The Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO) has published a raft of new guidance designed to help you protect and enforce your rights in China.
Intellectual property (IP) protection is an important factor in the success of business expansion in Chinese markets, but is often an issue not given priority.
The UKIPO and China’s State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) recognise each other’s IP protections through the signing of bilateral cooperation agreements. These include:
- The 1996 cooperation agreement covering patents and designs
- A framework for cooperation on trade marks with China’s State Administration for Industry & Commerce (SAIC) in 2009
- A formal Programme for cooperation with the National Copyright Administration of China (NCAC) since 2010.
The IPO has also based an attaché in the British Embassy in Beijing since 2011, with the purpose of representing the UKIPO and protecting the rights of British businesses.
In addition, the British Embassy Beijing and the UKIPO provide several factsheets and newsletters on IP in China, such as the China IP Newsletter, an ad-hoc bulletin informing businesses of recent developments in the Chinese IP environment, and China IP in Numbers, providing statistics on the number of applications for IP rights filed in China, as well as Chinese businesses filing for patents, designs, and trade marks in the UK.
The new guidance also contains specific information on the actions you can take to apply and protect IP in the UK and China, particularly during times of disruption resulting from the coronavirus pandemic.
All this and more can be found here.
For help and advice with related matters, please get in touch with our intellectual property team today.