China and UK strengthen IP ties
The UK and China have strengthened intellectual property ties during visits from officials to each country.
In early December, Sean Dennehey, CEO of the UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO), visited Beijing, Guangzhou and Chengdu.
This trip was immediately followed by a visit from Liu Junchen, vice minister of the State Administration for Industry & Commerce (SAIC), to the UK.
During the visits, 2017 bilateral workplans between the IPO and the State Intellectual Property Office on patents and designs, the IPO and SAIC on trademarks, and the IPO and the National Copyright Administration of China were agreed.
Additionally, the China-Britain Business Council (CBBC) and Chinese e-commerce platform JD.com signed a co-operative agreement to reduce online counterfeiting.
CBBC and JD will strengthen their existing cooperation on IP protection, with JD providing CBBC with a “green channel”, meaning that complaints by British companies filed through JD’s IP protection platform will receive a streamlined review process.
On the agreement, Dennehey said: “I am delighted to welcome this memorandum of understanding between JD and the CBBC, which is a strong signal of the clear commitment to the enforcement of the IP rights of British businesses.”
The UK participated as a “country-of-honour” in a copyright exhibition and conference in Guangzhou, while a UK-China trademarks summit was also held in London, opened by UK Minister of State for Energy and IP, Baroness Neville-Rolfe, and Junchen.
Finally, the latest in a series of CBBC-Alibaba Group roundtable meetings took place, with Alibaba partner Jessie Zheng presenting and answering questions from UK rights owners and industry groups.
