CHINA INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW NEWSLETTER
Vol. 3 , No. 10 - July 24, 2002
TOPICS THIS ISSUE:
- China to Auction Copyright of Sex Education VCD
- China Lawsuit Against LG Group Over Trademark Infringement Fails
- ARM in Talks with Chinese Chipmakers to License Technology
- 1.31 Million Fake Shavers Destroyed at Chinese Port
- Copyright Demanded in Digital Library
China to Auction Copyright of Sex Education VCD
Prompted by public demand, the first sex education VCD for primary school students in China will soon be on the market. The copyright of the VCD, called Lectures on School Sex Education (primary school version), has been entrusted to a local auction company to find a competent video producer for its fast release.
With sex education inadequate in China, teachers, students and parents have been urging that the VCD be released since hearing it had been made.
It is the first time in China that the copyright of a movie or television production has been put up for auction.
(Source: Xinhua)
China Lawsuit Against LG Group Over Trademark Infringement Fails
A lawsuit brought by lift manufacturer Beijing Languang Lift Co (Languang) against South Korea's LG Group over trademark infringement was recently dismissed in a Beijing Court.
Languang, which is also known as LG, was demanding RMB 100 million in compensation for trademark infringement, LG Group's two subsidiaries -- LG Electronics Co. and LG Industrial Systems Co. Ltd.-- to stop using LG on their elevators and the removal of all signs on products already in use.
The Court ruled that the lawsuit was without merit and found that the LG Group did not infringe on Languang's trademark because of the differences in name and in the design of their logos.
Languang declined to comment on whether it will appeal against the ruling and LG Group also refused to comment.
(Source: China Daily)
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ARM in Talks with Chinese Chipmakers to License Technology
Chip designer ARM Holdings is discussing licensing its technology with several Chinese semiconductor manufacturers and sees Taiwan-backed companies such as Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC) and Grace Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (GSMC) as potential partners.
"We are talking to a lot of potential licensees in China," Dr Jun Tan, president of ARM China, said. No announcements are imminent but Jun said such relationships are a key part of ARM's strategy to penetrate the Chinese market, one of the fastest-growing electronics markets in the world. "We want to enable our customers to have (chip) designs that are capable of being manufactured in China so we are working with SMIC and similar foundries to enable that to happen," Jun said.
ARM recently officially opened its China headquarters in Shanghai and announced the signing of two new partners, Shanghai HuaHong Integrated Circuit Co Ltd (SHHIC) and Beijing Watertek Information Technology Co Ltd (Watertek), bringing the total number of partners in the country to four.
China's chip market has been estimated to be worth around US $12 billion and is expected to grow by around 30% this year with most of the demand being satisfied by imports. A recent report expects that while China produces about 1.0% of the world semiconductor supply it accounts for about 7.0% of demand.
The government has made the development of a domestic semiconductor industry a key part of its industrial strategy, offering a range of tax breaks and favourable policies to attract manufacturing. Several Taiwan and Japanese manufacturers have announced plans to start or expand production in China and are backing new domestic players such as SMIC and GSMC.
Sir Robin Saxby, ARM chairman said the decision to set up an office in China and to license its semiconductor technology to local firms was prompted by the government's strategy. "The important thing is that China has now started to create an indigenous chip manufacturing industry here. The government wants more self-sufficiency for manufacturing and since we are a licensing company, I think we've got our timing spot on. "We have the know-how, the design methodology and we see an opportunity to work with Chinese companies." China's electronics market is also growing rapidly. The country is now the world's biggest mobile phone market, with more than 170 million subscribers while penetration is still at a relatively low 11%.
ARM intends to licensee its technologies to chip designers, foundries, original equipment manufacturers and other third parties in China, raising fears of possible infringement of its intellectual property.
China has earned a reputation as a violator of intellectual property rights and counterfeiting in the country is rife -- some 90% of Microsoft Corp's Windows software used in China is estimated to be fake.
Saxby said, however, that while ARM is always concerned about IPR protection, China's entry into WTO has provided some degree of reassurance. "A few years ago it would have been very difficult (to come to China) but things are changing very quickly here. "We have worked out how to (protect its IPR), with minimum risk and maximum opportunity." He also pointed out that ARM is not an end product company; "the kind of technology we are supplying is very complex and not easily duplicated."
The company has a kind of "lock and key" mechanism whereby part of the architecture is licensed to the partner designing the chip and part to the factory producing it, he said.
(Source: AFX)
1.31 Million Fake Shavers Destroyed at Chinese Port
A consignment of 1.31 million shavers falsely branded with the French BIC name have been destroyed by customs officials at Ningbo Port, Zhejiang Province, in eastern China.
BIC chairman and chief executive officer Bruno Bich and the company's anti-counterfeit official Jerome Buscail visited to the customs authority recently to express the company's appreciation at the action. The Ningbo customs authority has beefed up its inspections of import and export cargoes for intellectual property rights (IPR) violations over recent years, customs officials said.
As many as 1.95 million so-called BIC shavers have been intercepted by Customs over the last two years.
In the first six months this year, Customs handled nine IPR cases involving products worth RMB 1.7 million (US $200,000).
(Source: Xinhua)
Copyright Demanded in Digital Library
A recent Internet copyright case has aroused public attention in Beijing and focused heated debate on the inevitable but seemingly elusive digital future.
At a recently concluded international conference held in Beijing, researchers in the fields of library and information sciences and engineering and computer science tried to answer a myriad of questions including: how will patrons be able to read electronic books more cheaply than going to libraries; how can authors be compensated; how can digital libraries find a balance between the two groups' interests?
At a virtual library, books are digitized and distributed online. However, current laws say that a book's publication, circulation and usage involves the use of the authors intellectual property rights. These laws also apply to electronic books.
In 1996, the World Intellectual Property Organization regarded storing products in digital form in the electronic media as " copying". Offering digitized works for others to skim, read, copy and print through networking would also constitute "copying". People who download, copy or print others' works without the authors' permission violate copyright laws and are liable.
The conference was told that e-media organizations should first obtain permission from copyright owner, while other suggestions included, such measures as charging browsers, using codes and digital watermarks to prevent illegal downloading.
(Source: Xinhua)
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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.
