[IP Creations]

The amazing 360° book

Although at first glance it is a traditional-looking palm-sized volume, 360° Book will amaze you once you open it. It presents a full circle of a modern diorama. Readers can perceive totally different scenes from different angles. It offers the reader a wonderful fairy tale world.

The magic mirror

New mirrors, referred to as “magic mirrors” have emerged in a clothing store in San Francisco. The mirrors allow customers to see how the clothing will look in different color options without constantly changing clothes by simply using the touch screen that is built into the mirror.

WiFi smart pen

A WiFi smart pen can record everything you write and hear. The handwritten notes and audio files will be sent and preserved in Evernote automatically via WiFi. Users can access them on PCs, smartphones, tablets or other recording software.

The world first 3D printing photo booth

Being dubbed the world first 3D printing photo booth, a photo studio has popped up in Japan recently. The studio offers a 3D scan to customers. After the scanning, customers can choose a size for their 3D figure between 10 and 20 cm, which will be printed in full color and be exactly identical with both the customer's facial expressions and gestures. If you want your own 3D portrait, go and make a reservation right now!

 

[Government]

Customs authority combats pirated software

Over the past two months, the Customs and Excise Department of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region has conducted an operation to combat the use of pirated software in business. 12 people, including 11 directors and 1 employee, were arrested in the operation. Seven companies were searched by legal authorities. 35 computers were seized for possessing illegally installed pirated software, including operating systems software, office applications software and design software. The total value of the operation amounted to 130,000 yuan and the companies concerned were engaged in the design, publication and advertising business.

 

Service inventor remuneration regulation opens for public comment

On November 12nd, SIPO released a draft of the proposed Service Invention Remuneration of Regulations (Regulations). The draft consists of 46 articles in 7 chapters. The contents include the legislative aim, the supervision and regulation departments and its responsibility, the applicable scope of the Regulations, the definition of what parties qualify as inventors as well as detailed provisions concerning the ownership of the rights to an invention. The service invention system is a basic system for adjusting the ownership of the rights and profit distribution, which is closely related to innovation enthusiasm of inventors and enterprises, and constitutes an important part of the country’s innovation policy as well.

The 4^th Annual Pharma and Biotech Patent Conference 2012 concluded in Beijing

The 4th Annual Pharma and Biotech Patent Conference 2012 concluded successfully in Beijing. Delegates of the legal departments as well as pharmaceutical and biotech companies from China, America, Brazil, Malaysia , Singapore and Vietnam gathered together to discuss the latest trends and issues in the field of pharmaceutical and biotech intellectual property. Conference speakers stated that while facing IP challenges and opportunities, pharmaceutical and biotech companies should respond actively, participants should optimize the management of patent portfolios, maximize the patent value during M&A and adopt proper patent management strategies.

China will host AIPPI World Intellectual Property Congress for the first time

The 43^rd World Intellectual Property Congress of an international French IP association called the “Association Internationale pour la Protection de la Propriété Intellectuelle” (AIPPI) concluded in Seoul in October with exciting news: China will host the 47^th World Intellectual Property Congress in Hangzhou in 2020 for the first time. The congress is held every other year with wide participation by governments, companies, IP agencies and research institutions. Successfully hosting the conference will promote the development of China’s IP industry and the IP status of China on the international stage.

SIPO promotes electronic patent application

In February, the State Intellectual Property Office of the People’s Republic of China (SIPO) published a supplementary notice on the intensive promotion of electronic patent application, which adjusted and specified the goals for 2012. The current goals are that: the electronic patent application rate of the year should reach 80%, monthly patent electronic application rates should be no less than 78%, and the electronic patent application rates of the year of patent agencies should reach 95%. SIPO authorities stated that after the publication of the supplementary notice, SIPO has implemented a variety of policy measures to create a social atmosphere beneficiary to the promotion of electronic patent application.

China’s quality authorities fight against fake products

China’s quality authorities continue to combat against infringements of intellectual property rights as well as the production and sales of fake products. In the first three quarters of 2012, they handled 54,200 cases, the value of the products involved amounted to 3.14 billion yuan (498.41 million U.S. dollars), and 731 cases were transferred to public security organs. Moreover, more than 4.3 million batches of exports valued at 278.33 billion U.S. dollars were seized; among which, 9,047 batches of goods estimated to be worth 2.62 billion U.S. dollars were found to be substandard. It is said that the administration in charge of enforcement is determined to strengthen the fight against counterfeit products. It would particularly step up its monitoring of children’s products, food products, agricultural and construction materials.

