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In 2004, the judiciary authorities and relevant administrative departments of Guangdong Provincial People's Government, by performing their respective responsibilities and closely cooperating with one another, scored new achievements in strengthening both administrative and judiciary protection for intellectual property rights (IPR), conducting IPR publicity and education to enhance people's awareness in IPR protection, and guiding and encouraging enterprises and institutions to establish effective IPR systems.
1. Judiciary Protection of Intellectual Property Rights
Guangdong courts at diverse levels actively conducted trials of intellectual property litigation and made efforts to boost work efficiency. In adhere to principles of legality, justice and circumspection, they processed large quantities of cases, providing an excellent, efficient judicial guarantee for Guangdong's economic development and technological innovation.
In 2004, Guangdong courts faithfully administered justice in IPR lawsuits. They received altogether 2731 new IPR cases of first instance, which, apart from 82 criminal and 5 administrative cases, included 2644 civil cases, increasing 158% over the previous year, accounting for 28.4% of the national total and ranking first nationwide. Meanwhile, 1713 cases were settled, up 803 or 88.2% over the previous year. The courts also received a total of 331 cases of second instance, up 29.8%, and settled 327 cases, up 70.3% as against 2003.
Guangdong courts adjudicated on a batch of highly influential IPR lawsuits, such as Guangdong Black Swan Food Culture Co. Ltd., Vs Harbin Black Swan Group Co. Ltd. (trademark infringement and unfair competition), Shunde Soben Electrical Engineering Co. Ltd, Vs Kaiping Soben Construction Company & Vs Guangzhou Soben Electrical Engineering Co. Ltd. (unfair competition, and reputation infringement), and explored in administering justice in some cases of IPR infringement concerning audio-video products and MTV playing, thus protecting the lawful rights and interests of the parties involved, safeguarding normal market order, and winning positive public opinion.
Guangdong courts at various levels highly valued the settlement of IPR lawsuits via mediation, and endeavored to appease social conflicts. The three intermediate courts in Guangdong, Shenzhen and Foshan all settled over 50% of the lawsuits via mediation (including reconciled withdrawal of accusation); specifically, the percentage of mediation for Guangzhou Intermediate Court is 51.2%, Shenzhen Intermediate Court 55.9%, and Foshan Intermediate Court, which explored the method of "Five-Step Mediation", 62%. The higher percentage of mediation reflected the harmony between the legal and social effects of justice administration.
From January 1, 2004, the local courts in Guangzhou's Dongshan District, Shenzhen's Nanshan District and Foshan's Nanhai District began to receive IPR-related civil lawsuits; in the whole year they received a total of 118 IPR lawsuits. Such an innovative judiciary practice, to a certain extent, alleviated the lawsuit work pressure of the intermediate courts in Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Foshan, and brought greater convenience for people to start IPR litigation, hence receiving public praise.
2. Crackdown on IPR Criminal Infringement
In 2004, the Public Security organs in Guangdong severely suppressed criminal infringement on intellectual property, and secured great success. By organizing special actions as well as coordinated crackdown campaigns, and closely supervising settlement of severe and influential cases, the Public Security system focused on striking organized criminal groups and rectifying key areas. In the year, they investigated altogether 512 criminal cases of IPR infringement as well as counterfeit production and sale, cracked 339 of them, and arrested 1514 suspected criminals. All those cases involved 386 million RMB yuan worth of goods, and an economic loss of 188.5 million RMB yuan was recovered.
