International Law

Guest Writer Michiel Tjoe-Awie: 'Intellectual Property in Daily Life Beijing'

Posted on November 14, 2008
Mr Michiel Tjoe-Awie has traveled extensively throughout China. Although he studied law he does not practise it, at the moment he is working as a banker. IP Dragon appreciates Mr Tjoe-Awie's sharp mind. He can write about almost anything. Sometimes in an entertaining, sometimes in a inquiring way, but always in an interesting way...

Creative Commons Hong Kong Launch

Posted on October 28, 2008
Remember my post in 2005 about the Creative Commons license system that was adapted ('ported' in CC-speak) to the jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China, read here. Ms Michelle Thorne wrote on the Creative Commons weblog that on October 25th, it was Hong Kong's turn...

China's NCA versus Microsoft: Pot Calling the Kettle Black?

Posted on October 28, 2008
Last week Mr Yan Xiaohong, vice-president of the National Copyright Administration of the People's Republic of China (NCA Chinese) criticised Microsoft's Windows Genuine Advantage software, according to an AFP article. Mr Yan's has a problem that this system which turns computer desktops black every hour if the installed Windows XP operating system fails an authenticity validation test: "Measures for safeguarding (intellectual property) rights also need to be appropriate...

IP Lawfirms: Ms Ages Y. Leung and Ms Selena Y.Y. Sun Join Wilkinson & Grist's IP Practice Group

Posted on October 28, 2008
Ms Leung Yang (Agnes) and Ms Sun Yuet Ying (Selena), are the new solicitors at the Intellectual Property Practice Group of Wilkinson & Grist. Read more here.Their colleagues are:PartnersAnne C.Y. ChoiYvonne ChuaAndrea S.Y. FongHoward H.L. TsangEsther W...

To access this complete feed in the blog feed reader login or register for free.

How do the People?s Republic of China and Hong Kong relate to each other regarding IPRs

Posted on October 17, 2008
This article by Danny Friedmann (IP Dragon ?????) is also published at the site of Duncan Bucknell Company, the consulting firm that specialises in global intellectual property strategy, see here.Since 1997, Hong Kong is part of the People?s Republic of China (PRC)...

Who Won The IPR Dispute At The WTO Between China and the US?

Posted on October 13, 2008
Remember April 10, 2007, when the US brought claims against China at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) for allegedly violating the TRIPs Agreement because of unsufficient IPR enforcement (DS 362) and lack of market access (DS 363)? Read here. Mr Jonathan Lynn reports about DS 362 for Reuters that sources at the WTO have said that China won the dispute on two counts against one brought against it by the US for its allegedly ineffective enforcement of intellectual property rights...

AmCham to USTR: "Remove Taiwan From Special 301 Watch List"

Posted on October 07, 2008
America's Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) in Taipei requested the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) to remove Taiwan from the Special 301 Watch List, a list of countries that are allegedly failing to adequately protect IPR and used as a trade tool...

Messrs. Reid and MacKinnon's Checklist on Protection of IPR in China

Posted on October 07, 2008
Messrs. David McHardy Reid (Thomas F. Gleed chair of business administration at Seattle University's Albers School of Business and Economics) and Simon J. MacKinnon (president, Greater China, for Corning Ltd. in Shanghai), wrote a checklist about protecting intellectual property in China:Educate your employees;Don't tell your employees everything;Be quick with patent and trademark registration;Research and keep up with best practicesPut a top executive in charge of IP security, and think globally...

In South Korea Warner Bros First Releases Movies Online, Then Launches DVDs, China Could Be Next

Posted on October 06, 2008
In April 2006 IP Dragon blogged about Warner Brothers dropping its price substantially as a new business strategy in China, read more here. Now it is experimenting in South Korea with releasing movies online first and then launching the sale of DVDs. China could be next...

"Microsoft Does Not Enforce Copyright Piracy in China Because of Network Externalities"

Posted on October 06, 2008
Bill Gates said in 1998:"As long as they're going to steal it, we want them to steal ours," he said of Chinese users, according to Fortune magazine. "They'll get sort of addicted, and then we'll somehow figure out how to collect sometime in the next decade...

