Shanghai Municipal Government has been attaching great importance to IP development and protection, since a full-fledged IP system and effective enforcement mechanism are indispensable to Shanghai’s economic development, social progress, technology innovation and culture prosperity. In 2006, as deployed by the State Council, Shanghai Municipal Government effectively implemented the Strategic Outline of Shanghai Intellectual Property Work (2004-2010), and achieved noticeable actual effects in terms of encouraging IP creation, enhancing IP protection, promoting IP publicity, and fostering international cooperation and exchange.

To help all social circles better understand the status of IP development & protection in Shanghai, we would like to give a brief introduction to the IP development and protection work of Shanghai in 2006.

I.  Policy plus measures to facilitate IP creation

The protection and development of IP are supplementary and complementary to each other. without IP development, it is hard to afford protection; without IP protection, development would lack in stamina. Shanghai’s relevant government departments, by means of the guiding and encouragement role of the policies, have been continuously promoting the technology innovation and acquisition of independent IP by enterprises and institutions.

The Municipal Development & Reform Commission, the Commission of Science and Technology and the Intellectual Property Administration have co-worked out Some Supporting Policies for Implementing the ‘Shanghai Municipal Program for Medium-to-Long-Term Scientific and Technological Development (2006-2020)’, which has been officially promulgated by the Municipal Government, and prescribed regulations on IP creation, application and protection. The Municipal Development & Reform Commission and the Intellectual Property Administration worked with the relevant departments and formulated the Opinions on Strengthening IP Work in Major Applied Research Projects Aimed at Finding Solutions to Technology Bottlenecks in Industry for Developing the Shanghai Municipality in Reliance upon science and Education; IP strategy was taken as the core content and key part of project implementation, and five major systems were established covering the scrutiny, evaluation, tracking for service, examination and appraisal, and coordination of IP work in the projects, to facilitate the creation of a batch of independent IP in the key industries, and advance the commercialization of independent IP results.

The Municipal Commission of Science and Technology promulgated the Directive Opinions on Enhancing Innovation Vigor in Urban Area, which clarified the guiding direction of IP creation, application, management and protection; revised such administrative documents as the scientific research project contract and the statement of planned tasks; and brought patent project statistic into the project contract initiation and approval procedure.

Shanghai Municipal Construction & Transportation Commission drew up the 11th 5-Year Science & Technology Development Program on Shanghai’s Construction & Transportation and the supporting Several Opinions, which specified the major task of strengthening IP protection in the construction of major projects and in the management of construction sector, and supported enterprises to apply for patents for those key technologies of the technology innovation achievements made.

The Municipal Agriculture Commission and the Finance Bureau have worked out the Opinions on Implementing the Projects for Revitalizing Agriculture through Science & Technology, specifying that every new variety of breeding project has to “have applied for protection to new plant variety and passed the preliminary review” in examination measures of project completion.

The Municipal Public Health Bureau and the Administration of Intellectual Property jointly promulgated Several Opinions on Advancing IP Work in Shanghai Public Health System, and organized research and pilot work to specially promote the IP work in the medical and health system of this city.

The Municipal Intellectual Property Administration has been improving the Patent Application Subsidy Measures as the IP work in this city progressed and gave more policy supports to invention patent application. It has also set about to draw up the Implementation Measures on Invention & Creation Right Attribution and Position Reward.

The Municipal Copyright Bureau promulgated the Measures on Putting into Record the Copyright Contracts of Shanghai, signifying that this city will be the first in the whole country to establish the system of putting into record the copyright contracts. The effective implementation of this regulation will help the licensees and assignees prove their goodwill of using or accepting the rights concerned, and prevent and reduce disputes in copyright permission and transference, which will play an active role in further facilitating the healthy and rapid development of the copyright trade and copyright-related industry in this city.

The Municipal Economic Commission, while organizing and facilitating the special major projects for revitalizing the city through science and education and other key projects, has set the IP quantity and quality as part of the requirements for project initiation and assessment measures, and integrated IP work into the whole process of project implementation; it has also worked to facilitate the construction of enterprise independent innovation system, officially recognizing 20 enterprises as “Shanghai IP Model Enterprise” and 105 products as “Shanghai Patented New Product”.

