China E-ventions
Patent News from the Middle Kingdom
Vol. 3 , No. 3 - March 17, 2003
LEHMAN, LEE & XU OPENS SHENZHEN OFFICE Lehman, Lee & Xu is pleased to announce the opening of its new office in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province. Please direct all inquiries to attorney Zdravko Jelic at | |
TOPICS THIS ISSUE:
- New Regulations in Digital TV
- Pfizer Claims Patent Infringement by Chinese Company
- Chinese Company the "New" Cisco?
- Firm Eases Messaging in Chinese
- Japanese Digital Camera Vendors to Increase Charge on Patents
New Regulations in Digital TV
Using the European Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) standard as a guide, China plans to promote a national digital TV standard in the second half of this year.
China is looking to establish its own patented technology for the DVB system, which can be broadcast via satellite, cable or terrestrial systems, which it hopes will result in Chinese companies being able to charge foreign companies for the use of such patents. Currently, China is using the cable standard with digital TV only being broadcast in some of its major cities.
The State Administration of Radio, Film and Television predicts 25% of all Chinese TV stations will broadcast digital signals by 2005, with Eastern China having complete digital radio broadcast coverage by 2010. China will stop broadcasting analog signals by 2015.
(Source: SinoCast China Business Daily News)
Personalizing Patents in 2003 In this edition, we introduce Frank Chen, a patent attorney in our Beijing Office. Frank worked as an Engineer for a number of years after completing his Bachelor of Electric Automation and Computer Software degree. Combined with several years' experience in drafting specifications, replying to official actions and other patent-related matters he joined Lehman, Lee & Xu in 2002. Frank has a wealth of experience behind him having handled in excess of 500 patent applications. Coupled with his qualifications as a registered technology broker, he is often called upon to assist in the transfer of new or advanced technology. | Please get in touch at:fchen@lehmanlaw.com | | | |
Pfizer Claims Patent Infringement by Chinese Company
The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) has agreed to investigate Pfizer's claim that imports of a chemical making up the active ingredient in Viagra have violated its patents.
Pfizer, which was filed earlier this year, alleges that imports of sildenafil, or any pharmaceutically acceptable derivative salt, violates section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (U.S.A) and requests the ITC issue permanent cease and desist orders.
However, not only Chinese companies are affected by the claim. A total of 15 companies are named as respondents in the complaint, including companies from China, India, Syria, Israel, Belize and the U.K.
The case will be referred to an evidentiary hearing which will make an initial decision on whether section 337 has been violated. After which the ITC must set a target date for completing the investigation.
(Source: Dow Jones Business News)
Chinese Company the "New" Cisco?
Huawei Technologies, China's leading manufacturer of telecom and networking gear, is one of the best examples of Chinese recent successes in high-margin electronics.
Founded in 1988, Huawei has about 10,000 R&D engineers among its 22,000 employees. The company makes products that compete directly with networking equipment produced by Cisco and which are price far lower cost than its U.S. rival. It is this similarity which has seen Cisco bring a claim in U.S. Federal Courts for patent rights infringement against Huawei.
Nonetheless, Huawei is establishing itself in the telecommunications and networking industry and steadily increasing its revenue. Its international sales, much of it to U.S. based companies, increased 68% last year to top US$ 552 million. This is at a time when most U.S. networking-equipment companies suffered double-digit declines in sales.
The threat to American technological dominance is not limited to China. India may pose an even larger challenge in technology services with its own bourgeoning Information & Technology sector. However, many U.S. tech companies see complementary services as a way to counter this threat and to lock in customers to predictable, multi-year purchasing patterns.
(Source: CBS.MarketWatch.com)
Need to File a Patent or Trademark in China? Contact LLX at mail@lehmanlaw.com and click below to download a Power of Attorney: | | |
Firm Eases Messaging in Chinese
With 200 million Chinese mobile phone users typing out some 90 billion text messages last year, a Canadian firm has devised a method to type Chinese-language characters into a mobile phone with greater ease and efficiency, executives said.
Zi Corp., based in Calgary, Alberta, is one of many telecommunications companies with an eye to the billion or so potential new wireless consumers in China. Last month, Zi received a Chinese patent for a new method to type Chinese-language characters and has already licensed the technology to some of Asia's largest manufacturers, including Haier Group and TCL Corp. both of China.
The problem faced by many Chinese mobile phone users is that a user must phoneticize a word before it can be converted into a Chinese character. This, said George Tai, chief operating officer of Zi, is not an intuitive process for most Chinese, who traditionally have not phoneticized their language. The Japanese, by contrast, have traditionally relied on both a phonetic system and an ideographic system.
Zi has developed a stroke-based system that allows a user to enter traditional Chinese characters using a normal telephone keypad. By developing an algorithm that makes entering traditional Chinese characters even more efficient than phonetic systems Zi has managed to categorize different character strokes into frequency patterns, Tai said.
"In Chinese, even though you draw a character, you draw that character in a specific order, much like spelling order in the West," Tai said. "Our software predicts the next likely stroke, and it completes the word for you." While similar software is common in Western personal digital assistants, it is more difficult in Chinese, he said.
(Source: International Herald Tribune)
Japanese Digital Camera Vendors to Increase Charge on Patents
According to Japan's External Trade Organization Chinese digital camera vendors may be charges more for Japanese digital patents.
China's digital camera sales are expected to reach hit 1 million this year, up 50% from last year with the 2.0 and 3.0 mega digital cameras becoming mainstream products.
With China canceling its import quota of US $ 14 million cameras to comply with its WTO commitments, the move is set to boost foreign investment in the industry.
In 2002 localization was the main task for many international companies in China. Olympus moved its Asia headquarter to Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, and Shenzhen will be a global base of digital camera of Olympus that hopes taking 20% of total in the digital camera market of China. Canon transformed its Hong Kong office into Beijing as Canon China Co., Ltd. And its plant in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province will be the core production base of Asia. Canon says it will increase its output tenfold in 2003.
With Chinese vendors having to pay more for patents in the future in relation to previous cases of infringement, it is expected that many Chinese vendors will loose their cost and price advantages.
(Source: SinoCast China Business Daily News)
Lehman Lee & Xu
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China E-ventions is intended to be used for news purposes only. It should not be taken as comprehensive legal advice, and Lehman, Lee & Xu will not be held responsible for any such reliance on its contents.