China’s patent application jumps 20% in 2012

In the first three quarters of 2012, SIPO had received 423,000 patent applications for inventions, an increase of 22.3% from last year. Tian Lipu, Commissioner of the State Intellectual Property Office, stated at a press conference on the sidelines of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China that China, had received 526,000 patent applications by 2011, accounting for a quarter of the world’s applications. In 2001, the number was merely 40,000, representing a twentieth of the global total. Tian said that, “even though the growth rate this year is a bit lower than last year, the overall quality of the patents has been improved.”

 

[Enterprises]

Five-year copyright agreement signed between Youku Tudou and Sony

Youku Tudou has reportedly signed a cooperation agreement with Sony Picture Television. If reports are accurate, the five-year agreement brings more than 300 new and classic Sony titles to its Youku Premium platform. Since the merger, the company has already signed licensing deals with companies like Warner Brothers, DreamWorks, Paramount, 21st Century Fox, Disney and NBC Universal.

Nike application for Liu Xiang signature mark rejected

It is reported that the Trademark Appeal Board of State Administration for Industry and Commerce of People’s Republic of China has rejected an application by Nike Inc. for registration of the renowned athlete Liu Xiang’s signature as a trademark. Authorities stated that the name had already been registered by a Shanghai company many years ago when Liu was just three years old. Since both trademarks are in the apparel category, consumers will get confused if the Liu Xiang signature trademark is approved for Nike.

Crack down counterfeit brand-name bags

China and the United States have conducted a joint operation which resulted in the seizure of more than 20,000 counterfeit bags with fake LOUIS VUITTON, HERMES and COACH tags.

An “international gang“operating in China had sold approximately 960,000 counterfeit bags worth more than $800 million, mainly in the U.S. and Middle East. During a raid in May, police seized more than 20,000 counterfeit bags and enough material to produce about 50,000 more, arrested 73 suspects and “destroyed“ 37 production and sales sites.

Cloudary and search engines combating piracy

Cloudary, the internet literature subsidiary of Shanda Interactive Entertainment Limited, has signed a code of conduct with four searchengines, namely Baidu, Sogou, Tencent and Qihu360, to combat piracy. Hou Xiaoqiang, CEO of Cloudary once stated that copyright protection is the life of original literature. Under the code of conduct, all parties committed to protecting intellectual property and to actively combating piracy, and expressed faith in the forthcoming copyright protection environment.

The 10 million RMB trademark MoYanZui

Mo Yan, the well-known writer who recently won the Nobel Prize, caused Mo Yan fever worldwide. The liquor trademark “MoYanZui,” registered by a Mr. Hou six years ago has now become a hot product. Days ago, Mr. Hou revealed that he would sell “MoYanZui” for 10 million yuan. It is astonishing that the value of the trademark has appreciated from 6 million to 10 million yuan in a few days, which is now 10,000 times of the registration fee. He said that the buyer of the trademark is a very competitive liquor company whose CEO is a fan of Mo Yan.

Mr. Hou declared that he would contribute funds to Mo Yan’s literature after he sold the trade mark.

Free music download may face the end

Recently, the rumor that record companies may cooperate with music service websites to charge fees for music downloads by the end of the year has been widely spread. It is said that ten years of free music download in China may face its end on 31st December. However, at present, music websites such as Baidu Music and Tencent QQ Music declared that the rumor is false; additionally some record companies also expressed that they haven’t received any notice.

Though there is no authoritative confirmation, it is not a groundless rumor. Some professionals of the music industry indicate that the digital music industry has great market potential, charges for music downloads is a trend, but the consuming model of web music still needs to be explored and the legitimate interests of music copyright holders should be protected with a prerequisite of obeying the laws of the art market.

Tencent sued 14 stores in Nanjing for infringement

The penguin image of QQ, an instant messaging computer program, is widely known by the Chinese people. Recently, its rights holder, Tencent Inc., sued 14 stores in Nanjing of penguin image infringement, claiming that the infringers cease the infringement and compensate it for the loss. It is reported that the court had already started the hearings of the serial cases on November 15th. Accordingly, the following month is jokingly being referred to as “QQ Month” for the Nanjing court.

