Major acts in recent days (09-03-23)

5.3% increase

Despite a year of record filings, trademark registration grew at a slower pace in 2008 than in the previous year according to the UN's World Intellectual Property Organization.

International filings with WIPO increased by 5.3% to 42,075 last year, with a marked slowdown in the second half of the year.

11,474 complaints

With intensive publicity of industrial and commercial administrative organs, awareness of trademark protection in society has been remarkably enhanced. In 2008, the industrial and commercial departments investigated and dealt with 11,474 trademark complaints, exceeding 10,000 for the first time. A total of 10,124 cases involved infringement or counterfeiting, 88.23 percent of the total number. A total of 3,490 cases were foreign-related complaints, accounting for 30.42 percent.

27,876 IPR cases

On March 10, the third plenary session for the second meeting of the Eleventh National People's Congress was held at the Great Hall of the People to listen to the work reports of the Supreme People's Court (SPC) and the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP). Last year, the national courts at all levels closed 27,876 IPR cases, an increase of 32.58 percent.

President of SPC Wang Shengjun said that courts at all levels should provide judicial protection for independent innovation, implement the "Outline of National Intellectual Property Strategy", organize thematic activities on IPR protection and establish a good image of IPR justice in China. He urged related organs to improve the jurisdiction system for well-known trademark cases, standardize the admission requirements for trademark, seriously punish criminal acts of IPR infringement, expand the scope of judicial protection and intensify IPR protection.

2,700 pirated CDs

On the morning of March 16, the Cultural Market Inspection General Team of Hainan province seized more than 2,700 pirated CDs in two AV stores.

After receiving a report that two AV stores were selling pirated CDs, the Cultural Market Inspection General Team assembled law enforcers to investigate. The law officials found that one store put legal CDs together with pirated CDs on the shelf to confuse consumers and more than 400 pirated CDs were seized; in the other store, over 2,300 pirated CDs were ferreted out.

The Cultural Market Inspection General Team will punish these two stores based on relevant regulations in the AV Product Management Outline.