Major acts in recent days (07-12-03)

Wen: IPR determination

Premier Wen Jiabao said on November 19 in Singapore that China is determined to protect intellectual property rights (IPRs) and has made significant progress.

He added China is willing to work with other countries and regions to cooperate on IPRs.

He expressed the commitment in a speech titled "Only an Open and Inclusive Nation Can be Strong" at the National University of Singapore during his visit to the country.

Municipality cooperation

Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, and Chongqing, the four municipalities in China, signed an agreement on IPRs and held the first joint conference in Chongqing on November 22.

They will start sections on websites of local IP authorities to share their experience and also integrate databases on patents and other IPs in the automobile, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals sectors.

Professionals in the four cities can also visit key enterprises and industry or science parks in their counterpart cities as part of the exchange effort.

Coping with Section 337

Governments, associations and enterprises should work together to cope with increasing IP-related trade investigations on Chinese products, said Li Ling, director general of the Bureau of Fair Trade for Import and Export, on November 21 in Beijing.

She said at a working conference on US Section 337 regulations that there have been 14 such investigations on Chinese products this year, more than 50 percent of the total, which shows that protectionism is becoming more widespread.

Since the US began enforcing the Section 337 regime in 1975, it has taken 75 actions on Chinese exports, but 60 cases have come in the last five years. Electrical and mechanical products have been subject of most investigations.

China Patent Week

The Beijing stop on the China Patent Week concluded on November 20 with five memoranda of understanding on patent utilization worth 120 million yuan signed.

During the five-day event, more than 200 universities and enterprises, as well as 100 individual inventors, participated the event held in a 3,000-sq-m exhibition hall.

Organizers also held nano-technology application and patent strategy forums and a forum to bridge small and medium enterprises with financial institutions.

Patent agency inspections

The State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) recently released the list of the first 545 patent agencies that passed the 2007 annual inspection.

The patent agencies come from the country's 30 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, as well as Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the national defense sector.

According to provisions of patent agent regulations and management measures, SIPO conducted the 2007 annual inspection from September 1 to October 31.

Rice trademarked

The brand Dr Cui Jing has been registered as a trademark for a new type of rice developed through joint research between Chinese and Japanese scientists, the Tianjin Daily reported on November 23.

The project was led by Cui Jing, a PhD researcher who returned from overseas, so the grain now bears his name. It is the first rice brand using the Dr title.

Developers say the rice has a better taste and is of better quality, so it is priced about 30 percent higher than ordinary rice on the market.

Tianjin has planted 667,000 sq m of the rice and plans to grow that number tenfold.