CHINA INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW NEWSLETTER
Vol. 1, No. 28 - December 28, 2000
TOPICS THIS ISSUE:
- INTA’s China Membership Drive Picks Up Speed
- Chinese “Wrong Trousers” Travel to Harwich
- China Produces its First Car With Full Intellectual Property Rights
- Life Sentence for Dealers of Fake Cigarettes
- Beijing Court Throws out Pfizer Domain Name Case
- Chinese Video Piracy Out of Control
- European Customs Officers Ill-Equipped to Fight Import of Pirated Goods
- From China, Over Rome, to Japan: Counterfeiters Use Twisted Channels
INTA’s China Membership Drive Picks Up Speed
In the wake of the successful membership meetings in Beijing and Shanghai earlier this month, the International Trademark Association (INTA) will welcome a 16th Chinese trademark owner into its fold. Moutai Distillery Corporation announced its intent to join last week, while organizers of the China meetings and INTA executives have already started to make plans for the 2001 INTA Annual General Meeting, which will be held in May in San Francisco.
One of the current goals, recently expressed by INTA President Mr. Kimbley Muller, will be to ensure that these new China members have a rich and rewarding experience at the annual meeting: “We have never achieved so much in one year, yet it seems we have more at stake now that these companies have accepted our invitation to join. We need to overcome some language problems and ensure that these new members are shown all the benefits that our members receive.”
Several of the new members, in cooperation with China meetings organizer Lehman, Lee & Xu, the China Trademark Association (CTA), and the Shanghai Trademark Association (STA), are planning an exhibit of Famous Chinese Trademarks at the INTA meeting. Mr. Wang Jing Ming, Secretary-General of the CTA, is looking forward to greater participation by Chinese companies in international organizations: “China is quickly making its commercial presence known in the world, and Chinese companies with global IP concerns now have the opportunity to have our voices heard in international discourse.”
For more information, or to contact any of the new members, please write to mail@chinalaw.cc.
Chinese “Wrong Trousers” Travel to Harwich
Not actually wrong trousers, but fake underpants were discovered by British trading standard authorities at the port of Harwich, Essex. The underwear was emblazoned with cartoon characters Wallace and Gromit, Homer Simpson and other animated personages, were manufactured in China. They were of poor quality and had ’8 price tags. Trading standard officials reckon that they were intended to be collected and sold by market stallholders just in time for the last shopping days before Christmas.
(Source: Press Association Newsfile)
China Produces its First Car With Full Intellectual Property Rights
Amid the soul-stirring National Anthem of China, a new brand "Zhonghua" (China) car rolled off the production line from the Shenyang Gold-Cup Auto-Making Company in northeast China's Liaoning Province on December 16. It is the first car in which China possesses full intellectual property rights. This was proudly declared by Hong Xing, vice-president of the Shanghai-based Brilliance China Automotive Holding Ltd., the holding company of Gold-Cup.
The body, the engine and other key parts of the new sedan were all developed by China to meet the challenge of increased competition from the World Trade Organization. The Brilliance Group spent some US $500 million over three years to develop the "Zhonghua" sedan, which is designed to meet the demand of medium and high-grade cars in the domestic market. There is no doubt that foreign investment and technology transfer has helped to promote China's auto industry. However, not possessing the intellectual property rights more or less confined the development of China's national industry, according to Chinese experts.
The "Zhonghua" car will be available in the market in July next year, pricing at around RMB 150,000 to 200,000 (roughly US $20,000), and its annual output will reach 100,000.
(Source: Xinhua News Agency)
Life Sentence for Dealers of Fake Cigarettes
The Beijing No. 2. Intermediate Court handed down severe sentences and hefty fines for fourteen members of a syndicate that has dealt contraband cigarettes worth more than one million US Dollars. The sentences range from two years to life imprisonment and fines up to RMB 2.85 million (US $345.000) were imposed.
The syndicate maintained two offices and two warehouses to market and sell the counterfeits of brand name cigarettes, which were smuggled with the help of farmers from Guangdong and Fujian provinces to Beijing. The gang sold cigarettes worth RMB 6.61 million (US $796.000), while police confiscated more than 4,000 unsold cartons with a value of 2.3 million (US $278.000).
