Major acts in recent days (08-04-14)

IPR volunteer training

The first training for IPR volunteer informants in Beijing was held at the Beijing Municipal Service Center for IP Protection.

Jointly initiated by the Service Center for IP Protection, Beijing Intellectual Property Protection Association and the website of Intellectual Property Protection in China, the activity aims to make use of people from all walks of life give better play to the role of protecting IP in every aspect of society, strengthen Olympic IP protection, promote the establishment of a rapid and linked IP protection mechanism among law enforcement department, and further strengthen the environment of IP protection in Beijing.

After the meeting, volunteers paid a visit to the service center, and learned the detailed reporting process.

Apple brand impact

The Apple computer brand has the biggest impact on the world's consumers, a Xinhua News Agency report indicates.

The poll by online magazine brandchannel.com asked its readers to identify the brands with the greatest impact on their lives, and say how they affected readers' behavior and their view of the world.

The nearly 2,000 professionals and students who voted named US-based Apple the overwhelming winner. The creator of the iPod and Mac computer triumphed in six categories including most inspiring brand and the one readers could not live without.

Referring to Apple, one anonymous reader said there was "never a dull moment" with the company "reinventing itself all along and providing, over and over again, a new perspective on what we thought was carved in stone".

'Electricity bank'

Scientists have invented a new environmentally friendly "electricity bank" that enables people to collect and store surplus energy at night to curb electricity consumption peaks and power shortages, a Shanghai Daily report says.

The "bank" is a sodium-sulfur battery jointly produced by the Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and local electric power supplier.

It is different from ordinary batteries as it has sodium for its negative pole and sulfur at the positive pole. It has a lower manufacturing cost and a service life of 10 years. Researchers said the strength of the single sodium-sulfur battery was 125 watts.

It can be charged at night, when power demand is small, in order to save surplus electricity and discharge the stored power during daytime peak hours.

Joining 400 batteries together could make up a 50-kilowatt module, equal to the driving force of eight to nine mopeds, according to Wen Zhaoyin, researcher with the institute's energy material center.

He adds that the battery modules could be joined to become larger power suppliers for enterprises and families.

'Priorities' named

The State Council recently published the "Priorities of State Council's Work in 2008", outlining all sorts of works to be conducted in 2008.

"Priorities" proposes to implement a national intellectual property strategy, promote the optimization and upgrading of the industrial structure, to construct a national innovation system, and encourage exports of products with independent intellectual property rights and independent brands.

The paper says China should further strengthen the construction of patent laws and the regulations system, develop IP macro-management, promote IPR informatilization, upgrade the comprehensive ability of patent review, as well as boost the establishment of an IPR talent group and promote international cooperation and exchange in the IP field.

Promoting the optimization and upgrading of the industrial structure is also written into the "Priorities". And China will conscientiously implement the National Outline for Medium- and Long-term Science & Technology Development Planning and accelerate the transformation of foreign trade development.

Aircraft deal

China National Aero-Technology Import and Export Corp (CATIC) says it has signed a framework agreement for strategic cooperation with China Aviation Industry Corporation I (AVIC I) Commercial Aircraft Co Ltd on the ARJ21's international business, a Xinhua News Agency report says.

The two sides will cooperate in the business of ARJ21's market development, after-sales service and overseas purchasing and supplement managing related to the ARJ21 program, a move to expand in the overseas market.

The ARJ21, China's first homegrown regional jet, is a 70 to 90 seat regional aircraft that combines domestically developed intellectual property with advanced engines and airborne systems supplied by world famous European and North American companies.

The ARJ21 manufacturer, the state-owned AVIC I Commercial Aircraft Co Ltd, earlier this month signed a memorandum of understanding with GE Capital Aviation Services (GECAS) to place firm orders for five ARJ21 jets. GECAS became the first global lessor to add the ARJ21 to its fleet.

The manufacturer says it currently has orders for 181 ARJ21 aircraft from domestic airline companies.

Vaccine production approved

China's food and drug regulators recently authorized a domestic pharmaceutical firm to begin commercial production of a human bird flu vaccine, following more than two years of clinical trials.

The firm, Beijing-based Sinovac Biotech Co Ltd, will produce vaccines to defend humans against the H5N1 virus and its epidemic variety, making China the world's second country with the technology and industrial capacity to produce human bird flu vaccine.

According to company general manager Yin Weidong, Sinovac has the ability to produce new vaccines even if the virus mutates in humans.

China started clinical research and experiments as part of the process of making a vaccine in November 2005, after a domestic epidemic that caused huge losses for poultry breeders.

Trials by Sinovac proved that the vaccine is safe for humans and effective against the virus. According to Yin, more than 500 volunteers have received injections of the vaccine, which shows that it is reliable.

Infringement case settled

Global Online (Beijing) Technology Co Ltd, a mobile phone developer, has settled an IPR infringement case with a Shenzhen-based company for its multi-card online handset patent.

The company in 2006 sued the Shenzhen company for copying its patent. It ordered the defendant to stop the infringement and pay 500,000 yuan in compensation.

Global Online said it was granted the multi-card online handset patent in 2004 in China. The patent was also approved in Japan and South Korea.

Ferrero wins landmark ruling



Ferrero, the Italian confectioner, says it has won a landmark court decision in China against a domestic rival for imitating its signature gold-wrapped Rocher chocolate, the Financial Times reports.

The makers of a praline advertised in the UK as essential for an embassy soire praised Italian diplomacy after the Supreme Court in Beijing fined Montresor (Zhangjiagang) Food 500,000 yuan, and ordered it to modify its packaging after a four-year legal battle.

"This is an encouraging step and we will now be following the enforcement of the decision closely," said Alessandro Cagli, a Ferrero spokesman.

Montresor, based near Shanghai, maintained that it had designed its packaging independently in 1990. It said it had not seen a Ferrero Rocher before 1993, though the Italian company says it began selling in China in 1984. Montresor, which is owned by the giant Liangfeng food group, could not be reached for comment after the verdict.