The Municipal Education Commission included IP management in the whole procedure of schools’ technology and science management work, in the meanwhile, continuously improved IP quality and practical value of patents while paying attention to IP quantity.

The Municipal Science and Technology Commission continued to organize the “Specialized project on patented technology re-innovation”, assuming effective ways and methods to direct enterprises to introduce, digest, absorb and re-innovate patented technologies, to improve in practice the IP management and patent strategy utilization and use the instrument of patent to facilitate the cultivation of core competitiveness with independent IP of enterprises.

The Municipal Foreign Economy and Trade Commission actively supported famous export brands to grow bigger and stronger, granted 38 Shanghai Famous Export Brands and cultivated 21 Shanghai Export Brands in 2005-2006.

The Municipal Administration of Industry and Commerce was actively engaged in cultivating real estate trademarks, agricultural products trademarks and service trademarks, and revitalizing old trademarks. They invited relevant departments and asset evaluation institutions to discuss and work out practical plans while promoting the pilot work of converting intangible trademark assets into shares, to transform IP into capital via legal proceedings.

A total of 32681 trademarks were applied for registration in the city in 2006, increasing by 12.3% compared with that of last year, of which 12059 were approved, a year-on-year increase of 0.7%. By the end of 2006, accumulatively there are 111922 trademarks effectively registered in the city.

In 2006, applications of patent in Shanghai hit a new high with a year on year increase of 10.1% and reached 36042 pieces, the 5th in the national ranking. Of these applications, 12050 were inventions, increasing 15.4% on a year on year base and ranking the 3rd nationally. The amount of patents granted reached 16602, a year on year increase of 31.7%, of which 2644 were inventions. There were 747 patent applications from the 52 major applied research projects in Shanghai aimed at finding solutions to industrial technology bottlenecks for revitalizing the city through science and education. Enterprises in Shanghai applied for 24835 patents, a year on year increase of 8.5%, accounting for 68.9% of the total applications. There were 3066 applications from colleges and universities with a year on year increase of 3.8%, maintaining the leading place in the whole country.

Graph 1. Comparison of the numbers of patents applied in Shanghai in the past 4 years

Graph 2. Comparison of the numbers of patents granted in Shanghai in the past 4 years

Graph 3. Structure of patents applied in Shanghai in 2006

Graph 4. Structure of patents granted in Shanghai in 2006

In 2006, Shanghai enterprises have over 110 thousand effective trademarks registered in the country. Accumulatively 48 trademarks from enterprises and institutions were officially granted as well-known trademarks, leading the whole country both in quantity and quality. There are around 440 famous trademarks.

In 2006, enterprises and individuals in Shanghai registered 2477 copyrights on computer software, increasing 15% year on year. Shanghai Municipal Copyright Bureau examined and registered 1072 authorization contracts in total, covering foreign-related books, audio and video products, computer software and electronic publications, a year-on-year increase of 42%. In the whole year there were a total of 1232 types of works getting registered, increasing by 4% compared with that of last year.

II.  Administrative departments strengthen law enforcement to protect IP effectively

Relevant IP enforcement departments in Shanghai combined daily supervision closely with specialized projects in their work, with each performing its own functions combined with joint action of relevant departments as main working mechanism, to strengthen the administrative enforcement in IP work.

At the beginning of 2006, Shanghai Municipal Government made the decision of closing down Xiangyang Road Clothing Market which was well-known for selling fake registered brands. To deal with possible rampant selling of fake brands in Xiangyang Market before the closing down, the Industry and Commerce departments in the whole city sedulously performed their duties, and allocated a big number of enforcement force to actively launch various specialized campaigns on trademarks. First, they carried out highly frequent and all-weather examination on stands selling fake products in the market; second, they thorougly eliminated all the fake-selling dens around the market; and third, they worked with communication administrative departments to close down fake-selling websites named as “Xiangyang Market” several times.

