At the meeting, the deputy chief justice of the SPC talked that the SPC is going to further implement justice system and working mechanism of IPR, improve the allocation of justice resources, and simplify the procedure of judicial remedies. Furthermore, the SPC is studying on setting up a unified specialized IPR court to accept and hear civil, administrative and criminal cases relating to IPR. Also, the SPC is studying on centralized jurisdiction of the cases with high technical requirement such as patents, and exploring the setting up of IPR Appeal Court.

Forty-nine draw-ups submitted for discussion in the term of the Standing Committee of the 11th China National People’s Congress are enrolled in the legislation program, including Patent Law, Trademark Law, and Law on the Protection of Non-material Culture Inheritance. The legislation program also points out to study, draw up and arrange for discussion of fifteen draw-ups, including Law on (Traditional) Chinese Herbalist and Medicine.

It is learned that the amendment to the Patent Law had passed the first discussion of the Standing Committee of the 11th National People’s Congress. In accordance with the regulation of Legislative Law, draw-ups concerning laws listed in the program of the Standing Committee usually should be voted after three discussions.

LIU Binjie said that the signature of the Memo is of great significance to the communication and cooperation between the two countries on copyright field. It signifies that the copyright cooperation between the two countries has entered into a new phase and inpoured new vitality to the cooperation.

According to Mr. Li’s reply on a press conference in Frankfurt, the Government’s efforts in anti-copyright-infringement were coming to fruition.

Mr. Li said the measures taken by Chinese Government include 1) enactment of Regulation on the Protection of the Right to Network Dissemination of Information and Measures for Administrative Protection of Internet Copyright; 2) administrative enforcement actions against internet copyright piracy and infringements in the past four years since 2005 taken by National Copyright Administration of the People’s Republic of China; and 3) establishment of digital routine supervision platform.

In early 2007, the Supreme Court launched the program of drafting interpretation on recognition and protection of well-known trademarks and has sought advice and comments from all levels of courts. Several revisions and amendments form the current published version.

According to the Draft, the Well-Known mark herein shall refer to the marks that are widely known by relevant public within the territory of China. In respect of judicial recognition of well-known trademark by courts, the Draft stipulates that the recognition of Well-Known mark shall take relevant provisions of Trademark Law into account and shall pivot on the facts that the mark is well known in China. However, the facts of being well known outside China shall be given due consideration when necessary on a case by case basis.

The Draft also brought forth that the recognition of well-known mark by court shall rely on how well known the mark is. Whether the mark had been recognized as famous mark shall not be the prerequisite for recognizing a well-known mark. The courts shall make a comprehensive and objective ponderation on the use period of the mark and ranking of the enterprise that uses the mark.

The Draft also detailed provisions in relation to case jurisdictions and burden of proof that may be involved in course of well-known trademark recognition and protection.

Unitalen Attorneys at Law is a provider of legal service ranging from patent and trademark, copyrights to other intellectual property rights with over 20 subsidiaries and offices all over the country. Unitalen has been ranked as the largest legal service provider in relation to intellectual property in China and has enjoyed high reputation and goodwill. The defendant, 北京广立信国际知识产权代理有限公司(Beijing Highsee International Intellectual Property Co., Ltd) is engaged in similar services, namely, trademark agency services. It has come to Unitalen’s attention that when the Chinese counterpart of Unitalen Attoneys at Law is input in Google, it creates a direction to the defendant’s website, which uses the same color, layout and font style as Unitalen’s homepage. The defendant’s website was even using the same slogans to which Unitalen enjoys copyright. The defendant’s activity constituted unfair competition. Unitalen initiated legal action seeking cease of unfair competition and a public apology on China Industry and

Commerce News and China Intellectual Property News together with damages and costs RMB 100,000 (approximate $14,700).

In the course of court hearing, Unitalen withdrew its claims against Google. On October 23, 2008, the court made the first-instance decision, ordering the defendant to cease any unfair competition in its keyword ad in Google, and revise the content on its website that is identical with the plaintiff’s. The defendant shall make statement on China Intellectual Property News to eliminate negative effects caused within 30 days as of the effective date of the judgment. The defendant is also ruled to pay Unitalen RMB 100,000 in damages and reasonable expenditures within 30 days from date when the judgment takes effect.

The forum had the honor to invite Mr. Walter Maiwald and Mr. Korbinian Kopf, respectively founder and partner of the famous German firm “Maiwald Patentanwalts GmbH” as speakers to give comprehensive presentation on “European patent protection”. In order to be close to enterprises’ need and to give better instruction on “European patent prosecution & enforcement”, the two speakers proposed strategies and solutions to enterprises of Zhangjiang Hi-tech Park by way of Q/A, which was well received by participants. Based on the practical demands, the executives from foreign-invested enterprises put forward their questions actively, enlivening the atmosphere of the forum. They all felt like benefiting from this forum a lot, not only learning approaches for solving practical problems but also broadening knowledge on European patent protection.

As a famous IP firm in China, Unitalen makes use of its abundant industrial and professional resources to hold various kinds of IP forums and lectures on regular basis, inviting famous professionals to introduce foreign-related IP knowledge and to solve foreign-related IP issues, and providing intercommunications among enterprises.

In the field, both teams were frequently transforming between attack and defense with active moves. The scores were refurbished constantly. After 90-minute fierce contest, the referee blew his whistle to end the whole game with 4:2.

Unitalen’s cheer squad gave warm applause to wonderful goals by both teams. Unitalen also invited some foreign clients to watch the game, who were deeply attracted and even exhibited their own skills as second strings to enjoy the happiness of sports. Leo Li, vice-director of Unitalen, presented his jersey to the foreign friends after the game ended.

Unitalen football team has been keeping exercises and games for several years, which not only enhances Unitalen’s friendship with teams from other enterprises and state organs, but also enlivens Unitalen people’s leisure time. Besides physical fitness, the spirit of loving life, sport and football is manifested.

After examining the invalidation request, Patent Reexamination Board made a decision under No. 8580 to maintain the validity of the said patent. Being dissatisfied with the decision, Baocheng appealed to Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court. The court made an administrative judgment under (2006) No.1383 to maintain the decision of Patent Reexamination Board. Baocheng further appealed to Beijing People’s High Court, who cancelled No. 1383 judgment and No. 8580 decision on the grounds of improper facts verification.

Patent Reexamination Board set up a collegiate bench to rehear the invalidation request. During the hearing, Zoomlion entrusted Unitalen as its defending attorney. Sun Changlong, patent attorney, and Gu Runfeng, attorney at law, both from Unitalen, participated in the oral hearing at Patent Reexamination Board.

Recently, Patent Reexamination Board made No. 12369 decision in favor of Zoomlion sustaining the validation of the said patent.

Founded in 1992, Zoomlion is a hi-tech public company with more than 16,000 employees and registered capital of RMB 760.5 million. The company’s annual output and sales revenue are over RMB 10 billion. It is a leading company in China’s construction machinery industry and one of the first 103 innovative experimental enterprises in China.