Major acts in recent days (08-05-26)

Patent deadline

The State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) released a notice on May 13 extending the deadline for patent applications affected due to acts of nature, such as the May 12 earthquake.

The notice says the patent commission offices established by the Patent Office of the SIPO should accept and handle patent applications as usual and application boxes are to be set nearby if the offices can't be used.

If the time limit expires and the patent right is lost due to events such as the earthquake, the applicant may provide certification issued by the local IP office or civil affairs department and resume the procedure within two months.

Issued after the 8.0 magnitude deadly earthquake hit Sichuan province, the notice aims to "guarantee the normal procedure of accepting and handling patent applications in earthquake-hit areas and ensure the legitimate rights and interests of patentees and patent applicants there".

Dalian launches 'Time-stamp'

The question of "which is the original?" used to be a major conflict in IPR disputes. But "Time-stamp", a new program for IPR protection recently launched by Dalian in China's northeast Liaoning province, is expected to help effectively identify original authors and avoid copyright disputes.

According to a seminar on IPR Protection for Software and Information Service Industries co-hosted by the Dalian Information Industry Bureau, Copyright Protection Association and Software Industry Association, "Dalian TSA Platform on IPR Protection", or the "Time-stamp", has officially begun.

Time-stamp is an electronic certification , which can verify the time, ownership and integrity of various types of electronic documents. The time labeled in document is from the National Time Service Center, which is tamper-resistant. Dalian is the third city to open Time-stamp in China.

Sino-British collaboration

Britain has named China as a top collaborator for national innovation development.

The action highlights the UK's engagement with the emerging economies of China, Brazil and India to encourage innovation strategy, according to the British Embassy to China. The Chinese version of the strategy was released last Monday in Shanghai, where British Embassy Science and Innovation Counselor David Concar said that China and the UK are both making it a priority to create innovation-oriented societies.

The aim of the new UK strategy is to create nations in which innovation flourishes across every area of the economy and at every level of society. The UK hopes innovation will play a key role in addressing some bigger global challenges like global warming and sustainable development.

New AMD research center

US microprocessor maker AMD will set up a joint research center in Beijing, as part of its commitment to the world's fastest growing PC market.

The chipmaker will collaborate with the China Electronics Standardization Institute of the Ministry of Industry and Information for the project. They will use the facility to research and develop, test and evaluate technologies of integrated circuit and central processing units.

"China is one of the engines driving AMD's global evolution and (these) announcements reflect our commitment to and belief in the future of China and its strong technical community," says Dirk Meyer, president and chief operating officer of AMD.

"We appreciate the strategic relationships we've developed with our customers in China and look forward to further collaboration as we bring industry-leading AMD technology to business users and consumers throughout the region."

China is now one of the fastest growing chip maker markets, and it expects to become its single largest market by 2009.

Philips wins patent dispute

The Shanghai second Intermediate People's Court recently made a first instance judgment on a case in which Royal Philips Electronics sued Wenzhou Ridian Electrical Appliance Co Ltd and a storekeeper for patent infringement. The court ruled that the two defendants should halt infringement and Wenzhou Ridian should pay Philips 200,000 yuan in compensation.

In June 2006, a Philips representative bought two shavers in the store in Shanghai. The shavers were produced by Wenzhou Ridian Electrical Appliance Co Ltd. Later the Intellectual Property Affairs Center of Ministry of Science and Technology identified that the technical features of the shavers were identical with those of Philip's patent for invention. Philips filed suit in the Shanghai 2nd Intermediate People's Court.

During the trial, Wenzhou Ridian argued that it did not produce or sell the shavers, and that the patented technology claimed by Philips had been publicly disclosed in the industry. The other defendant, the storeowner identified only by the surname Fang, argued that he purchased the goods in a wholesale market in Yiwu and did not know about the any infringement.

Having compared the electric razors with the plaintiff's patented products, the court held that the technical features fell under the scope of protection of the plaintiff's patent right. According to the information on the shaver packages and the product information on the website of Wenzhou Ridian, the court established that the shavers were manufactured and sold by Wenzhou Ridian..

Cultural ambassadors

The State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) has appointed 30 traditional arts and crafts artists as China's first group of Intellectual Property Cultural Ambassadors.

They were appointed at the recent opening of the first "China traditional and folk arts and crafts display base" in Shenzhen's Futian district in southern China's Guangdong province. The artists made fingerprint templates, which would be permanently preserved by the SIPO.

The base is aimed at encouraging the innovation of traditional Chinese folk knowledge and technology, as well as the development of IPR protection.