After Xiangyang Market was closed down on June 30, 2006, the Industry and Commerce departments continued to enhance examination and regulation on the clothing and small commodities markets in the city. First, they strengthened the daily tour of inspection and supervision at Asia-Pacific Sheng Exchange Square, Qipu Road, Fengxiang Clothing Market (also known as Taobao City), to firmly deter the transfer and penetration of fake brands sellers from Xiangyang Market; second, they established coordination, communication and supervision mechanism for effective supervision work after the market is closed; and third, they made further efforts to guide and urge the market sponsors to establish and improve the trademark management system. During this period, Zhabei and Hongkou District Bureaus organized a joint enforcement brigade and carried out “One-hundred day special campaign” to the markets; Jing’an Bureau conducted a 3-month examination on every inch of the market; Huangpu Bureau launched a regular itinerant examination on the shopping street of Nanjing East Road and the areas around; Pudong Bureau took an active action of “strict precautions and immediate crack-down on its first appearance”, carrying out “large scale” (at least 20 staff each time, nearly a hundred for major action), “highly frequent” and “all weather” campaign concentrated on the fake selling activities in the market. The series of actions secured a controllable stability of Xiangyang Market before being closed down.

Xiangyang Market has become a thing of the past

In July of 2006, the Shanghai Municipal Government grasped and conveyed the vital essence of Action Plan on IP Protection printed and distributed by the General Office of the State Council and worked out the Action Guidelines for Protecting Intellectual Property Rights in Shanghai (from 2006 to 2007) in line with the specific reality in Shanghai, in which five major tasks and 10 measures were put forward to effectively consolidate and protect the achievements in IP protection campaigns. Specialized campaign was conducted especially to crack down on the selling of fake registered commodities and pirated audio and video products.

Five major tasks:

◆ Strictly crack down on pirate activities

◆ Continue to crack down on infringement activities in trademark exchange market

◆    Strengthen regulating efforts on key issues of patent right infringement

◆    Intensify IP protection in export sector

◆    Reinforce IP management of exhibitions

Ten measures:

●        Set up reporting and complaint service centers

●        Improve cross-regional coordinated enforcement mechanism

●        Work out Action Plan of IP Protection in Shanghai World Expo 2010

●        Steadily promote the use of legal software copies in enterprises

●        Establish IP protection status evaluation mechanism

●        Improve IP protection status circulating system

●        Establish regular reporting system

●        Enforce random spot checking at key markets and road sections

●        Put responsibility system into effect

●        Stage specialized campaigns

Public security departments of each level in the city followed the Action Guidelines for Protecting Intellectual Property Rights in Shanghai (from 2006 to 2007) and continued the “Mountain Eagle” action. During the specialized campaign on cracking down the making and selling of fake & inferior commodities, they confiscated over 200 thousand bars of fake well-known or famous brand cigarettes, more than 450 tons of steels, and nearly 50 thousand pieces of clothing and watches, the total value concerned reaching RMB 50 million.

Enforcement officials of the public security department smashed a fake-selling nest.

Starting from July in 2006, the Municipal Public Security Bureau, the Administration of Industry and Commerce, the City Administration Bureau, the Copyright Bureau and the General Brigade of Administrative Law-enforcement in Culture Sector jointly staged the “One-hundred anti-piracy day” action, repeatedly checking and regulating areas and markets with serious illegal publication problems. This action uncovered a batch of activities concerning illegal publications, clamped down 353 stands with no license and confiscated over 600 thousand pirated publications.

Shanghai Intellectual Property Administration accepted and dealt with 28 patent infringement cases in 2006, involving 8 invention patents, 9 new-type model patents and 11 design patents. 24 cases were closed. 16 cases were filed for being suspected of fake patents; 18 were settled; 9 cross-province patent infringement cases were duly transferred. They were stationed in 16 large exhibitions (14 of which were international exhibitions) and solved on the spot over 80 infringement disputes and complaints.

Graph 5. Comparison of numbers of the patent infringing cases dealt with by Shanghai IP Administration in the past 3 years

Departments of the Administration of Industry and Commerce of the whole city detected 2217 illegal trademark-related activities, increasing 80.7% on a year on year base, the total value concerned as high as RMB 159 million, with 1.6 million pieces of trademarks confiscated or removed, 26 molds and forme designed for trademark infringing commodities and signs taken over, 1.5 million commodities infringing on trademarks captured or destroyed, 9 cases handed over to the court for being suspected of trademark crime.

