CHINA INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW NEWSLETTER
Vol. 2 , No. 13 - October 9, 2001
TOPICS THIS ISSUE:
- State Postal Bureau Again Discovered Infringing
- Six Inventions Rewarded by MII
- New Beijing Evidence Rules
- Latest Raids Yield 271,000 Pirated Discs
- Publishing House Punished for Copyright Infringement
State Postal Bureau Again Discovered Infringing
A court in Beijing has ordered the State Postal Bureau to apologize for copyright infringement involving a postcard it issued in 2000.
The Beijing First Intermediate People's Court also ordered the bureau and co-defendant, the municipal government of Zhangjiakou, to pay RMB 1,590 to Ding Changlu for using his photo without permission on the postcard. The defendants were found to have used Ding's photographic work without acknowledgment and altering it without his approval.
The apology is to be published in the Zhangjiakou Daily, the court said.
This is the second time the State Postal Bureau has been found guilty of copyright infringement.
In December 2000, the bureau was ordered by the same court to apologize and pay RMB 192,600 to Guo Xian for using his papercutting works on postcards and key rings without acknowledgment.
(Source: Xinhua News Agency)
Six Inventions Rewarded by MII
IMT-2000 TD-SCDMA mobile telecommunications technology was honored by the Ministry of Information Industry (MII) as a major invention for the information industry this year.
Previously, the IMT-2000 TD-SCDMA technology was selected by the International Telecommunications Union as one of three projects that reached international standards of the third-generation (3G) mobile telecommunications.
The MII also cited five other IT projects as major inventions of the year. The SCDMA wireless local loop system, the IP over SDH using LAPS, the Ethernet over SDH/SONET, the Hanwang online handwriting recognition system and GeoStar, a software geographical information management system, were all awarded.
This is the first time the MII has given awards to inventions in the IT industry.
According to Zhu Gaofeng, vice-president of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, who headed the experts' committee for assessing the inventions, the standards for the assessment were that they should be creative and leading products in the country, and have a high level of industrialization or market potential.
Lou Qinjian, vice-minister of the MII, said the awards aim to encourage enterprises in the trade to value the development of core technology and intellectual property protection, so as to increase their competitiveness and raise the standards of the information industry at large. Qinjian noted that "special technology is the key to getting special profits."
It was unsurprising to learn that each of the projects has at least one patent. TD-SCDMA, for instance, has obtained more than 20 patent rights both at home and abroad.
This was applauded by Tian Lipu, deputy director of the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO), who pointed out that invention and technology innovation will be vital to Chinese enterprises after China's entry into the World Trade Organization.
The MII announced they will organize a similar activity every year.
(Source: AFX - ASIA)
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New Beijing Evidence Rules
A plaintiff may lose a lawsuit in Beijing's courts for lack of evidence beginning October 1 when new rules of evidence were put into trial implementation.
Under a new framework on rules of evidence mapped out by the Beijing Higher People's Court, a time limit is set for gathering evidence, and all evidence is to be disclosed in open court so as to avoid unfair surprise to either the defense or plaintiff during trial.
Before the new rules, there was no such time limit, and witnesses in general only provided written evidence without appearing in court.
Now the witness is required to appear in court unless special circumstances prevail, and all evidence should be presented in public and cross-examined in court before a verdict can be given.
The new rules are seen as a significant reform on rules of evidence for Beijing's courts as well as an important measure taken by the People's Courts to set up a modern judicial mechanism that is open, fair and democratic.
However, the question remains as to what practical effect the measures will have on litigation. One of the most common problems with intellectual property rights infringement litigation is that not enough information is publicly available on infringing companies and China's procedural rules do not allow for intrusive discovery methods. As a result, litigation often is not brought because of lack of evidence. If the new rules have the effect of further tightening the ability of plaintiffs to gather evidence, this might have a chilling effect on IP and other civil litigation.
(Source: People's Daily)
Latest Raids Yield 271,000 Pirated Discs
Officials have reported that Beijing police have seized 271,000 pirated VCDs, DVDs and CDs in a two-month anti-piracy operation.
Most of the discs were produced outside of Beijing, said the officials. Recently, Chinese authorities have taken tough anti-piracy measures and are enthusiastically promoting laws and regulations regarding the protection of the copyrights of audio and visual products.
The recent campaign is aimed at regulating the market and developing an orderly market for audio and visual products. Sources from the Ministry of Culture said that all large marketplaces dealing in pirated discs nationwide will be closed by the end of this year.
In addition, relevant departments will re-register all retailers of audio and visual products as well as gradually eliminating all public video projection houses.
Liu Shengli, director of the cultural market department of the Ministry of Culture, said that the anti-piracy efforts will help to create a satisfactory environment for intellectual innovation.
Liu encouraged consumers and copyright-holders of audio-visual products to participate in the anti-piracy campaign so as to safeguard their legal rights.
Statistics reveal that authorities have found and closed some 100,000 audio-visual shops selling pirated discs. Consumers are able to purchase authentic products in supermarkets and chain stores as well as making purchases online.
(Source: BBC)
Publishing House Punished for Copyright Infringement
The Beijing No.1 Intermediate People's Court has found that a publishing house has violated translators' copyrights by publishing translated foreign works without permission.
The Chinese Pricing Publishing House was ordered to pay a fine of RMB 44,079 (roughly US $5,310) to the Lijiang Publishing House, withdraw the illegally published books and make a public apology in the China Press and Publishing Journal, a newspaper sponsored by the General Administration of Press and Publication directly under the State Council.
Between February 1991 and 1995, the Lijiang River Publishing House signed a number of contracts with translators and gained the exclusive rights to publish their translated foreign literature on China's mainland.
In November 1998, the China Pricing Publishing House published a book that included foreign literature whose publication rights are solely owned by the Lijiang Publishing House.
(Source: Xinhua News Agency)
Lehman Lee & Xu
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