IP becomes the focus of US-China Dialogue

On May 4th, the 4th Round of US-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue came to an end. The closing conference delivered the detailed fruits of the Dialogue as well as a joint statement. The two documents depicted a new vista of US-China relationship, in which IP related issues were eye attracting. The two countries reached agreements on various issues including IP protection, developing a favorable IP environment for market development of both countries, and joint-effort to create beneficial conditions to accelerate and expand hi-tech transactions for civil use.

The Beijing Municipal Bureau of Copyright explicitly support the M&A of online video companies

At the 2012 Sun Shine Film and TV Series New Media Copyright Summit on May 10th, Han Zhiyu, head of the Copyright Protection Division of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Copyright stated clearly that the M&A of online video companies should be supported with the hope that this kind of market activity will help to bring the high online copyright royalties of films and TV series down to a reasonable price. According to statistics, the online copyright royalties of TV series rocketed up from 10,000 yuan per episode in 2009 to 1.85 million yuan per episode in 2011, increasing 15 times during the last three years.

The first Judicial Interpretation of the Antimonopoly Law comes out

On May 8th, the Supreme People’s Court released the Regulations on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in relation to Trials of Monopoly Civil Disputes arising from Monopolistic Conducts (the Judicial Interpretation), which took effect on June 1st. This is the first judicial interpretation in antimonopoly field. The core contents of the Judicial Interpretation are focused on the burden of proof, an analysis of which facts can be asserted without proof in litigation, rules regarding the use of expert testimony, and other matters that required clarification. The Judicial Interpretation not only helps resolve practical problems, such as lightening the burden of proof of the plaintiffs and enhancing the winning rate, but also sets many detailed interpretations and provisions among which many breakthroughs were made.

The revised Draft of China’s Copyright Law will be released in June to solicit public opinions again

The National Copyright Administration (NCA) held the third expert meeting on the amendment of the Copyright Law. Up to May 10th, 2012, the NCA has received a total of 1,560 advisory opinions and suggestions on the amendment of the Copyright Law from all walks in life.

The opinions are related to 81 articles out of the total 88 articles in the Draft, only 7 are not controversial. The most hotly debated issues concerning the collective management of record products and copyrights are all reflected in these opinions. Next, the NCA will further revise the Draft with due consideration of the opinions solicited from all sectors of the society and the advice from the expert committee.

It will try its best to finish the job by the end of May and issue the revised version for advice in early June.

The 20th Seminar on Intellectual Property of China-Japan kicks off in Beijing

From April 22nd to 23rd, the 20th Seminar on Intellectual Property of China-Japan, which is jointly held by All-China Patent Attorneys Association and the China Patent Association of the JAPIT kicked off in Beijing. IP expertises from the governments, courts, agencies, law firms and enterprises of both countries discussed patent practice, court trail, enterprise strategy and other hot issues. The Seminar on Intellectual Property of China-Japan is one of the activities hosted by non-governmental organizations which enjoy the longest history and biggest influence.

China Written Works Copyright Society will conduct litigations against piracy of academic papers at a large scale

Since 2011, China Written Works Copyright Society (CWWCS) has dealt with more than one thousand academic paper piracy cases each year, and protected the legal right of over 600 members. In order to further uphold the authors’ rights, CWWCS will litigate against the piracy of academic papers all over China. The organization has already begun to file lawsuits against infringing individuals who refused to admit their mistakes. Obtaining and notarizing relevant evidence have been done by the lawyers, and 30 cases have been accepted by the local courts, which includes 5 in Beijing and 9 in Tianjin. Zhang Hongbo, Secretary- General of the China Written Works Copyright Society, said that he hopes that this activity would help to fight the academic misconduct, protect the legal rights of the members as well as to enhance the copyright awareness of the public.

2012 Key Points in Combating IP Infringements and Counterfeits issued

On May 18th, the General Office of the State Council of the People's Republic of China delivered an announcement concerning the publication of the 2012 Key Points in Combating IP Infringements and Counterfeits (Key Points). The Key Points emphasized that in 2012, local governments should organize special campaigns to protect trademarks, copyrights and patents, and combat counterfeits in online transactions, fake drugs and cosmetic products severely.