In 2006, the administrative departments of Industry and Commerce detected a total of 1569 foreign-related trademark infringing activities, accounting for 75.6% of all trademark infringing cases, with a total value of 30,720 thousand yuan, and a total fine of 7,580 thousand yuan. 476 activities were detected and punished for infringing the rights of US trademark registrants, and 248, 216 and 142 for infringing the rights of French, Japanese and German registrants respectively.

Law enforcement officials of the Administration of Industry and Commerce strengthened inspection on the market.

Graph 6. Comparison of the statistic numbers of trademark infringing activities detected by Shanghai’s Industry and Commerce departments in the past 3 years

The Municipal Copyright Bureau organized “Specialized campaigns on cracking down illegal pre-installation of computer software” and “Specialized campaigns on cracking down pirate activities on network”; timely investigated and dealt with illegal copying of textbooks in universities; examined over 500 (times of) business units and locations, with 130 thousand pirated copies seized, administrative penalties decided to 26 cases, confiscating illegal income and penalty of over RMB 260 thousand, mediating damages of over 300 thousand. 38 network infringing / pirate cases complained or reported were dealt with; a number of websites with infringing problems were ordered to make corrections; some “three-no websites” (no registration, no license, no checking) were closed down.

The General Brigade of Administrative Law-enforcement in Culture Sector concentrated on deploying and staging “Sunshine No. 1”, “Sunshine No. 2” and “Sunshine No. 3” specialized actions on audio and video markets, and also organized enforcement actions in line with the “Spring & Autumn Action”, “Law enforcement high season” and “One-hundred anti-piracy day”. In total they investigated 2232 cases of IP right infringement, confiscated over 8480 thousand illegal audio and video copies (e-copies) and over 177 thousand copies of pirated books and newspapers, and handed 3 criminal cases over to the court.

Shanghai Customs detected 284 IP infringing activities, achieving a year on year increase of 160%; the value concerned reached as high as over RMB 40 million and commodities involved over 35 million pieces in total, increasing by 14.6% year on year; both the value concerned and the number of commodities topped those of other Customs in the country. Meanwhile, Shanghai Customs y also intensified examination on express mails sent out, mails from / to areas of high risk and transit mails to effectively strike the entry & exit of mails related with infringing goods.

Graph 7. Comparison of the statistic numbers of infringing cases detected by Shanghai Customs in the past 3 years

The Municipal Administration of Culture, Radio, Film & TV organized a burning-up activity of illegal audio and video products, with a total of 6.77 million pirated and illegal audio and video copies burnt in the whole year, ranking the 3rd position nationally in quantity.

The City Administration Bureau worked in specialized campaigns and market supervision actions of “Unblock Action”, “Green Action”, “Safety Action” and “Spring & Autumn Action”, educated / corrected over 27 thousand activities of non-licensed or on-street stands covering pirated books, CDs and software; uncovered over 600 administrative cases.

City administration enforcement officials confiscating pirated audio and video products

During the “Blue Sky Exhibition Action”, the Municipal Foreign Economy and Trade Commission co-worked with relevant departments on joint examination and checking actions and were stationed on the exhibition spot to coordinate and handle IP protection work of the exhibitions, which were highly appraised by the Ministry of Commerce. They also recommended 18 exhibition companies and exhibition halls to attend the “Blue Sky Action”, and took multiple measures on IP protection in the exhibitions, including promoting relevant enterprises to work out pre-exhibition instructions and during-exhibition suggestions, setting up on-the-spot IP complaint agency and the municipal IP complaint and consulting phone service.

Administrative enforcement of IP examination on the exhibition site

From Sep. to Oct. of 2006, the whole city staged the “Spring & Autumn Action” of unified enforcement on IP protection. During this period, the Municipal IP Joint Meeting Office organized a joint campaign with the Municipal City Administration Bureau, the Public Security Bureau, the Administration of Industry and Commerce and the General Brigade of Administrative Law-enforcement in Culture Sector, to intensify examination at areas with relatively more infringing activities of setting on-street stands of pirated audio & video products and selling commodities with fake registered trademarks, captured over 30 thousand copies of audio & video products as well as more than 1000 copies of pirated books.