In March, the Shenzhen Municipal Public Security Bureau (PSB) destroyed an illegal huge-scale factory manufacturing counterfeit bags of the world-famous "LV" brand, and seized large quantities of fake "LV" bags; the worth of goods involved in this case reached 40 million RMB yuan. In September, the Dongguan Municipal PSB destroyed a criminal nest manufacturing fake covers of mobile phones of famous brands, whereby seizing over 340,000 counterfeit mobile phone display screens and brand marks for mobile phones of such brands as "NOKIA", "MOTOROLA", and "SAMSUNG", along with relevant production facilities, and arresting the factory investors. In October, the Shenzhen PSB and Dongguan PSB, in cooperation with the Administration for Industry and Commerce (AIC) and Quality Supervision Bureau (QSB) in Shenzhen, eliminated a criminal group manufacturing counterfeit American Cisco Systems computer-related products, destroying 11 counterfeit production sites in Shenzhen and Dongguan, arresting over 20 suspected criminals, and seizing 11,609 fake Cisco computer modules, which were worth over 20 million RMB yuan. Among all those, the cases of manufacturing counterfeit "LV" bags and American Cisco computer products, which were cracked by the Shenzhen Public Security Bureau, belonged to the Top Ten Cases of IPR Infringement in 2004.
In January and March, as organized by Guangdong Provincial Public Security Department (GDPSD), Chaozhou Municipal PSB, in cooperation with the tobacco market law enforcement authority, mobilized a force of over 1000 people, and initiated the "Storm" Action and "Tsunami" Action, whereby destroying 47 sites for production and sale of counterfeit cigarettes, and arresting 22 suspects. In December, again as organized by GDPSD, Guangzhou Municipal PSB launched the "Sea Eagle" Action, whereby eliminating a criminal group of an enormous scale for counterfeit cigarettes production and sale, seizing 22 suspects along with plenty of IPR-infringing products and tools for counterfeit manufacture.
In February, Guangzhou Municipal QSB Huadu Branch discovered a factory making counterfeit printer toner catridges of various famous brands, and seized on the spot 8100 printer toner catridges in complete and semi-complete form, along with materials for counterfeit production; the goods involved were worth approximately 3 million RMB yuan. The case was transferred to the local police. In the same month, Dongguan QSB, in cooperation with Dongguan PSB, seized in Dongguan an illegal factory of fake toothpaste along with its warehouses, where large quantities of counterfeit toothpaste of brands like "Zhonghua", "Crest", "Colgate", "Liangmianzhen", "Lengsuanling' and "Tianqi", as well as production facilities. This case involved infringement on well-known trademarks, and was transferred to the police; three major suspects were all sentenced to imprisonment of over two years.
3. Patent Work
In 2004, the counts of patent applications and grants in Guangdong were 52,201 and 31,446, up 20.9% and 7.6% respectively over the previous year. Among those, the number of invention patent applications was 8093, up 30.9% over the previous year, accounting for 12.3% of the total number nationwide; the number of invention patent grants 1941, up 103.7%, 10.6% nationwide; utility model patent applications 14,682, up 13.1%, 13.2% nationwide; utility model patent grants 9307, up 17.5%, 13.3% nationwide; design patent applications 29,426, up 22.5%, 29% nationwide; design patent grants 20,198, up￡0.8%, 32% nationwide.
Patent protection also witnessed new progress in 2004. In the whole year, the Intellectual Property Offices (IPO) at various levels in Guangdong investigated and guided in settling altogether 1136 cases of patent infringement or disputes. Such work included: receiving 376 cases of patent infringement disputes; seizing 83 cases of passing off others' patents or claiming non-patents as patents, where the goods involved were worth 5,185,000 RMB yuan; guiding diverse trade fairs and exhibitions to settle 445 cases, and guiding trade associations to mediate 222 cases.
4. Trademark Administration and Protection
In 2004, trademark applications in Guangdong totaled 92729, up 21.2% over 2003; trademark registrations 44050, up 13.8%. Both applications and registrations accounted for 16% of the total counts nationwide. The yearly numbers of both trademark applications and registrations in Guangdong have ranked first across the country for ten straight years. By the end of 2004, the accumulated registered trademarks in Guangdong had totaled over 280,000, accounting for one eighth of the national total.
In 2004, Guangdong Provincial Administration for Industry and Commerce (GDAIC) identified and registered 341 Guangdong Famous Trademarks. Since 1997, GDAIC had registered altogether 746 Guangdong Famous Trademarks in eight batches, positively influencing the economic development of local areas.