GREE win patent award

GREE’s U-shaped structure on the side of its indoor air conditioner unit won the China Patent Gold Medal, making GREE the only air conditioner manufacturer to receive this award at the 14th session of the competition.

The China Patent Award is the highest kudo in the IPR field bestowed by the Chinese government and jointly undertaken by the State Intellectual Property Office and World Intellectual Property Organization. It includes the China Patent Gold Medal, China Patent Excellence Award, Design Gold Medal and Design Excellence Award.

Hennessy prevails in trademark dispute

French Hennessy, a well-known brandy manufacturer, recently prevailed in a trademark dispute. Shanghai No.1 Intermediate People’s Court ruled that the co-defendants, Hebei Changli Jinhai Wine Company (Jinhai), Shanghai Guangli Trade Company (Guangli), Li Guofei, Guo Ziruo, commited infringement and unfair competition. The first instance court decision ordered defendant Guangli to compensate Hennessy 40,000 yuan and eliminate the negative influences. The court ordered that defendant Jinhai to compensate Hennessy 460,000 yuan, cease infringement and unfair competition as well as eliminate the negative influences. Hennessy challenged the court’s decision and requested the court add Li Guofei, Guo Ziruo as codefendants. It then appealed to the Shanghai No.1 Intermediate People’s Court. The court held that Li Guofei, Guo Ziruo and Jinhai had been involved in the manufacturing and sales of the counterfeits and should assume liability.

 

 

 

[Global News]

1 U.S.

Disney’s ambitious acquisitions upgraded

The Walt Disney Company announced that it had recently acquired Lucasfilm Ltd., at a cost of 4.05 billion U.S. dollars. Within a week of the acquisition, a rumor circulated in the U.S. that Disney was planning to buy Hasbro. It was reported that the heads of the two companies were discussing the acquisition. Disney will undoubtedly encounter copyright issues during the acquisition process.

2 Finland

Nokia seeks ban on BlackBerry sales

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd (RIM) has lost a dispute over the use of Nokia Oyj patents, in a case which could halt the sale of RIM products if it does not reach a new royalties deal with Nokia. The Swedish arbitrator ruled RIM would not be entitled to make or sell mobile devices which can hook up to WiFi networks -- using technology known in the trade as WLAN or wireless local access network systems -- without first entering into royalty agreements with Nokia.

3 Russian

Anti-Putin band “Pussy Riot” denied trademark registration

The Federal Service for Intellectual Property, Patents and Trademarks (Rospatent) has refused to register the name of the Anti-Putin Band “Pussy Rio” as a trademark. Local lawyers stated that Rospatent may want to avoid the possibility of scandals caused by the approval of the registration.

4 U.S.

Apple pays 21 million to avoid clock design infringement action

The Swiss Federal Railway (SFR) service recently accused Apple of using the SFR’s iconic clock on its iOS 6 iPad and iPhone. SFR had both trademarked and copyrighted the clock. Before a lawsuit could be filed, Apple agreed to pay 21 million U.S. dollars to SFR to settle any claims and obtain the licensing rights to continue usage of the clock’s image.

5 EU

EPO’s patent translate service: 7 new languages added

To further improve multilingual access to information contained in European Patent Office (EPO) patent documents, EPO recently announced that it added seven new languages, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Greek, Hungarian, Norwegian and Polish, will be added to the free patent translation service.

The patent translation service was first launched in February 2012. The first set of service languages included French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and Swedish. The service now enables on-the-fly-translation to and from English for thirteen languages, which provides more convenient multilingual access to patent documents on EPO’s website.

6 Tanzania

The branded cloves

The World Intellectual Property Organization, the International Trade Centre and Zanzibar have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to provide brand protection for Tanzanian cloves, the Island’s main cash crop. According to reports, natives have planted over 5 million cloves on the 2,600 square kilometers land. It has won the title of the world’s most fragrant island. Cloves produced in Zanzibar account for 80% of the world’s cloves production, making cloves the absolute backbone of the country’s economic development

7 South-East Europe

The 8th ministerial conference on cultural heritage in South-East Europe concluded

The 8th Ministerial Conference on Cultural Heritage in South-East Europe recently concluded in Bulgaria. Ministries of culture from 13 countries issued a joint statement and agreed to reinforce cooperation in order to provide better protection to intangible cultural heritage as well as promote sustainable economic development.