During the “Spring & Autumn Action”, administrative enforcement officials
confiscating pirated audio and video products

According to the unified deployment by the State Council and the arrangements by the Municipal Government, Shanghai established the Reporting and Complaint Service Center for IPR Protection, opened 12312 hotline service, and constructed Shanghai Branch Site of China IP Protection Website. Shanghai Reporting and Complaint Service Center operates in an “x＋182” coordination mode (“X” — the IP right owner or related person; “1” — the service center in the charge of the Municipal Administration of Industry and Commerce; “8” — the 8 IP administrative enforcement departments that are responsible for checking and handling according to the law the information reported and the complaints received and handed over by the service center; “2” — the Municipal Office of Rectification and Standardization of Market Economic Order and the IP Joint Meeting Office that are responsible for providing guidance to the center, coordinating the checking and handling of cases reported, and the publicity and training work at the early stage as well), which received positive comments from leaders of the Ministry of Commerce, and also a circulated notice of commendation by the National Office of Rectification and Standardization of Market Economic Order. By the end of 2006, Shanghai Reporting and Complaint Service Center has received 9305 calls and accepted 58 complaints, all handed over in time to relevant departments. Now 49 cases have received feedbacks of settlement, the closing rate reaching 84%. The website has published 650 pieces of information articles.

On July 27, 2007, Shanghai Reporting and Complaint Service Center for IPR Protection was officially opened.

Jiang Zengwei, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Commerce inspecting Shanghai Reporting and Complaint Service Center for IPR Protection

Homepage of the Shanghai Branch Site of China IP Protection Website

III.  Giving prominence to justness and effectiveness, protecting lawful rights and interests of rightful owners

In 2006, Shanghai courts sedulously started trial work on IP-related cases and worked hard to enhance judicial protection on IP, by which they effectively saved the lawful rights and interests of the right owners and the public interests of the society, and made active contributions to the healthy development of economy, technology and culture, and to the construction of a harmonious socialist society. The total number of IP-related civil cases accepted by the courts for the first and/or second trial in the city hit a new high, with the numbers of both IP-related civil and criminal cases accepted for the first and second trial and settled reaching over 1100.

Number of cases accepted
 

Graph 8. Comparison of the numbers of IP-related civil cases accepted and heard by the courts
in Shanghai in the past 3 years

1.  Major achievements made in the trial work on IP-related cases by Shanghai courts in 2006:

First, a new high reached in terms of the number of cases settled. In 2006, under the situation of no increase in staff while the number of cases accepted keeping going up, the court departments handling IP-related cases of the city overcame the difficulty of heavy load and high degree of intricacy of trial tasks and settled a big amount of cases, with the number of cases settled hit another new high.

Second, high rate of intermediation and cancellation, low rate of appeal and change of sentence after appeal. In 2006, the intermediation and cancellation rate of the IP-related civil cases for the first trial among all courts in the city was 65.0%, increasing by 3.2% compared with that of last year, and 3.1 percents higher than that of the civil & commercial cases of the same period. For this period, the rate of appeal against court decisions (including verdict, refusal of accept, and dismission of suit) on IP-related civil cases for the first trial was 46.0%, declining by 6.1% year on year; the rate of change of sentence after appeal was 7.6%.

Third, a batch of new-type and representative cases settled, providing trial thoughts and experiences for later similar cases. For example, through the trial of the lawsuit brought by Beijing Jingdiao Technology Co., Ltd. against some company in Shanghai on infringing computer software copyright, conclusions were made that, the data and file format of the data file output from computer software are not part of the computer software and therefore do not have the computer software copyright; encryption on the data file output from computer software is not a technical measure to protect the computer software concerned, and removing of the encryption does not constitute infringement to the computer software copyright. Another example is the trial of lawsuit brought by Liang Jinshui against some company in Shanghai on infringing patent right, through which the interpretation of functional feature as an independent claim of utility model patent was clarified as follows: the functional feature as a claim shall be interpreted as the specific way and its equivalent ways to realize the function as described in the instruction book, and shall not be interpreted as all specific ways that can realize this function.

Fourth, a batch of high-profile cases settled and good social effects achieved. For example, the settlement of such cases with quite big social impact as Starbucks trademark infringing and unfair competition dispute, the lawsuit brought by (French) Louis Vuitton against Shanghai Carhua Supermarket on infringing the exclusive right of LV trademark, and the dispute of (US) Synopsys charging Attansic Technology (Shanghai) with computer software copyright infringement, established a good image of Shanghai courts providing timely and effective IP protection according to the law, and facilitated the improvement of IP protection awareness in the whole society.