The AIC system in Guangdong significantly strengthened trademark protection. From July to December, as directed by the State AIC (SAIC) and GDAIC, the AICs at various levels in Guangdong launched three concentrated actions, which respectively focused on protecting trademarks of food and drugs, and international trademarks; protecting Well-known Trademarks along with Guangdong Famous Trademarks; and crushing illegal printing of trademarks. According to incomplete statistic calculation, the AIC system dispatched altogether 48,239 person-times for law enforcement, checking 89,218 businesses and 4131 markets, and destroying 323 hives of counterfeit manufacture and sale; they seized and punished 790 cases of trademark infringement, including 192 cases involving international trademarks; a total of around 1.57 million IPR-infringing marks were confiscated, 5.34 million RMB yuan fined, and 9 persons transferred to the police on criminal charges. In these campaigns, typical cases seized included infringement on "Great Wall" wine trademark, on such international trademarks as "LV", "NIKE", "adidas", "Philips", "CANON", "EPSON", "HP", "KODAK", "BOSS", and "GUCCI", and on such Well-known Trademarks as "Royalstar". Meanwhile, the AICs in Guangzhou, Foshan, Shantou checked altogether 7583 printing businesses, 56 of which were seized for illegal activities; two cases along with two persons were transferred to the police for criminal investigation.
5. Copyright Protection
In 2004, the Copyright administrative authorities in Guangdong launched some campaigns for clampdown on piracy. In January and in February, they initiated special actions to clear pirated cartoon products and pirated movies respectively from the market, where 2352 person-times were dispatched for law enforcement, 1804 factories and stores checked, over 6400 cartoon products seized, and over 1300 audio-video businesses examined. In March and April, special actions were launched to suppress sale of pirated compact discs (CDs). In six cities alone, including Guangzhou and Shenzhen, 4662 person-times for law enforcement were dispatched, 294 businesses seized for illegal activities, and over 350, 000 pirated CDs were confiscated.
During the World Intellectual Property Day (April 26) period, the Copyright Bureaus at all levels in Guangdong actively conducted special actions for copyright protection, and dispatched 8265 person-times and over 500 vehicles for law enforcement, whereby comprehensively checking the markets of books, newspapers, magazines, audio-video products, computer software, and of electronic publications, as well as important places of publication activities including publishing, printing, copying and sale. A total of over 120 markets and 4156 businesses were checked, over 2.288 million pirated products seized, 389 businesses punished for illegal activities, and 14 nests of piracy production and sale destroyed; one suspected criminal was arrested in cooperation with the police.
In this year, the Copyright authorities twice publicly destroyed pirated products, the number of destroyed products totaled over 500,000; this displayed the determination to combat piracy and generated positive social influence. Based on prosecution by copyright owners and the public, the Copyright authorities across Guangdong also investigated many cases of infringement on international copyright. In this process, they destroyed storehouses and wholesale centers of copyright-infringing products, and confiscated over 10,000 IPR-infringing toys, over 400,000 pieces of electronic publications, and over 2.36 million pirated CDs, thus effectively safeguarding the lawful rights and interests of copyright owners. In 2004, they seized altogether 632 cases of copyright infringement, confiscating 24,463,198 pieces of pirated products, thus effectively curbing piracy.
In 2004, Guangdong Provincial Copyright Bureau (GDCB) comprehensively promoted the governmental utilization of authentic, non-infringing software. They checked all the 42 departments of the provincial government and by the end of the year, the work had been successfully completed for utilization of authentic software. Starting from January 1, 2005, the copyright bureaus have been making similar efforts in governments below the provincial level.
In addition, in 2004, GDCB discussed copyright protection and administration with such international organizations as the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), Russian copyright delegation to China, Japanese governmental and non-governmental IPR delegation to China, and the Danish Consulate General in Guangzhou; that would have positive influence in both parties' further cooperation and international protection of copyright.
6. Protection of New Varieties of Plants, and Products of Designations of Origin
In 2004, the Agriculture authorities in Guangdong strengthened publicity and protection of new varieties of plants. By the end of 2004, Guangdong had applied for protection of altogether 14 plant species as New Varieties of Plants with the Ministry of Agriculture, and three of them were granted such protection. From May to September, the agriculture authorities conducted law enforcement inspection based on the statute Regulations for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants of the P.R. China.
