- Beijing
SIPO: Invention apps surge
The State Intellectual Property Office dealt with 825,000 applications for invention patents last year, an increase of 26.3 percent over 2012, and nearly 330,000 international filings via the Patent Cooperation Treaty, SIPO Commissioner Shen Changyu announced at an annual meeting where heads of local IP offices across the country gathered in mid-December. SIPO will continue to advance the national IP strategy initiated in 2008 and improve patent quality and efficiency, Shen said. Priorities in this year's work also include enhancing protection and market regulation, developing IP services and improving patent industrialization.
Sci-tech award names winner
Xinjiang Luobupo Potash Co, a company affiliated with State Development and Investment Corporation, recently won a gold prize at the National Science and Technology Progress Award for its potassium production project designed for a dried salt lake in Lop Nur. The project can annually produce at least 1.2 million tons of potassium, which will largely reduce China's dependence on imported potash fertilizer and has great economic significance in ensuring the food security in the country, experts say.
- Liaoning
CEOs schooled on new rules
A training program on the Regulation of Corporate IP Management was held in Dalian city recently. More than 100 people from some 60 local companies, colleges and research institutions took part in the program. The organizer, Dalian intellectual property office, has invited experts to give lectures to improve the trainees' IP awareness as well as regulations related to IP management. The regulations were unveiled last year.
Sipo.gov.cn
- Shanxi
MTV at KTV: No pay, no play
Five karaoke operators in the provincial capital Taiyuan were fined more than 500,000 yuan ($82,650) in total for infringing on the copyright of some 100 MTV works, according to a recent verdict by the provincial court. The China Audio-Video Copyright Association filed a lawsuit with the city's intermediate court against those shops in October 2013 because they had not paid license fee for many songs they had collected, but the defendants appealed to the provincial court.
Shanxi Evening News
- Jiangxi
Enforcement strategy unveiled
The province will further enhance enforcement capabilities with regard to intellectual property rights this year, while focusing on IP protection at exhibitions and the improvement of related public complaint mechanisms. The initiative is based on the progress that the provincial IP office made last year. In 2013, the office dispatched a total of 1,800 enforcement officers. They handled a total of 224 patent disputes and IP infringement cases, up 62 percent annually.
JIANGXI.GOV.CN
- Qinghai
Local filings on the rise
The number of patent applications filed by the local companies and institutions in the province surpassed 1,000 last year for the first time, with a year-on-year increase of 30 percent. Also, the patent structure was improved due to an obvious surge in invention patent applications, a report noted. There were 520 applications for invention parents, 364 applications for utility models and 215 for designs.
PEOPLE.COM.CN
- Chongqing
IP museum to open
The city's IP office and the local prestigious Chongqing University of Technology will jointly establish China's first museum of IP culture that integrates functions of exhibition, research, information exchange and knowledge promotion. The museum, located in the university, will be divided into five parts, including IP information in fields of automobile and advanced equipment manufacturing. The project is scheduled to be finished by the year 2019.
Chongqing Evening News
- Guangdong
Govt to incentivize patents
The government of Guangzhou city will invest 5.5 million yuan into a system to incentivize patents this year, according to a plan recently unveiled to promote innovation. The number is nearly 50 percent higher than last year. The plan also aims at 19 percent increase in the number of patent applications.
Nanfang Daily
(China Daily 01/22/2014 page17)
