a patent strategy point of view, excluding your competitor from some crucial technology might be the best thing to do.

Bien Perez reports in the South China Morning Post (April 30, 2011): "Huawei had also invited ZTE on many occassions to enter into cross-patent licensing negotiations, but was unsuccessful."

Then April 28, Huawei sues ZTE in Germany, France and Hungary for alleged patent infringement related to its data card and Long Term Evolution standard (candidate for 4G mobile communication standard) technologies, and trademark infringement.

April 29, ZTE counter sues Huawei for alleged patent infringement on Long Term Evolution.

"Proxy PRC Courts" in Europe and now also China

China Hearsay's Stan Abrams is not surprised that the legal fight "in a most non-harmonious fashion" between two Chinese giants took place overseas, see here.

It is interesting that Chinese competitors fight some patent and trademark issues abroad. But I think it becomes really interesting now that ZTE has sued Huawei in China. ZTE also threaten to take a series of legal actions globally to protect its IPR rights.

UPDATE:  The Hungarian site Portfolio.hu has a picture provided by Huawei that it uses to proof that ZTE is infringing its trademark. See Porfolio.hu's article Huawei files patent, trademark lawsuits against ZTE, rival rejects charges.

continue reading ...

HKPC Grants 100 mln HK Dollar: But What Is So Innovative About A Reverse-Engineered Seat For An Outdated Plane?

2 articles to go: IP Dragon on its way to its 1000th article

Jake van der Kamp, columnist of Jake's View in the South China Morning Post is filleting Hong Kong Productivity Council (HKPC)'s decision to grant 10 million HK dollar from the Innovation and Technology Fund to reverse engineer economy class seats for the Airbus A340, a plane that is phased-out. The receiver of the grant may not even manufacture the product in Hong Kong.

Van der Kamp writes: "Reverse engineering is the process of taking someone else's manufactured product completely apart, copying every bit of it and then manufacturing it yourself and calling it your own."

The question remains: what is innovative about reverse-engineering, if you do not add an improvement?

Article by Simpson Cheung for the SCMP (free) about the granting of the 100 million HK dollar, here free). Link to Jake's View here (paid).

continue reading ...

Swiss Watches: 50 Percent Chinese, 50 Percent Swiss

When can you call a watch a Swiss watch?

According to the Swiss law (Verordnung vom 23. Dezember 1971 über die Benützung des Schweizer Namens für Uhren) when:

- its movement is Swiss, cased up in Switzerland and the manufacturer carries out the final inspection in Switzerland.

- a watch movement is Swiss if the movement has been assemled in Switzerland, the movement has been inspected by the manufacturer in Switzerland, the components of Swiss manufacture account for at least 50 percent of the total value, without taking into account the cost of assembly. Read more about the 50 percent rule on the site of the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry (FH).

Felix Addor, deputy director general of the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property is not happy with the 50 percent rule for "Swiss made". Neil Gough of the South China Morning Post (SCMP) quotes him saying: "This situation could lead to an insidious dilution of the [Swiss-made] designation, which is damaging for the image of Swiss watches because consumers expect more."

The draft legislation that must lift the percentage of Swissness of the watch to 60 to 80 percent already started in 2007 and is finally under review by the legal commission of the Swiss National Council.

Mr Gough of the SCMP wrote that China and Hong Kong are respectively Switzerland's first and fourth most important markets in the world. Switzerland imported 2.05 billion US dollar of watches and related components last year by customs value, according to UN commodity trade data. Mr Gough quotes Jean-Daniel Pasche, president of FH that when it comes to China, protecting both the watch brand and the Swiss national marque are major concerns. FH helped with the seizure of about 600,000 counterfeit watches in China, in 2009, out of a total of one million fake watches, seized globally.

continue reading ...