CHINA INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW NEWSLETTER
Vol. 2 , No. 3 - March 01 , 2001
TOPICS THIS ISSUE:
- Ericsson Joins Motorola: IT Giant Sued Over IP Infringement
- Yamaha Targets Mainland Company for Fake Motorcycles
- ETS Suing Chinese School Over Stolen Questions
- Chinese Scientists Awarded Over 100 Patents in Gene Research
Ericsson Joins Motorola: IT Giant Sued Over IP Infringement
On Wednesday, February 28, Beijing's High Court held a hearing on a lawsuit claiming intellectual property infringement against international mobile phone manufacturer Ericsson.
Hanpu Applied Technologies Company, located in Dalian, Liaoning Province, is suing Ericsson (China) Co., Ltd. and Beijing Ericsson Mobile Communications Co., Ltd. for infringement of Hanpu's technology regarding Chinese character inputting.
Hanpu is also suing another IT giant, Motorola (China) Electronics Ltd., on the same charge in the same court.
The plaintiff is asking for compensation worth RMB 10 million (about US $1.2 million) from Motorola and RMB five million from Ericsson.
A representative of Ericsson (China) Company Ltd has stated that the company purchased the patented technology for Chinese character inputting from the Canada-based Zi Corporation.
Zi Corporation provides its products and services to Chinese telecom companies such as Zhongxing Telecommunications Equipment Ltd., Xiamen Overseas Electronics, No. 3 Research Institute of the Ministry of Information Industry, Ningbo Bird Co. Ltd., Capital/Mobicom and Konka Group. Most notably, Zi recently signed a licensing agreement with Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the world's fourth largest mobile phone manufacturer, based on Zi's eZiText technology - used for text-entry in almost any language.
(Source: Xinhua News Agency)
Yamaha Targets Mainland Company for Fake Motorcycles
Yamaha Motors, the Japanese motorcycle producer, is taking legal action against a Chinese company for its alleged counterfeiting operations.
Taizhou Huatian Motorcycle has been producing motorcycles in China emblazoned with the name "Yamaha." According to Yamaha officials, the company has produced at least ten motorcycle types since late last year, all bearing the Japanese company's name.
The case is unique in that Taizhou Huatian Motorcycle has argued that it is operating legally, having registered its company name, Taizhou Yamaha Motorcycle, in Japan. The company claims that the "Yamaha" logo found on its motorcycles is a reference to its own company name.
The Zhejiang-based company registered the business name "Nihon Yamaha" with the Japanese government before partnering with Zhejiang Jiaji Motorcycle in China to form Taizhou Yamaha Motorcycle, essentially creating a genuine paper company in order to justify a fake product.
Yamaha has filed a lawsuit in the matter in Japanese court in order to bar the Chinese company from using the Yamaha name on its products. Yamaha is arguing that the Chinese company was purposely deceitful when registering its name in Japan.
According to Yamaha's Beijing chief representative, there was some confusion in the translation of the characters used in the company name during the registration procedure. Because Japanese pronunciation of the same characters is different from Chinese, the Japanese agency that accepted the Chinese firm's registration did not realize that the characters used were "Yamaha" when translated from Chinese into roman letters.
Civil suits are expected to be filed in both Japan and China once the criminal cases of counterfeiting have been concluded.
(Source: South China Morning Post)
ETS Suing Chinese School Over Stolen Questions
The Educational Testing Service, the American non-profit company that administers standardized tests worldwide, is suing a Chinese school for selling copyrighted test questions and answers.
The Educational Testing Service, or ETS, administers the standardized examinations used for admission to universities in the United States. It also publishes preparatory materials that include previous exam questions and answers that are no longer actively used. Official ETS preparation materials are not available in China.
According to ETS, the New Oriental School of Beijing published and sold illegal copies of old tests to prepare its students for the Graduate Record Examination, Graduate Management Admission Test and the Test of English as a Foreign Language. The tests are copyrighted. ETS also alleges that the school was using "live questions," questions that are currently in use on the tests.
A sharp increase in Chinese students' performance on the tests that it administers and grades raised the suspicions of ETS, prompting an investigation into preparation methods used in China. A raid of the school was conducted last November with the help of Chinese authorities, turning up tests that included "live questions," questions that were possibly memorized by test-takers and later reproduced and sold to other students through the New Oriental School bookstore.
The school has been caught selling illegal copies of the tests in previous years, and each time has apologized and promised to halt the practice. ETS is seeking damages, compensation for financial losses arising from the illegal test sales, a public apology, and has asked that the school destroy all illegal copies of ETS materials.
In addition to filing the suit against New Oriental, GRE and TOEFL boards issued a warning to U.S. universities, stating that "through intensive coaching that includes exposure to undisclosed test questions, certain individuals in China may have gained unfair advantage in taking the tests." The boards emphasized, however, that not all students had access to stolen questions.
Students and Universities in China argue that the practice has arisen because official preparation materials available in the United States and other countries are not sold in China.
(Source: Associated Press)
Chinese Scientists Awarded Over 100 Patents in Gene Research
Chinese scientists have registered more than 110 patents for part of the genes they cloned from the human hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis.
Chinese scientists have, for the first time in the world, obtained the gene expression profiling the human hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis through large scale sequencing of express sequence tags (EST).
They have cloned more than 300 new genes they discovered through the sequencing.
Doctor Han Zeguang with the Nanfang Research Center of the State Human Genome Project said that the human hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis bears great importance on the growth, reproduction and immunity of human bodies and plays a key role in stabilizing the interior environment of human bodies.
Han, who participated in the aforementioned sequencing of ESTs, said that the new genes they have discovered may have something to do with the key physiological functions of the human hypothalamus- pituitary-adrenal axis.
These ESTs play a key role in distinguishing human genes and in the research on the functions of genes, Han said in a telephone interview with Xinhua on Wednesday. He called it an important component part of the contributions that Chinese scientists have made to the Human Genome Project.
Han said that the fact that they applied for patents for some of the cloned genes is conducive to protecting China's independent intellectual rights in gene research achievements.
He disclosed that they have transferred part of the cloned genes to Guangzhou Funeng Co., in South China's Guangdong Province, for a fee of RMB 1.5 million (US $180,722). The deal also included more than RMB 2 million (US $240,963) as shares to join in the company.
(Source: Xinhua News Agency)
Lehman Lee & Xu
China Lawyers, Notaries, Patent, Copyright and Trademark Agents
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/
To unsubscribe from this newsletter click here or send an email to unsubscribe_ip@chinalaw.cc
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.
