Major acts in recent days (08-08-25)

Online Olympic broadcast sued

China Central Television's website, CCTV.com, has filed a lawsuit against a Guangzhou-based website for broadcasting an Olympic torch relay leg live without permission, Xinhua News Agency reported.

CCTV.com, run by CCTV International Networks Co Ltd, claimed in the suit that Shijilong Information Network Co Ltd, whose Web portal was 21cn.com, had broadcast the May 8 Olympic torch relay on Mount Qomolangma (Mount Everest), the world's highest peak, live.

The plaintiff said the online broadcasting rights of CCTV's programs belonged to CCTV.com and any use of these contents without authorization was a copyright infringement.

The International Olympic Committee has recognized CCTV.com as China's only official Internet and mobile broadcaster of the Beijing Games.

CCTV.com demanded the accused make a public apology and pay about 4.1 million yuan in compensation. The Intermediate People's Court of Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, has accepted the case.

This is the second time CCTV.com has filed a lawsuit against a website for alledged online Olympic video copyright infringement.

Earlier this month, CCTV.com filed a suit against xunlei.com, one of the country's largest download service providers. It accused xunlei.com of illegally broadcasting the Olympic torch relay on June 30 live during the Wuzhong leg in the Ningxia Hui autonomous region. CCTV.com demanded the accused make a public apology and pay more than 2 million yuan in compensation.

The case against xunlei.com will be handled by the Second Intermediate People's Court of Shanghai municipality.

KTV fee schedule issued

The China Audio-Video Copyright Association (CAVCA) recently released a fee schedule for copyright use by Karaoke TVs (KTV) in 2008.

Shanghai places the highest price for use of copyright per terminal per day, 11.1 yuan. Beijing follows with 11 yuan.

The collecting society says the fees are calculated based on the 12 yuan cap set by the National Copyright Administration in its No 1 Circular 2006 while referencing sampled statistics of the different regions.

CAVCA also vows to enforce rights aggressively by seeking liabilities from those KTVs refusing to pay.

Reviving time-honored brands

Weifang of Shandong province recently launched the "Time-honored Brand Revival Project", in an effort to identify all the time-honored brands with independent intellectual property rights within two years.

In the second half of this year, the city will conduct investigations, establish files and compile the list for time-honored brands.

Departments will also introduce a number of policies to support the development of time-honored brands.

Most of the time-honored brands of Weifang are in the catering, retail, food, medicine and service industries.

IPR pilot park set up

The first National IPR Pilot Park in Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region was recently opened in Urumqi Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone.

The annual patent application of a national IPR pilot park must account for more than one-fifth of the total IPR application of a city.

There are 79 hi-tech enterprises in the Urumqi Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone.

The enterprises are engaged in new energy, new materials, advanced equipment manufacturing, biological medicine, petrochemical, and other key industries. They have established their own R&D centers.

This park has 23 national, autonomous regional and municipal-level IPR pilot enterprises.

Patent application funds

The Urumqi Intellectual Property Office recently issued the first batch of patent application funds to support 95 patent applications.

A total of 79,860 yuan was granted to local units and individuals. The funds were used as patent application fees and examination fees for invention, utility model and design patents.

The special funds focussd on financing invention patent applications as well as application, registration and maintenance of utility models.

Applications rise

Liaoning province witnessed 8,342 patent applications in the first half of this year, rising 35.5 percent over the same period of last year.

Among the total applications, there are 2,568 invention patent applications, up 19.7 percent year-on-year; 4,775 utility model patent applications, up 44.7 percent year-on-year; and 999 design patent applications, up 40.1 percent year-on-year.

The patent grants reached 4,394 pieces.

Grants up

The patent applications in Nanyang, Henan province, reached 434 during the first half of this year, rising 60.2 percent over the same period of last year, according to Nanyang Municipal Intellectual Property Office.

The city's grants of patent applications grew 1.4 percent to reach 217 pieces during the period.

The city has set up a special fund to finance eligible inventors in applying for and obtaining domestic and foreign patents in order to encourage inventions. The number of patent applications in Nanyang also leads among other cities in Henan province.

Jones Day appointment

International law firm Jones Day recently appointed Mark Allen Cohen as its Beijing Office Of Counsel, focusing on intellectual property and technology transfer matters. Before joining the firm, Cohen was senior intellectual property attach at the US Embassy in Beijing and attorney-advisor for the Office of International Relations of the US Patent and Trademark Office. He has worked in intellectual property and Chinese law for more than 25 years.

Jones Day employs over 150 lawyers at four offices in China.