16 Copyright Piracy Suspects Identified During Operation Torpedo in Hong Kong

Posted on October 06, 2008
According to a press release by Karri Ho from the International Federation Against Copyright Theft ? Greater China (IFACT-GC), from September 29 to October 1, IFACT-GC representing the Motion Picture Association (MPA) and the CJ Mark Committee (CJ Mark) in Hong Kong, which represents Japanese rights owners, joined forces with over 120 officers from the Hong Kong Customs Intellectual Property Investigation Bureau (IPIB) and the Special Task Force (STF) in a territory-wide anti-piracy operation against a series of distribution and retail outlets selling pirated optical discs in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region...

Total Makeover in Guiyu: "Recycling" Old Commercial Microchips As New Military Microchips

Posted on October 06, 2008
Messrs. Brian Grow, Chi-Chu Tschang, Cliff Edwards and Brian Burnsed wrote the BusinessWeek article 'Dangerous Fakes' about old commercially grade microchips that are salvaged from discarded circuit boards and sold as military grade microships.They reported from Guiyu, Guangdong province, China:"Old chips are burned from circuit boards, workers wash them in the local river and sort them with brooms on the river bank, before they are carted off to shops and local markets...

Roger Bate determines China's Lethal Counterfeit Drugs Pattern

Posted on October 03, 2008
Mr Roger Bate, writer of the book ?Making a Killing: The Deadly Implications of the Counterfeit Drug Trade (free pdf-version ),? wrote an article for the Far Eastern Economic Review that gives a good overview of China's counterfeit drug problems.Mr Bate notices that China's food scandals follow a lethal pattern:"Someone cuts a corner substituting an unsafe illegal product for a safe legal one; the legal entities trading in the product, which are often unaware of the illegal substitution, at first ignore the problem and then become embarrassed into a recall, often after pressure from foreign governments on Beijing...

WIPO Internet Treaties In Effect in Hong Kong After PRC

Posted on October 02, 2008
The WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT) and WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT), which are considered necessary to adapt the copyright law and related rights law to the challenges of digital technologies, came into effect in Hong Kong SAR (which is a separate jurisdiction from the People's Republic of China) on October 1st, 2008...

19th US-China JCCT: What are the Concrete Measures?

Posted on September 23, 2008
September 16th US Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez and US Trade Representative Susan c. Schwab, together with Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan convened the 19th US-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT). Read the press release of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) here...

China's National IP Strategy 2008: Feasible Commitments or Road to Nowhere Paved With Good Intentions

Posted on September 11, 2008
This article by Danny Friedmann is also published at the site of Duncan Bucknell Company, the law firm that specialises in Global IP Strategy, see here.China's State Council promulgated a National Intellectual Property Strategy [1]. In the policy document there is a lot of talk about doing everything more efficient and more effective...

Wall Street Journal Blog Quotes IP Dragon in "Best of the China Blogs"

Posted on September 11, 2008
Ms Sky Canaves is the lead writer of 'China Journal', a great blog about "How China is changing - and changing the world" for the Wall Street Journal. She also runs the 'Best of the China Blogs', a daily look at what she and her colleagues are reading...

New Draft Third Patent Law Amendment: Slight Improvements

Posted on September 10, 2008
In the beginning of this year there was not much reason for optimism regarding the third patent law amendment, read 'Curb your enthousiasm. The earlier draft included the requirement that Chinese legal and natural persons must first apply for patents before making foreign applications...

Peter Ollier interviews Netac's Vincent Zhong

Posted on September 09, 2008
Netac Technology was the first Chinese company that sued an American company, PNY Technologies of Texas, for patent infringement (USB flash memory). The two companies settled their patent dispute out of court in March, read more here.Mr Peter Ollier interviewed Mr Vincent Zhong, vice-president of Netac Technologies about the dispute...

"China biggest IP threat to Korea"

Posted on September 09, 2008
Gallup Korea conducted a survey for Korea Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) about the perception of threats to Korean IP. 1,202 domestic firms said: Where was Korean IP infringed?65 percent in China; 12 percent Taiwan; 12 percent United States. In what sector did that happen?24 percent in electrics and electronics;22 percent in machinery;21 percent in textile and clothing...

Shanghai Signboards: We Sell Only Real Products, Really...