The Quality Supervision authorities also made efforts to protect products of Designations of Origin or Geographical Indications. By the end of 2004, six products, including Heyuan rice noodle and Zengcheng rice, had been under protection as such products. Meanwhile, some other products like Xuwen Yugonglou pineapples are currently in the process of applying for such protection.
7. Customs Protection of IPR
In 2004, the newly revised statute Regulations of the People's Republic of China Regarding Customs Protection of Intellectual Property Rights formally took effect. According to this statute, Guangdong Customs accelerated establishment and perfection of the mechanism for IPR border protection, further standardized law enforcement, and improved work efficiency. By diversifying means of supervision, strengthening border protection, making full use of the information exchange, intensifying publicity and comprehensive management, pushing forward cooperation with Hong Kong Customs, and timely launching special actions for crackdown on IPR infringement, they made significant achievements in customs protection of IPR, hence safeguarding normal trade order and helping optimize the investment environment in Guangdong.
In 2004, altogether 459 cases were seized by Guangdong Customs, up 85.2% over 2003, involving 37,870,000 RMB yuan worth of goods. Among them, 5 cases were seized in import and 454 in export; 441 cases were related to infringement on trademarks, 17 on patents, and 3 on Olympic marks. Moreover, in 2004, Guangdong Customs took part in the Special Campaign for IPR Protection organized by the State Council, as well as the provincial special action for IPR protection in the audio-video market.
8. IPR Protection in the Audio-Video Market
In 2004, the Public Security as well as Culture authorities in Guangdong continued to strengthen crackdown on IPR infringement in the audio-video market. In the whole year, the Public Security organs seized a total of 15 compact disc (CD) production lines, four of which were seized by the Culture authorities in collaboration with the police, and which were capable of manufacturing over 82 million CDs every year,
From the end of 2003 to November 2004, the Culture authorities across Guangdong conducted a one-year campaign for comprehensive inspection and rectification of the audio-video market. In 2004, they dispatched altogether 148,600 person-times for law enforcement, inspecting 61,700 publication businesses, banning nearly 3000 of them and seizing nearly 100 million illegal CDs. Meanwhile, their law enforcement focused on crushing organized groups and nests engaged in producing and marketing pirated products; just the provincial and Guangzhou municipal culture authorities alone seized 106 such cases, each of which involved over 100,000 pieces of illegal audio-video products, confiscating over 56,405,000 illegal CDs. Some of those cases were highly severe and influential; for instance, on February 17, they seized 2 storehouses of pirated products and confiscated 3.08 million pieces of audio-video products.
Furthermore, the Public Security organs, in close cooperation with the Culture, Press and Publication, Customs, and Industry and Commerce authorities, also put tremendous efforts in suppressing illegal audio-video products, considerably helping safeguard normal order in the audio-video market. In 2004, just the Public Security Bureaus in Guangzhou, Foshan and Huizhou alone seized over 6.07 million pieces of illegal audio-video products, arresting 23 suspected criminals. In March, the police in Guangzhou seized a huge warehouse storing 3.89 million pirated CDs, capturing 2 susptects. In November, the Public Security along with the Culture authorities in Guangzhou destroyed a factory of illegal audio-video packages and 8 warehouses of pirated products, seizing 7 suspects and 1.47 million pirated CDs.
9. Suppression of Counterfeit Manufacture and Marketing
In 2004, the Quality Supervision authorities in Guangdong forcibly implemented the strategy of economic advancement via products of famous brands. In the whole year, 64 Guangdong products acquired the title China Famous Brands, and hence increased the accumulated number to 108, accounting for 19.7% of the national total, and ranking first nationwide. In the same year, 187 industrial products acquired the title Guangdong Provincial Famous Brands, increasing the accumulated number to 525 all through these years.
