Sunday Local Selection: 95.6 mln RMB question, Hebei good/bad/ugly, new BMW product?, Taiwan Straits IP Centre, Nanning achievements, Starve Cancer to Death Medicine

Some local news items of China Intellectual Property 中國知識產權, Xinhuanet.com, Hebei.gov.cn, CNR.cn, Stats.gov.cn and China Quality Daily were presented in one article by China Daily about the following locations: Beijing, Hebei, Fujian, Guangxi, Guangdong.

The 95.6 million Renminbi question
The first item is about subsidies given to 600 companies in Beijing's technology hub Zhongguancun in the last four years. For every patent granted high tech companies received 5,000 Renminbi. The total amount of the subsidies in the last four years was 95.6 million Renminbi. The 95.6 million Renminbi question is of course, were the subsidies WTO compliant?

The good, the bad and the ugly in Hebei
The good: an eco-friendly farmer-entrepreneur who is considered a model inventor.
The bad: "Former wine deputy manager Wang Chunping was sentenced to life imprisonment and forfeited all personal property after he was convicted of making and selling fake wine in Qinhuangdao, capital of the northern province." However, Qinhuangdao (2.8 million + people) is a port city but not the capital. Shijiazhuang (10 million+ people) is the capital of Hebei province. Five of Wang's associates were sentenced to prison terms ranging from seven to 15 years.
The ugly: From 1998 onwards Wang and his employees added ingredients including water, sugar, alcohol and yeast to pulp and grape skin left over from the actual winemaking process. Wang was doing a quality fade out on his own product.

BMW new eco-friendly product?
The Fujian item was that the Xiamen (why spelled as Xiaman?) customs has seized 3,716 pairs of counterfeited shoes carried 19 well-known brands, including Nike, Adidas, Li-Ning, Dior, BMW. Did BMW really branch-out into this eco-friendly and safe mode of transport, or did they co-brand just like Ferrari with Puma? Please let me know if you know more about Beamster shoes.

A centre for cross-Taiwan Straits intellectual property exchanges was inaugurated at Xiamen University and will be part of the Fujian Intellectual Property Office (part of SIPO). 

Exhibition of IP achievements in Nanning

Nanning (capital of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region) "Law enforcement officers said the copycat products were seized in Nanning's wholesale market, ready to be shipped and sold in small shops in the countryside."

Starve cancer to death injection  

The Zhongshan University, in Guangzhou, (capital of Guangdong province) has developed a medicine that "cut[s] off the nutrient supply and metabolic channels of cancer cells to kill tumors," according to Professor Huang Wenlin, leader of the project. The new anticancer drugs injection of recombinant human endostatin adenovirus, recently completed phase II clinical trials in 11 hospitals. The medicine is protected by independent intellectual property rights in China. 

Besides, surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy cancer treatment this new approach is described as low-cost and its efficacy promising.

Read here. 

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CNTV (CCTV) Sues China Telecom For Copyright Infringement

Geng Wenxin of Global Times, a state owned news organisation, reports about CNTV (China Network Television) part of CCTV (China Central Television) suing two provincial branches of China Telecom for using its copyrighted content without permission.

• China Telecom at the Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court (Guangdong province)
• China Telecom at the Nanjing Intermediate People's Court (Jiangsu province)

There are four nationwide IPTV license owners that are competing with each other. They have licenses and content, but no networks and users. Telecom operators own those resources, so they have to cooperate.

Read more here.

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More Brooms Sweep Cleaner: Expansion of IPR Tribunals in China

Xie Chuanjiao of the China Daily wrote about the increasing number of IPR court cases and the pilot project of specialised IPR courts in cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shandong and Fujian (nine intermediate people's courts and 14 courts at district- and county-level). There will be similar IPR tribunals throughout China.

Read Xie Chuanjiao's article here. Picture Swamibu

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Total Makeover in Guiyu: "Recycling" Old Commercial Microchips As New Military Microchips

Messrs. Brian Grow, Chi-Chu Tschang, Cliff Edwards and Brian Burnsed wrote the BusinessWeek article 'Dangerous Fakes' about old commercially grade microchips that are salvaged from discarded circuit boards and sold as military grade microships.