(Source: Agence France Presse)
Beijing Court Throws out Pfizer Domain Name Case
The No. 2 Beijing Intermediate People's Court made a judgment Wednesday, December 13, throwing out a case brought by Pfizer, the producer of "Viagra", based in the United States, against a Chinese company.
According to the court, "Viagra" is not a famous trademark. The use of the name is not illegal or creates unfair competition according to the facts of the case.
Early this month, the US company sued Shenzhen Wanyong Information Network Company for illegally using the drug name as part of a website address. Pfizer said "Viagra" was an English word created by the company for its product. It has registered the trademark in more than 100 countries since 1995, becoming a well-known medicine worldwide. The English mark was registered in China in November 1997. However, Pfizer discovered that the Chinese company used "Viagra" in the domain name "viagra.com.cn" in July 1998.
The court agreed with the defense that "Viagra" had not yet been permitted into the Chinese market when the local company registered the domain name. Additionally, the website had not been put into public use for various reasons. Moreover, the domain name had been cancelled. According to the basic facts that have been released, it seems that Pfizer would have had a difficult time asserting that the domain name had been registered in bad faith. With regard to remedies, since the domain name had been cancelled before being used, there does not seem to be a strong argument for substantial damages.
In addition, most Chinese know the medicine as "Weige", the Chinese version of the medicine, and so "Viagra" was not a well-known trademark within the country and eligible for heightened protection.
(Source: Xinhua News Agency)
Chinese Video Piracy Out of Control
An US trade official warned in November that Chinese video piracy was out of control. In fact, a spokesman of the Chinese State Pornography and Illegality Crackdown Office conceded that pirated video CDs account for up to 95 percent of China’s video market. In the year 2000, the police have seized over 40 million illegal audio and video CDs and shut down 25 illegal factories.
Video CDs and DVDs are the core of China’s home entertainment industry. Pirated copies are cheap to produce and sell for as little as US $1. Also, because China allows the import of only 10 foreign movies per year, no legal copies of many film titles are available in China. Consequently, Chinese consumers are willing to buy even poor-quality pirated video CDs of foreign movies.
Copies of new movies are available only a few days after the official release in the USA or Hong Kong. Their quality varies from copies of original laser discs to versions of videotapes shot in cinemas.
Business groups complain that China is not fighting piracy firmly enough and predict that after China’s WTO accession, it will be taken to dispute panels for its failure to set actions against counterfeiting.
(Source: The Associated Press)
European Customs Officers Ill-Equipped to Fight Import of Pirated Goods
The UFE, a union bringing together 35 tax and customs officers unions from across Europe, demands better legislation, more equipment and an increase in personnel for border inspection units in Europe.
The UFE proposed several measures to step up the war against counterfeiters, including a European school for customs officers, more equipment, such as scanners on all major customs checkpoints, a European-wide database, more personnel and unification of laws against counterfeiting of the various European states.
Counterfeited goods are flooding the European market with sub-standard, sometimes dangerous imitations. In addition to deceiving and harming consumers and manufacturers alike, counterfeiters also sometimes act as money-launderers for drugs, arms and prostitution rackets.
59% of fake goods imported into Europe come from Mainland China, another 16% from Taiwan and 5% from Hong Kong.
(Source: Agence France Presse)
From China, Over Rome, to Japan: Counterfeiters Use Twisted Channels
Italian Customs officials at Fiumicino, Rome’s main airport, have seized more than one ton of China-made watches, handbags and toys. The merchandise was addressed to an Italian-based China trader, who intended to forward them to the final destination in Japan.
Another 300 kilograms of toys from Syria and 8,000 Prada handbags were also destined for Japan. In the year 2000, more than four tons of counterfeit merchandise had been seized at Rome's Fiumicino airport.
(Source: Agence France Presse)
Lehman Lee & Xu
China Lawyers, Notaries, Patent, Copyright and Trademark Agents
(formerly known as the L&A Law Firm)
Suite 188, Beijing International Club
21 Jianguomenwai Dajie, Beijing 100020 China
Tel.: (86)(10) 6532-3861
Fax: (86)(10) 6532-3877
mail@chinalaw.cc
http://www.chinalaw.cc/
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The China Intellectual Property Law Newsletter 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.