The Quality Supervision authorities in Guangdong also took an active part in IPR protection, severely cracked down on activities of manufacturing domestic or international famous brand products by faking the names and addresses of other factories, and of faking diverse quality signs, hence effectively protecting intellectual property. In 2004, they investigated a total of 11801 cases, whereby punishing 9138 businesses for illegal activities, destroying 696 nests, transferring 46 cases to the police and bringing about imprisonment of 8 persons; the goods involved were worth 242 million RMB yuan. Among those cases, 1780 or 15.08% were cases of faking quality signs, places of origin, and names and addresses of other factories. Such cases included the following: In January, they seized 23 nests producing counterfeit "ISUZU", "YAMAHA" and "HONDA" motorcycles; in March, a nest manufacturing components for "TOYOTA", "Benz", and "BMW" automobiles; in June, two nests producing counterfeit American "AMP" and "AVAYA" computer network wires; they also launched special actions to suppress fake "Red Bull" drinks, checking 3167 businesses.
In addition, counterfeit agricultural production materials were severely suppressed in Guangdong. In 2004, the Agriculture authorities dispatched altogether 51,947 person-times for law enforcement, distributed 409,915 pieces of publicity literature, and destroyed 177 counterfeit manufacture nests, hence recovering an economic loss of 88.4 million RMB yuan. In fertilizer markets alone, 10,864 person-times were dispatched for law enforcement, checking the markets for 1511 times and seizing 1199 batches of counterfeit fertilizer totaling 6077 tons; in veterinary medicine and feedstuff markets, 13,100 person-times, seizing 277 businesses for illegal activities; in seed markets, 5093 person-times, seizing 63.5 tons of illegal seeds. In 2004, the Quality Supervision authorities also dispatched 15,528 person-times for law enforcement, investigating 1112 cases which involved nearly 8 million RMB yuan worth of goods. All these suppression efforts effectively purified the agricultural production materials market, and hence promoted the development of agriculture in Guangdong.
10. The Special Campaign for IPR Protection across Guangdong
In 2004, in order to strengthen IPR protection, the national government specially established the State IPR Protection Work Group made up of all those IPR-related administrative and judiciary organs to coordinate IPR protection and supervise the handling of severe or influential cases. The State Council held a conference in August, deploying a one-year (starting from September 2004) nationwide special campaign for IPR protection. As Guangdong Province was among the priority areas of this campaign, relevant IPR administrative departments, including the Patent, Industry and Commerce, Copyright, Quality Supervision, Public Security, and Customs, all formulated action schemes for this campaign.
Since the special campaign in Guangdong was deployed in August, the Public Security organs investigated 39 highly severe cases of criminal infringement on IPR, cracking 33 of them and arresting 109 suspects; the goods involved were worth over 40.7 million RMB yuan. The Intellectual Property Offices dispatched 631 person-times for law enforcement and seizing 21,986 pieces of patent-infringing products. The Administrations for Industry and Commerce conducted three concentrated actions, focusing on suppression of infringement on trademarks of food and drugs, international trademarks, Well-known Trademarks and Guangdong Famous Trademarks, and crackdown on illegal printing of trademarks. The Copyright authorities launched special actions to combat software piracy, inspecting the software markets, supervising software usage in enterprises, and hence hampering the spread of piracy.
11. IPR Protection in Trade Fairs and Expositions
Trade fairs and expositions are new and priority fields of IPR protection in Guangdong; their important roles are becoming increasingly palpable in recent years. In 2004, IPR protection in trade fairs and expos was intensified. In this year, the Patent, Trademark, Copyright and Culture authorities dispatched law enforcement personnel to such major fairs and expos as The 95th China Export Commodities Fair (Canton Fair), Ninety-Sixth Canton Fair, The 6th China International High & New Technologies Fair, The First China Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises Fair, The First China International Exposition of Audio-Visual Industry, The 20th Guangzhou International Beauty, Hairdressing & Cosmetics Expo, The 15th Shenzhen China Watch Jewelry & Gift Fair, The 16th China Guangzhou International Toys & Gifts Fair, The China Aluminum Doors, Windows & Curtain Walls Expo 2004, and other large-scale fairs and exhibitions. The law enforcement authorities closely cooperated with one another in strengthening IPR protection, winning praise and support from the fairs organizers and participants.