2.  Effective measures taken to improve the quality and efficiency of lawsuit trial

(1) Actively promote litigation instruction, explanation and intermediation work. Main actions: first, actively answer questions after settlement of cases. Post-trial answers from the case judge, the Chief Justice or the Collegiate Bench help the parties concerned to correctly understand the judgment and consequently realize “disputes solved once case settled”. Second, pay attention to display the justness and impartiality of litigation instruction and explanation. Adjust the width and depth of litigation instruction and explanation in accordance with the litigation capability of the party concerned and the agent ad litem. Third, pay attention to manifest the lawfulness of litigation instruction and explanation. The litigation instruction and explanation are usually done by the case judge, who will provide guidance and explanation to issues concerning the entity rights of the party concerned, which also needs to be discussed and decided by the Collegiate Bench. Fourth, pay attention to carry out intermediation at the stage of suit filing, and strive to improve trial efficiency. Fifth, pay attention to bring into play the concerted efforts of judges involved in the mediation work. Besides making a full play of the enthusiasm of the case judge, also pay attention to and bring into play the roles of the Chief Justice, the Collegiate Bench, the Presiding Judge and the Court Head in charge, to pool all efforts for the mediation work and improve the effect. Sixth, pay attention to employ the “case reconciliation method” ­— introduce the trial situation of previous cases to the parties concerned to facilitate intermediation between them. Seventh, pay attention to invite social force to the mediation work, for example, the association the parties concerned belong to or their working unit.

(2) Actively and cautiously apply preliminary injunction and provisional judicial measures for pre-trial evidence preservation. Main actions: first, actively accept applications – accept timely in accordance with the law all applications by applicants for provisional judicial measures. Second, apply strict scrutiny – whether the appllication for provisional judicial measures meets the requirements of law or not. Third, deal with applications timely – reject the request timely according to the law if the application does not meet the legal requirements; for those that meet the requirements, make decision to take provisional judicial measures within 48 hours and immediately take action. For example, in the pre-trial evidence preservation of the dispute of (US) Synopsys charging Attansic Technology (Shanghai) with computer software copyright infringement, the 5th Civil Court of the No. 1 Intermediate Court made concerted efforts with the Execution Court, the Office, and the Branch Brigade of Bailiff, and successfully completed within 20 hours all work about pre-trial evidence preservation from case filing to the completion of preservation.

(3) Further improve the quality of judgment documents. Main actions: first, make further attempts of attaching to the judgment documents the registered trademark along with the mark charged of infringement, and the design patent alongside the product charged of infringement. Second, attach to the judgment documents the laws, statutes and specific regulations of judicial interpretation applicable to the case. Third, enhance the logic and wording of judgment documents to improve their persuasion force. In 2006, 6 judgment documents from Shanghai courts received awards at The Second National Selection of Excellent IP-related Judgment Documents, enjoying the highest percentage of awards. One document from the No. 2 Intermediate Court won First Prize, and Shanghai Advanced Court received the Organization Prize of the excellent judgment documents selection activity.

(4) Strengthen the management of trial procedure. Main actions: first, actively facilitate separation of the complicated and the simple. Speed up the trial of simple cases and improve the efficiency. For new type or big and intricate cases, organize elite staff to hear them carefully. For cases with simple facts and incomplex legal relationship, try the best to cut the preparation time before court session and the time limit for consultation after session, and briefly write the judgment documents. Second, earnestly put into practice the system of filing and settlement reporting. Strictly manage the time point of Collegiate Bench consultation, working out of documentation and its printing, sending and filing, to further improve the quality and efficiency of filing work.

(5) Actively put forward judicial suggestions. For typical cases, the No.1 and No. 2 Intermediate Courts pay attention to extend the trial function and improve the social effect of trial work by means of sending judicial suggestion letters to relevant departments. For example, the No. 1 Intermediate Court found during the trial of copyright infringing cases that there were certain flaws while the notarization agency notarizing evidence preservation, therefore they sent judicial suggestion to the Municipal Notary Association after the cases were settled, which was paid high attention and received active response from the Association and the Notarization Work Administration Division of the Municipal Bureau of Justice. In the trial of the lawsuit brought by (French) Louis Vuitton against Shanghai Carhua Supermarket on infringing the exclusive right of LV trademark, the No. 2 Intermediate Court put forward three judicial suggestions to the defendant right at the court session, asking the defendant to (a) learn the lesson and improve their IP protection awareness; (b) strictly regulate the scrutiny procedure of commodity stocking channel; and (c) improve the management system to avoid the happening of similar infringement in the future. The defendant made active rectification and improvement with regard to the issues suggested and sent feedback of relevant situation to the court.

