The 2007 China Trademark Festival, sponsored by the Chinese Trademark Association and the People’s Government of Changsha City, was held in Changsha, Hu’nan Province on November 3rd. It was comprised of five themed activities: “2007 Chinese and Foreign Trademark Cultural Fair”, “2007 Annual Trademark Symposium”, “Dinner Party of 2007 China Trademark Festival”, “Chinese Customers’ Favorite Trademark Survey 2007” and “Chinese Trademark Competency Competition 2007”.

The “2007 Chinese and Foreign Trademark Cultural Fair” held in Hunan’s International Convention and Exhibition Center was the focus of this Festival, which aimed at exhibiting the brand images for Chinese and foreign trademarks and trademark cultures, and was supplemented by the exhibition of real objects. The fair had a total exhibition area of about 40,000 m2, with 1,038 standard booths, and individual booths of 5,000 m2, arranged to hold exhibitors from 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the State Council. According to the sponsors, there were about 1,200 enterprises from across the country participating in the fair, involving more than 960 well-known trademarks and famous marks from every profession and trade. China Intellectual Property, as a media exhibitor, attended the fair. More notably, the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market of the EU (OHIM) was also present. In addition, more than 10,000 varieties of commodities were centralized for exhibition and sales.
After the fair, the sponsors disclosed that more than 100,000 visitors had visited this fair, and the total volume of transactions hit an amazing RMB500 million.

The “2007 Trademark Annual Symposium”, which was held in Vaya International Hotel on Nov. 3-4, was another leading activity of this festival. Attendees included officials from trademark-related organizations such as SAIC, China Customs and the Ministry of Public Security, as well as professionals engaged in judicial and adjudicative trademark work, representatives from local trademark associations and agencies, officials from WIPO, the United States Patent and Trademark Office, as well as the representatives of famous world enterprises. Also present at the opening ceremony were Mr. Li Dongsheng, Deputy Minister of SAIC, Mr. Wang Binying, Assistant Director General of WIPO, Mr. Li Jianzhong, President of China Trademark Association, Ms. Anne Chasser, former President of International Trademark Association, and Mr. Beate Schmidt, President of OHIM.

The Annual Symposium consisted of six forums, i.e. Forum on Trademark Law Development, Forum on Trademark and Economic Development in Rural Areas, Sino-Japan Forum on Trademark Communications, Forum on Legislation and Law Enforcement for Chinese Trademarks, Forum on the Road to Health and Brands, and Forum on Legal Affairs for Trademarks. Professionals and experts from the relevant fields were invited to give lectures and share opinions. For the “Forum on Trademark Law Development”, experts were invited from the Competent Administrative Department for Trademarks on the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong SAR’s Intellectual Property Department, Macao SAR’s Intellectual Property Office, WIPO, OHIM, and the United States Patent and Trademark Office to give lectures on the trademark law system and its development in the relevant countries and regions.

The “Forum on Trademark and Economic Development in Rural Areas” invited officials from the Administrative Department for Trademarks, China Green Food Development Center and well-known enterprises, and famous experts and scholars from the relevant fields for lectures and communications on such topics as trademark registration and protection on geographical indications, the importance of protection of geographical indications for the development of the rural economy, typical experiences for the development of rural economy of trademarks and geographical indications, brand operation and development of green food, and marketing policies in the application of trademarks and geographical indications.   

The festival was concluded in Changsha on Nov. 6. This is the second time that the Chinese Trademark Association held this activity; the first was held in Shenzhen in 2005.