The IPR protection in the Canton Fair attracted extensive attention from home and abroad. At the 95th and 96th Canton Fairs in April and October, the relevant authorities received altogether 329 cases of patent infringement complaints, and 17 cases of copyright infringement complaints involving 34 booths; they also received 478 cases of trademark infringement complaints and investigated 238 of them. In those trademark cases, 137 complaints were filed by Japanese Sanrio Co. Ltd, and after investigation, 125 of them were confirmed infringement and punished, thus effectively protecting the trademark "Hello Kitty".
12. Regional Cooperation in IPR Field
12.1 Pan-PRD Regional Cooperation in Intellectual Property
In 2004, the Pan-Pearl River Delta (PRD) regional cooperation was launched extensively, and cooperation in the IPR field was activated as well. Mr. Zhang Dejiang, Member of the Political Bureau of CPC Central Committee and Secretary of Guangdong Provincial Committee of CPC inspected the provincial Intellectual Property Office (GDIPO), Administration for Industry and Commerce (GDAIC) and other relevant departments, and left important instructions. On June 14, while inspecting GDIPO, he patently pointed out that IPR cooperation should be conducted in the Pan-PRD region, and that Guangdong Province should actively strengthen communication with other provinces and establish a coordination mechanism for IPR protection in the Pan-PRD region, hence jointly combating counterfeit and IPR infringement. The Provincial Pan-PRD Regional Cooperation Promotion Office, the Provincial Office of Intellectual Property Coordination Conference, GDIPO, GDAIC and Guangdong Copyright Bureau earnestly implemented Secretary Zhang Dejiang's instructions by actively pushing forward IPR cooperation in the Pan-PRD region.
On September 15, GDAIC organized the AICs of the nine Pan-PRD mainland provinces to sign the Agreement on Pan-PRD Regional Cooperation in Administration for Industry and Commerce, one important part of which was to jointly promote, foster and protect the national Well-known Trademarks and provincial Famous Trademarks in the region, and to strengthen collaboration in protecting the exclusive rights to use registered trademarks.
On December 29, the Provincial Office of Intellectual Property Coordination Conference organized the first "Joint Conference on Pan-PRD Regional Cooperation in Intellectual Property", which was attended by representatives from the IPR coordination organizations, and patent, trademark and copyright administrative authorities from all the areas of the region. At the conference, representatives from the nine mainland provinces signed the Agreement on Pan-PRD Regional Cooperation in Intellectual Property. The establishment of the mechanism for Pan-PRD regional IPR cooperation would have positive influence in timely handling cross-province IPR infringement and comprehensively improving IPR protection across the whole region.
12.2 Guangdong￡ˉHong Kong Cooperation in IPR Field
In 2004, the cooperation between Guangdong and Hong Kong in IPR field significantly deepened. The second and third meetings of Guangdong￡ˉHong Kong Expert Group for IPR Protection were convened. The No Fakes Pledge Movement was activated in such pilot cities as Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Shantou and Dongguan. By the end of the year, businesses voluntarily participating in the Movement totaled 150. The two regions also discussed building a mechanism to handle cross-border IPR infringement. Moreover, they jointly held three Symposiums on Intellectual Property and Small & Medium-Sized Enterprises Development.
Since the Customs administrations in Guangdong and Hong Kong came into regular contact in 1996, they had achieved great accomplishments in suppressing cross-border IPR infringement. In 2004, they further strengthened intelligence exchange, conducted three joint actions for customs protection of IPR, and strengthened inspection of licenses and permits, cracking down on illegal authorization of manufacture and smuggling of pirated compact discs.
In 2005, Guangdong Province will continue creating more intellectual property to improve our province's core competitiveness, and meanwhile persistently protect intellectual property to foster a more desirable environment of investment and trade, and to promote the socio-economic development in Guangdong.
Editor: Yan
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