1 Liaoning

Ice cream uses Apple logo

Bearing a picture of the iPhone 5 on the front, a new ice cream bar shaped like Apple's iconic bitten apple logo recently went on the market in Shenyang.

The maker of the ice cream, Deshi Group, is a large local company that was recognized as a well-known Chinese trademark in 2011. It is applying for a new trademark using two Chinese characters that sound similar to iPhone.

"Those companies that have established a reputation shouldn't have cut corners, because their long-term branding efforts could be damaged, and they will expose themselves to legal risks," said Song Zhihui, director of the province's intellectual property rights research institution.

Tech-food.com

2 Beijing

Copyright brokers to gain status

According to the Copyright Protection Center of China, there is growing speculation that the job of copyright broker will be added as a new entry to the occupation classification code, which is currently under revision by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security.

An advocate of the addition, the center has received emails from nearly 400 copyright agents from across the country over the course of 10 days. They are campaigning for the proposal and calling for increased training for brokers.

Low pay to writers and piracy contribute to hindering China's copyright broker system from operating in line with international practices, industry insiders said.

Beijing News

Locke: Promote tech through law

Despite different views in specific IP fields, China and the United States both expect effective IP protection, share a common understanding about the role of a just and fair system, and are devoted to promoting innovation through law, said Gary Locke, the US ambassador to China, at a Sino-US justice seminar held in People's University in late May.

While the US is the largest source for IP creation and use globally, China is the world's fastest-growing country in terms of IP strategy implementation and output, said Tian Lipu, commissioner of the State Intellectual Property Office, at the meeting.

The IP authorities of the two countries together dealt with half of the world's total applications for invention patents last year, a reflection of the necessity for cooperation between them, Tian said.

Chinanews.com

3 Shaanxi

Firm claims project stolen

Local monitoring and control company Jingjin has claimed three former employees allegedly stole technological knowledge gained from a year of research and 10 billion yuan($1.6 billion) worth of investments.

Police recently brought into custody Qi Dong, Zhu Jiangli and Xue Jian on suspicion that they stole information needed to construct a new high-tech measurement system for nuclear fuel.

The company began to develop an updated version of its popular patented system in early 2010 and made breakthroughs in March that year.

In 2011, Qi applied for a patent with content, designs and illustrations exactly matching Jingjin's trade secretes, according to the company.

And according to an agreement signed by the three suspects in May 2011, they are the joint owners of the patent in issue.

Xue quit his job and founded his own firm in September 2011. Li joined the new firm in February, and Qi now also worked with them.

Revealing the secret as a patent caused a loss of more than 2 million yuan to Jingjin, according to the company.

Jcrb.com

4 Sichuan

IP training prioritized

Intellectual property professionals are badly needed as the country develops, said Gan Shaoning, deputy commissioner of the State Intellectual Property Office, at an opening ceremony recently held for a national IP training center in Sichuan University.

They play an active role in finding, inspiring and protecting experts in various fields and are crucial to the implementation of a national IP strategy, Gan said.

Following the opening ceremony, the center's first training program began, attracting more than 80 university teachers and students in IP-related majors in the southwestern province.

In addition to the one at the university, the office has approved 14 more of these training bases across the country.

Sipo.gov.cn

(China Daily 06/13/2012 page17)