- Beijing
Patents rocket
The intellectual property office of Beijing announced that the average patent ownership per 10,000 people in the city reached 40.4 last year. The number was the highest in the country and 10 times the national average. Last year Beijing's companies, universities and research institutions filed 123,300 patent applications, an increase of 33.6 percent. More than 62,000 patents were granted last year and the city owns 85,400 invention patents, ranking second nationwide.
Beijing Daily
- Guangdong
Fake agency caught out
Futian district in Shenzhen city cracked down on an illegal IP service agency last week. Enforcement officials found patent bills and application contracts but the agency was unqualified to deal with patent businesses. Local IP officials said such agencies lack experience and service quality. Last year they uncovered eight illegal agencies.
Shenzhen Special Zone Daily
App detects pirated books
The copyright authority of Guangzhou has developed a phone app that can distinguish pirated books from genuine ones. Users can scan a book's bar code with their phone and the app software compares the information with a database of more than 1.4 million entries. Users can also read news and announcements from the copyright authority via the app.
Guangming Daily
- Jiangsu
Study IP at new school
An intellectual property school has opened at the Nanjing University of Science and Technology. Data released at the opening ceremony said there would be 10,000 vacancies for patent examiners in the country in the next five years. By next year 4,000 enforcement officers and administrative service providers as well as 500 IP judges will be needed. Co-founded by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the State Intellectual Property Office and the Jiangsu provincial government, the school is open to applications this year.
jyb.cn
- Hebei
Target in sight
Tangshan has maintained rapid growth in bank loans using patents as collateral. So far this year local banks have granted 43 million yuan ($6.9 million) in combined loans, approaching the annual goal of 45 million yuan set by the provincial government. In the past three years the city's government started policies and organized bank-company matchmaking to promote the patent pledge and support patent commercialization of small tech businesses.
Xinhuanet.com
- Chongqing
Bee breeders buzzing
An agricultural cooperative in Shian town won three utility model patents for innovations on bee-breeding boxes. Deng Jiajun, a technical consultant, said the creations help save 80 percent of feeding bees and reduce 80 percent of feed for bees. "We applied for the patents not for profit, but to promote the healthy growth of the industry," he said. "We will offer the technologies for free to apiaries in need."
Chongqing Daily
- Yunnan
Fraudsters named and shamed
The provincial capital Kunming plans to start intellectual property credit archives to record those who violate IP-related laws. Under the plan companies and individuals using fake materials to defraud IP-related awards could face fines of between 2,000 and 10,000 yuan. Those caught defrauding governmental funds could face fines as high as 20,000 yuan. Punishments will also be publicized.
Ynxxb.com
- Anhui
Illegal website owner sentenced
Tunxi district court in Huangshan city heard the city's first copyright infringement case last week. The defendant, surnamed Jiang, was sentenced to six months in jail with one year's probation and fined 40,000 yuan. Jiang started a music website at the end of 2011 and offered 253 MTV free downloads without authorization from the copyright owners. There were nearly 90,000 downloads from the website by last April. Jiang made illegal profit of more than 20,000 yuan from advertising.
Huangshan Daily
(China Daily 04/02/2014 page17)