Posted on September 09, 2008
Next month you can find in Shanghai 100 shops that have a ? (zhen1) sign in their window, which means that they only sell genuine products.The Shanghai Intellectual Property Administration will control and coordinate the distribution of the signboards...

Wanfang Data Accused of Unauthorised Inclusion of Dissertations

Posted on September 09, 2008
480 accademics have accused Wanfang Data of including their dissertation without any permission in the database "Disseratations of China" that was offered to libraries. To make a work public without authorisation and to copy a work without authorisation is both copyright infringment...

PRC's Anti-Monopoly Law: Well-known Trademarks and Traditional Chinese Brands Are Part of National Security

Posted on September 01, 2008
Mr Steve Dickinson of the China Law Blog wrote an insightful article about Anti -Monopoly Law of the People's Republic of China that became effective August 1, 2008.Article 31 Anti-Monopoly Law: Where national security is involved in the case of acquisition of domestic enterprises by foreign capital or the participation by foreign capital in the concentration of undertakings by other means, in addition to a review on the concentration in accordance with this Law, a review on national security shall also be conducted in accordance with the relevant laws and regulations...

The Longlife Trademark For Taiwan's Cigarettes is still not dead

Posted on August 26, 2008
This morning I got this picture of Taiwanese cigarettes with the name Longlife. The picture is made by CH from Mobimania in Xiamen, China. First question. Is Longlife a trademarked brand in Taiwan? And what about China?If you type in "Longlife" in to the search engine of Taiwan's Intellectual Property Office (TIPO) you will find that there actually are several trademarks for cigarettes with the mark Longlife, the trademark holder is Taiwan Tabacco and Liquor Corporation...

Xiamen Cyberpolice Stealed the Logo of Microsoft's Internet Explorer?

Posted on August 13, 2008
CH of Mobimania pointed me to the Xiamen cyberpolice who uses the logo of E of Internet Explorer, the browser of of Microsoft. Did they get permission to use it? See their website here.

Hong Kong's Top e-filers of Patent, Trademark and Design Right Applications

Posted on August 07, 2008
According to the Intellectual Property Department (IPD) of the Hong Kong Government the top e-filers of all e-transactions in 2008 were: Ranking Firms 1 UNDISCLOSED 2 DEACONS 3 WILKINSON & GRIST 4 JSM 5 BAKER & MCKENZIE 6 SIT, FUNG, KWONG AND SHUM SOLICITORS 7 CLT PATENT & TRADEMARK (H...

Hong Kong Olympic Games: "Dress Code and Leave Branded Gifts At Home"

Posted on August 07, 2008
Mr Stephen Selby, director of the Intellectual Property Department urges spectators to the Olympic equestrian (horses) event in Hong Kong to abide by the Olympic rules on brand protection and advertising. This means that in the Olympic stadium and venues you can not wear clothes with large or obvious advertising of a brand...

First Bar Ordered To Pay Damages For Copyright Infringements of Karaoke Songs

Posted on July 30, 2008
In April the People's Court in the Chancheng district of Guangdong Province's Foshan city ordered Haoledi Entertainment Company, the karaoke bar management firm, to pay damanges of 30,000 yuan (4,286 U.S. dollars) by Beijing-based New Run Entertainment Company, a performance management and audio-visual production firm...

"Great Wall Motor Not Infringing Fiat's Patent"

Posted on July 30, 2008
Reuters reports that Great Wall Motor Co Ltd made a statement saying that Fiat's claim that Great Wall infringing their patent was dismissed by Shijiazhuang Intermediate People's Court.Read the Reuters article here and the Great Wall Motor's statement here.

Face Saving Cultures Don't Like to Make An Apology

Posted on July 17, 2008
Mr Piter de Weerd, editor of Boek9.nl (Dutch) Book9.nl (English), the excellent blog about intellectual property rights in the Netherlands, pointed me to the article ofSeattle Trademark Lawyer Mr Michael Atkins, who was startled about the remedies Japan's cosmetic giant Shiseido was seeking against the Chinese users of the Shidoas trademark: damages and ...

Bloggers, promote your law blog by nominating your blog for inclusion in USLaw.com's Law Blog Directory and RSS Reader. Benefits described.