Beijing

Seller of pirated books sentenced to prison

A Beijing man surnamed Li was recentlysentenced to three and a half years in jail and fined 80,000 yuan ($12,900) for selling pirated books online. Li, previously a salesman for an electronic appliance company, began selling pirated reference books in April 2014 of the National Judicial Exams. He sold nearly 12,000 books by June 2014 when he was arrested. The police found more than 500 unsold books at his home.

Beijing times

NDRC drafts guideline on IP monopolies

The National Development and Reform Commission recently began drafting a guideline for regulations on the misuse of intellectual property rights and the exercising of monopolies. The guideline will be based on the Anti-Monopoly Law and will highlight IP-related monopoly agreements, misuse of market ascendancy and concentration of business operators. Insiders said the guideline will affect the use of IP rights and sales behavior in a number of sectors, including information technology and pharmaceuticals.

Economic information Daily

Shanghai

2 companies secure major funding

Two IP management companies in the city each won 10 million yuan ($1.6 million) in equity investment recently from the Ministry of Finance. Officials from the city's intellectual property authority said the IP agencies will use the funds to improve their service and international competitiveness. One of the investment winners, Shanghai Silicon Intellectual Property Exchange Co Ltd, manages more than 1,000 patents focusing on the information technology sector; the other, Sinoipro IP Management and Technology Transfer Co Ltd, specializes in the transfer of biomedicine technologies.

Jiefang Daily

Tianjin

Agencies team up to streamline patents

Six IP agencies in the city signed an agreement last week with the Tianjin free trade zone to provide convenient services for companies in the area applying for patents as well as assessing, trading and protecting their IP rights. IP-related businesses of local companies will be handled at a center that looks to trim redundant procedures, said the city's IP officials.

TJ.GOV.CN

Jiangsu

Innovation center makes debut

An intellectual property exchange center opened its doors on June 9 in Nantong. Supported by the China Association of Inventions, the center offers services in intellectual property evaluation, trade, financing, trust and policy consultation. An invention base project was also launched to encourage innovation by technicians, inventors and college students. The project will help them start their own companies and improve their IP management.

People's Daily

Chongqing

Professional training the focus of seminar

At a seminar held last week in Chongqing University of Technology, university scholars and company representatives shared their views on how to train intellectual property management personnel. The delegates suggested that more opportunities be given to students majoring in intellectual property management. Tao Xinliang, head of the Intellectual Property Institute at Shanghai University, said that an IP management professional should not only be an expert of the law, but also a specialist in market operations.

cqnews.net

Anhui

Trademark-pledged financing expanded

According to the provincial administration for industry and commerce, 1,019 trademarks in the province were collateralized for nearly 10.5 billion yuan ($1.7 billion) by March. In the first three months of the year, 20 companies won up to 336 million yuan in trademark-pledged financing. The province will further its trademark pledges as local enterprises that have influential trademarks still need capital to develop and grow, according to a spokesperson from the administration.

Anhui Daily

Gansu

Consumers vote for best local brands

Officials from the provincial consumers association and trademark association recently toured companies across the province in a bid to find the 100 most liked trademarks in the province. In a campaign jointly launched by the two associations and local media, consumers voted for their favorite trademark in an online poll. The final result will be based on an expert panel and the online voting.

Gansu Daily

(China Daily 06/10/2015 page17)