IV.  Combining publicity with training to create a cultural atmosphere of respecting IP

To improve the whole society’s awareness of respecting knowledge, upholding science and protecting IP, create a jural environment that encourages knowledge innovation and IP protection, Shanghai Municipal Government made special efforts to enhance IP concept promotion, and staged a series of publicity and training activities of various forms, and created the three features of IP publicity activities as follows:

First, the government departments worked as a whole on publicity activities. During the IP Protection Week starting from 26th of April, Shanghai municipal and district / county level government departments jointly launched a number of influential large-scaled activities. Shanghai IP Joint Meeting Office organized the opening ceremony of the “IP Protection Week” and the first IP volunteer group of university; designed and organized exhibition boards to attend the “China IP Protection Achievements Exhibition” held in Beijing, presenting a complete and lively picture of the substantial achievements on IP protection Shanghai achieved in recent years; co-worked with the Municipal Foreign Affair Office and held the “IP Status Circulating Meeting” attended by consulates, chambers of commerce and foreign businesses in Shanghai, introducing the work Shanghai has done in intensifying IP protection and the results achieved in the past year. The IP-related administrative and enforcement departments staged multi-level and multi-form of IP trainings, lectures, discussion meetings, and seminars in the whole year, to improve the IP awareness among cadres, leaders of enterprises and institutions, researchers, students and the masses by means of extensive publicity.

On April 20, 2006, Vice Mayor Yang Xiaodu announced the official commencement of “Shanghai IP Protection Week”.

Lu Yongxiang, Deputy Director General of the National People’s Congress, visiting the Shanghai exhibition area at “China IP Protection Achievements Exhibition” in Beijing

Chen Zhixing, Secretary General of Shanghai IP Joint Meeting Office, conferring a banner to the first IP volunteer group of university in Shanghai

Shanghai IP volunteers of university disseminating among the citizens a concept of using legal copies

Second, encouraged business and industry to get involved actively. With support from the member units of the Municipal IP Joint Meeting Office, Shanghai Enterprise Union held the “Enterprise Independent Innovation and IP Protection Meeting” on April 26, 2006, at which the first 20 “Shanghai IP Model Enterprises” brought forward “Shanghai Enterprise Independent Innovation and IP Protection Proposal” to the whole city, and relevant government departments issued letter of support; Tianzifang in Luwan District established the Creative Industry IP Protection Union, to strengthen IP creation, protection, publicity, maintenance and regard via self-discipline. The Municipal Administration of Intellectual Property supported respective cooperation between SAIC Motor and IP College of Shanghai University, Shanghai Middle Ring Road Construction and Development Company and East China University of Politics & Law to organize IP theme activities. The Trademark Association and Copyright Association actively organized various forms of IP publicity and training activities and lectures to co-create a pro-IP atmosphere. Shanghai Municipal IP Service Center conducted an “Advanced Training on Patent Searching”, which was not only popular among the state-owned and private enterprises, but also attracted attention from foreign businesses.

On April 26, 2006, an Enterprise Independent Innovation and IP Protection Conference held in Shanghai

Third, IP publicity entered campus. Schools in Shanghai organized vivid and lively publicity activities to cultivate the IP awareness among young people. During the “IP Protection Week” activity of 2006, the volunteers went to the streets to distribute publicity materials, provided IP-related legal consultation service, and also organized discussions on the tough issues encountered in the IP protection work of this city and put forward countermeasures and suggestions. The Science & Technology Instruction Station for the Youth in Yangpu District organized a series of activities including “Innovation Works from the Youth for Study” and “On-site IP Knowledge Contest for the Youth”, which attracted nearly 500 teachers and students from the 30 middle and elementary schools in the district. Xuhui District Bureau of Intellectual Property organized “I Create, I Design, I Invent” — “World IP Day” publicity activity in Xuhui District, at which creations and inventions by the youth in Xuhui District in recent years were exhibited. Seven universities and colleges located in the Songjiang City of Universities held debate contest series on IP during the April 26 events period, through which the college students acquired a deeper understanding on the IP system.