They reported from Guiyu, Guangdong province, China:
"Old chips are burned from circuit boards, workers wash them in the local river and sort them with brooms on the river bank, before they are carted off to shops and local markets." Some even end up in F-15's, property of the Pentagon.

Read the BusinessWeek article here and do not forget to watch the online video there.

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2007 Special 301 Report Presents Special Provincial Review of China

It's that time of the year again. The USTR's presents its annual Special 301 Report. Which countries have protected and enforced their IPR adequately and effectively and which have not. The risers, the fallers and the usual suspects, such as China and Russia.

This year the USTR airs again the frustrations against China's alleged lack of IPR protection and enforcement. Given the fact that the US has filed formal complaints against China at the WTO, because of these alleged failures, it is no wonder that the US has the plan to maintain China on the Priority Watch List. No surprises there.

However, the USTR has done an unprecedented review which spotlights strengths, as well as weaknesses and inconsistencies, in and among special jurisdictions of six provinces that were the focus of industry comments and US Governement discussions: Beijing, Fujian, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Shanghai, and Zhejiang. For the purpose of this review, the jurisdictions at the provincial level (sheng) may include the four municipalities (shi) of Beijing, Chongqing, Shanghai, and Tianjin, as well as China's five autonomous regions (zizhiqu): Guangxi, Inner Mongolia, Ningxia Hui, Xinjiang Uyghur and Tibet.

The executive summary of this Special Provincial Review presents the following:

Strengths:

• "Beijing is showing leadership in the area of internet piracy. There have also been notable cases against internet piracy in Xiamen (Fujian) and Guangdong.
• Shanghai closed down a notorious market for infringing goods and has and has sought to enhance cooperation with right holders.
• Jiangsu has issued rules requiring audiovisual business operators to carry proof of relevant licenses and legality of products sold in their retail outlets.
• Guangzhou (Guangdong) and Beijing achieved measurable reductions in retail piracy during a 100-day crackdown in 2006, according to an industry survey.
• Customs authorities in Xiamen (Fujian) reportedly cooperate well with foreign rights holders.
• Zhejiang reportedly transferred 109 administrative trademark cases for criminal prosecution in 2005.
• Shanghai authorities have instituted a pilot program to improve administrative-judicial coordination on IPR cases and allow police to conduct raids based on suspicion of criminal activity.
• Public security authorities in Guangdong and Fujian have taken some notable actions against pharmaceutical counterfeiting and other counterfeiting directed against major US brand owners.
• China's court system is gradually improving, particularly in Beijing, which has the largest number of civil IPR cases, and in Shanghai."

Weaknesses and inconsistencies:

• "Guangdong and Zhejiang remained provinces in which right holders most consistently encountered all types of counterfeiting, according to an industry survey.
• Guangdong, Zhejiang, and Fujian are home to major ports of lading for exports of infringing goods to the US.
• In spite of the efforts of local authorities, Beijing and Shanghai remain centers for retail trade in pirated goods, and Yiwu (Zhejiang) remains a wholesale center, according to an industry survey. An industry group cited the Silk Market, Tianyi Market, and Yaxiu Market in Beijing and the Ziyuangang Market in Guangzhou (Guangdong) as well-known retail and wholesale markets for pirated products.
• Shenzhen (Guangdong) and Shanghai did not achieve measurable reductions in retail piracy during a 100-day crackdown in 2006, according to an industry survey.
• Transfers of administrative trademark cases for criminal prosecution were especially rare in Guangdong, Jiangsu, Fujian, and Shanghai in 2005, according to official statistics.
• There were reportedly no transfers of administrative copyright cases for criminal prosecution in Shanghai, Zhejiang, and Fujian in 2005."

The complete Special Provinces Review can be found on pages 43 through 53 of the 2007 Special 301 Report, see here.

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Guyana's Court Granted Injunction Against Alleged Counterfeit Lux Soaps from Guangdong

Stabroek News of Guyana reports in a very detailled way about how Unilever sought and was granted judicial relief via its law firm Cameron & Shepherd against an importer of a container of alleged counterfeit soap marked Lux from a port in Guangdong using the customs enforcement route.

Read this excellent article here.

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