INTA Steps Up China Activity in July - International Trademark Association

The month of July has included a strong focus on activities and meetings in China for INTA. INTA staff and members participated in a number of initiatives that took place in the first half of the month, and are gearing up for more in the second half.

Global Trade Development Week and 2018 China Forum on Criminal IP Protection
INTA was invited to participate in Global Trade Development Week (GTDW), China’s first major e-trade and trade facilitation summit, which took place July 2‒4 in Shanghai, China. As the world’s largest trade facilitation event, GTDW featured a series of specialized trade summits linking key sectors across international trade, such as brand owners and businesses, customs, infrastructures, special free-trade zones, supply chain logistics and transports, and small and medium-sized enterprises. The three-day summit included speakers from various organizations discussing the role of governments and cooperation with the private sector, and the “One Belt, One Road” initiatives, including challenges, collaboration, and strategic partnership.

Valentina Salmoiraghi, INTA’s Anticounterfeiting Advisor, Asia-Pacific, spoke at the summit about INTA’s advocacy efforts and Strategic Plan in relation to anticounterfeiting, including efforts and initiatives on e-commerce and border issues, best practices for addressing the sale of counterfeits on the Internet, best practices for lessening risks to goods in transit, and developments in border measures. On July 4, the summit ended with the Anti-Illicit Trade & Brand Protection Workshop, which focused on collective actions to fight illicit trade, cross-industry best practices, transformative technologies, and public and private sector partnerships for anti-illicit trade and market integrity.

INTA member and representative of INTA’s Anticounterfeiting-China Subcommittee, Yu Bo (SIPS, China), participated in a panel discussion concerning collective actions to fight illicit trade and promote market integrity across regions. Mr. Yu stressed the importance of information-sharing among anticounterfeiting players and intra – and intergovernmental cooperation.

Following the GTDW, from July 11-13, INTA was invited to join the 2018 China Forum on Criminal IP Protection in Suzhou, China, organized by the Quality Brands Protection Committee of the China Association of Enterprises with Foreign Investment (QBPC) and supported by IP Key China, a program directed by the European Commission and implemented by the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) to facilitate market access, increase transparency, and improve the implementation of intellectual property protection and IP enforcement systems. The Forum focused on new trends in criminal IP protection in China, data protection and IP protection, social cooperation and governance on IP protection, and China‒European Union Collaboration on IP protection and enforcement. Valentina Salmoiraghi, INTA’s Anticounterfeiting Advisor, Asia-Pacific, participated in a panel discussion and shared INTA’s advocacy efforts and achievements in relation to cooperation between the private and public sectors and initiatives in relation to combating counterfeits in China and globally.

Delegation Visit
From July 16 to 18, INTA CEO, Etienne Sanz de Acedo, will visit Beijing with Seth Hays, INTA’s Chief Representative Officer, Asia-Pacific and China, to meet with relevant local authorities, to discuss trademark protection and enforcement in the country, and to strengthen cooperation. The visit will include various meetings and also events involving INTA’s members based in China. INTA will meet with the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) to discuss the new restructuring plan and new competencies of the office after the trademark reforms become effective. These reforms will make SIPO responsible for registration and protection of trademarks.

The delegation’s visit will continue with meetings with the Beijing IP Court, China customs, and the Ministry of Public Security (MPS)–the main Chinese authorities in charge of trademark enforcement in the country. INTA will also engage the China Trademark Association (CTA), a national community association with the mission to implement trademark strategies and promote national brands. INTA’s delegation will also host a lunch to meet with the IP community in Beijing, including IP attachés, INTA members, and various stakeholders, and will also host an INTA – Beijing Justra Intellectual Property Center lecture, titled “The Future of Trademarks” on July 18 to conclude the visit.

All of these initiatives contribute to the Association’s continuous efforts to reinforce INTA’s role as a leading advocate for the interests of brand owners, to foster effective trademark laws and policies worldwide, and to harmonize their implementation in China.

Although every effort has been made to verify the accuracy of items in the INTA Bulletin, readers are urged to check independently on matters of specific concern or interest. Law & Practice updates are published without comment from INTA except where it has taken an official position.