Chen Zhixing, Director General of Shanghai IP Administration taking a group picture with the award winners

V. Organizing exchange and cooperation activities for mutual learning and co-development

To further learn the overseas successful experiences on IP creation, application, management as well as protection, in the meanwhile, publicize and introduce the achievements Shanghai made, Shanghai Municipality conducted a variety of exchange and cooperation activities in cooperation with relevant foreign institutions in IP sector.

The Municipal Intellectual Property Administration, the Administration of Industry and Commerce, the Copyright Bureau, the Customhouse, and the court system strengthened communication and exchange in the field of IP through paying and receiving visits. In 2006, the relevant departments of Shanghai received and paid over one hundred delegation visits from US, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Australia, Japan and HK and to US, Europe and Asia. For visits received, the relevant municipal IP administrative departments mainly introduced the laws and regulations, policies, measures, actions of Shanghai on strengthening IP protection and the achievements made, which helped foreign governments, enterprises and IP protection organizations further understand the progress of IP protection work in Shanghai; they, in the meanwhile, also learned from the visitors their successful experiences.

Leader of Shanghai IP Administration introducing the IP protection status in Shanghai to the EU Delegation

Chen Xuejun, Deputy Director General of the Municipal Administration of Industry and Commerce exchanging work expriences with members of foreign delegation

The Municipal Intellectual Property Administration cooperated with the American International Education Foundation (AIEF) and selected 18 people from the large and medium-sized state-owned enterprises in the city, patent pilot enterprises, member units and non-voting units of Shanghai IP Joint Meeting Office to attend a 20-day training course in US. They received systematic training on the US IP legal system and regulations, conducted on-site studies on the operation mode of IP management and technology transfer of US enterprises, with which they had in-depth exchanges.

A group picture of the trainees taken in US

Shanghai Customhouse reinforced its cooperation with foreign customs. In 2006, they established cooperation projects respectively with Pusan Customs in South Korea and the Rotterdam Customs in the Netherlands, including IP protection as an important part of the cooperation. The two parties decided to further intensify cooperation in the aspects of legal system, law enforcement technology, information exchange, enforcement cooperation and in promoting effective IP protection by local enterprises, aiming at effectively cracking down on cross-border circulation of fake and pirated products.

The IP-related departments in Shanghai also co-organized the “Enterprise IP Application and Management” forum with the Ministry of Economy of the Netherlands, the “Enhancing Business Piracy Protection” seminar with the Japanese IP Association, and the “Sino-American IP Laws and Practices” seminar with famous US law firms.

Yan Junqi, a Vice Mayor, addressing the “Enterprise IP Application and Management” forum co-organized by Shanghai and the Netherlands

The exchanges and mutual visits not only helped Shanghai in sharing information, understanding the latest development, learning experiences and exchanging opinions with foreign IP-related enforcement departments, enterprises and industry associations, and service agencies, but also contributed to the improvement of IP management capability of local enterprises and the IP enforcement level of government departments.

Conclusion

The facts showed that, in the past year of 2006, Shanghai Municipal Government has made huge efforts in IP development and protection word and achieved obvious and significant progress. Meanwhile, the government also witnessed the challenging situation of IP protection in Shanghai, with new issues coming up along with the economic development and technology innovation, the awareness of respecting IP among enterprises and institutions and the whole public to be further improved, capability of creating and applying IP to be further increased, and an atmosphere of respecting and protecting IP to be further optimized. Under such situation, Shanghai Municipal Government will, in line with the scientific development view and the unified deployment of the central government, give a full play of IP’s service, guarantee and support functions in promoting innovation and constructing a harmonious socialist society in the process of facilitating the realization of “Taking the four leads” (taking the leads in transforming economy growth mode, in improving the capability of independent innovation, in promoting reform and opening, and in constructing a harmonious society), and adopt more effective policies and measures and enforcement actions to advance the IP development and protection in Shanghai to a higher level.