Enterprise News
China IP,[Comprehensive Reports]
Alibaba Says It Wages War on Fakes
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. said it has tightened policies against copyright infringements and made it easier for brands to issue complaints and request removal of counterfeit items on its platforms.
The efforts seek to address repeated complaints Alibaba has received from associations which criticize it for not taking enough proactive measures to fight counterfeits. As Alibaba seeks to bring in more than half its revenue from overseas, shaking off a reputation as a haven for knockoffs and winning the trust of foreign brands will be a key to expansion outside of China.
Alibaba to Buy Yum China
On September 2, Yum Brands Inc. (hereinafter referred to as "Yum Brands") announced that Primavera Capital Corp (hereinafter referred to as "Primavera Capital") and Ant Financial Services Group (hereinafter referred to as "Ant Financial") would jointly invest $460 million in buying its business in China, including $410 million from Primavera Capital and $50 million from Ant Financial. Yum Brands is known to be the world's largest restaurant group that has more than 35,000 restaurants and more than 1 million employees in over 110 countries and regions worldwide. Its brands include KFC, Pizza Hut, Little Sheep, East Dawning, Taco Bell, A&W and LongJohn Silver’s (LJS) and its products include fried chicken, pizza, hot pot, Chinese fast food, Mexico flavored food and seafood chain food and beverage.
Blizzard and NetEase v. National Warcraft Case Closed
Recently, the Guangzhou Intellectual Property Court made a decision on Blizzard Entertainment and NTES v. Chengdu No.7 Games, Beijing Fenbo Times Network Technology Co. Ltd. and Guangzhou Dongjing Computer Technology Co. Ltd. copyright infringement and unfair competition case. Blizzard Entertainment and NetEase won the favor of the Court and would receive a RMB 6 million compensation. In March 2015, the court approved an application for injunctions during the litigation banning the three defendants in question from copying, issuing, operating or spreading the subject work. From that time on, the game had been made unavailable and locked.
Chinese Company Sue Dutch Retailers for Copy Product
A Chinese company has sued Dutch retailers Blokker B.V. and Leen Bakker for selling a party tent which might have been copied from the Chinese design. The case involves a party tent with a butterfly-like shape that Zhejiang Zhengte sells worldwide. Blokker and Leen Bakker sold an exact copy, bearing the name Le Sud.
Leen Bakker and Blokker are both companies which sell household products. Both of them are parts of Blokker Holding.
Dutch media said the Chinese company wanted Blokker and Leen Bakker to stop selling copied products and destroy the stock.
Decision Will Mark Shift in GUI Protection
The Patent Reexamination Board of the State Intellectual Property Office held a public hearing on October 28 for the nation’s first case involving disputes about software graphic user interface designs. Beijing-based anti- virus software developer Qihoo 360 Technology Co. applied for design patents for three types of its GUI in 2014, which were approved by SIPO.
In April, the company sued its competitor Beijing Jiangmin New Science and Technology Co. at the Beijing Intellectual Property Court, claiming the latter’s software was developed using Qihoo 360’s GUI design patents without authorization, and asked for compensation of 10 million yuan ($1.5 million).
The Beijing Intellectual Property Court heard the case on September 21.
Jiangmin filed six appeals with the reexamination board requesting to invalidate all the three involved patents from Qihoo. A panel of five experienced officials from the board was commissioned to handle the case.
The focus of the case is whether the involved patents are markedly different from existing designs. The evidence from both sides included saved web pages, patent documentation and other publications.
Antitrust Investigation into the Didi-Uber Merger by the Ministry of Commerce
In a regular press conference held by the Ministry of Commerce, the spokesman Shen Danyang said that the Ministry of Commerce was carrying out an antitrust investigation into the unreported Didi-Uber merger and had so far questioned Didi Taxi two times, requiring it to account for the deal and its failure to report the deal and submit the related documents and materials and had discussions with the relevant agencies and enterprises to know about the car-hailing business model and the market competition. Shen Danyang noted that Didi Taxi announced a strategic agreement with Uber Global to buy all of Uber China on August 1 and followed procedures for registration of the change in shareholdings to close the deal the next day. After the merger had gained wide attention, it was referred to the Ministry of Commerce in that the parties had not legally reported the deal.
“ 蓝瘦香菇 ” (lanshou xianggu) is China's New Internet Meme
Out of the blue, the word “ 蓝瘦香菇 ” (lanshou xianggu) began trending on Chinese social-networking sites, many internet users were left scratching their heads.
“ 蓝瘦香菇 ” (lanshou xianggu) was created by a sad man who wanted to say “ 难受想哭 ” (nanshou xiangku), which means “I’m sad and I want to cry” in Chinese. It’s his accent that made the trend. In case you are wondering what the whole fuss is about, a company in Shenzhen registered its name as lanshou xianggu, on Oct 13.
Just to make it more confusing, the company's main business includes equipment manufacturing, trade and engineering.
It's not the first time that internet memes have been registered as trademarks.
On August 8, Chinese female swimmer Fu Yuanhui said "I've been using honghuangzhili ( 洪荒之力 )" indicating she had used up all her strength, the word went viral. Honghuangzhili, which means pre-historical force, was registered as trademark two days later.
On August 29, Wang Jianlin, China's property tycoon, said "You have to set a small goal like making 100 million first" in a TV show, which got popular in the internet. “Zhuantayigeyi”( 赚它一个亿 ), or making 100 million, was registered as a trademark a week later.
Chinese Actor Buys Rights to ‘City Hunter’
The IP (intellectual property) of Tsukasa Hojo's most popular book series, City Hunter, has been acquired by Estar Media, a Chinese company founded by Chinese actor Huang Xiaoming. Huang announced the deal in Shanghai recently.
The first project will be a movie adaptation, which will see Huang in the leading role of Ryo Saeba, and Stanley Tong as the director. According to Huang, who calls himself a big fan of City Hunter books, he will pay tribute to the classic book series by producing TV series, theater plays and video games over the next seven years in addition to the movie.
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