Major acts in recent days (07-09-04)

Trademark law revision

Wang Yongqing, deputy director of the Legislative Affairs Office of the State Council, said on August 23, the 25th anniversary of the trademark law, that the State Council has made trademark law revision a key legislation project.

He said that shortcomings of the current registration process include that it usually takes several years to complete and trademark owners must go through five steps to defend rights.

A revised law would speed up the registration process and enable trademark owners to better defend their rights.

The revision also aims to learn from experiences of advanced countries and regions.

Cooperation with Vietnam

China and Vietnam should work closer on intellectual property work, said Tian Lipu, commissioner of the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO), at a meeting with counterparts from the National Office of Intellectual Property of Vietnam.

He said on August 20 that both China and Vietnam face challenges, including raising efficiency of examinations and improving legislation and administration so the countries can better realize their potential in bilateral and international cooperation.

So far, Vietnamese applicants have registered eight patents in China, while Chinese applicants have been awarded 82 in Vietnam.

IPs as loan guarantees

Fourteen small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have received over 100 million yuan in loans from Bank of Communications' Beijing branch using their intellectual property as guarantees.

Sun Deshun, president of the Beijing branch, said his bank is still evaluating other applications worth 200 million yuan.

In Beijing, there are 19,000 hi-tech companies that account for 20 percent of the city's gross domestic product, but a shortage of capital has troubled them due to their small scale of business and the reality that few companies are willing to provide loan guarantees to them.

Awards to 100 students

One hundred university, primary and high school students won the fourth China children and youth innovation awards on August 22, the 103rd anniversary of Deng Xiaoping's birth.

Deng paid close attention to innovation by young students during his lifetime. So on the 100th anniversary of his birth, his family donated all income from his copyrights to establish the award.

The 100 prize winners included inventions and innovations, with many of their creators publishing their work in domestic and foreign academic journals.

Local regulations lauded

Lin Binhui, vice-commissioner of SIPO, said on August 20 in Chongqing that out of the 34 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions in China, 24 have formulated local regulations or legislation to encourage the creation and protection of patents.

Chongqing municipal government, one of the four municipalities in Southwest China, also became the first administration at provincial level to have a regulation that granted tax deductions for patented products and encouraged their preferred use in government procurement.

Li said the patent law has been in place for 22 years, but it provides mostly a framework, so local regulations and legislation are helpful to build a healthy and efficient patent system.