Local centers to assist businesses wrapped up in legal disputes abroad
The National Intellectual Property Administration recently named the country’s first 10 local centers to help Chinese companies protect their IP rights in overseas markets.
The centers will be an important part of a national system to provide guidance and training to companies that are confronting IP disputes when trading abroad, said the administration in an official notice on April 8.
They include IP protection centers in Beijing; Shanghai; East China’s Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Anhui provinces; Central China’s Hubei province; Southwest China’s Sichuan province; and South China’s Guangdong province.
These centers will collect and analyze information on overseas IP disputes, offer legal assistance, provide risk-control training and coordinate resources to support the Chinese companies involved in IP-related cases, according to the notice.
The IP protection center in Shenzhen, Guangdong, said that with the new mission, it will work out solutions to the biggest problems in IP disputes to protect the legal rights and interests of domestic companies in overseas markets.
For example, it will help companies cope with IP rights investigations by the United States International Trade Commission.
It is expected to build a system with law firms, funds, resources and legal professionals to give substantial support to the companies when they encounter IP infringement investigations abroad.
Shenzhen, a Silicon Valley-like city in South China, has encountered the most overseas IP disputes in the country. The challenges include litigation for patents, trademarks and technical barriers.
Seventy-one Chinese companies were involved in patent cases filed with US courts in 2018. Out of them, 36.6 percent, or 26, came from Shenzhen, China Food Newspaper reported.
In 2019, 10 of the Section 337 investigations conducted by ITC targeted Chinese companies, five of which were from Shenzhen.
In the same year, Chinese companies were involved in 132 trademark cases filed with US courts. About half were from Shenzhen.
Chinese companies involved in overseas IP disputes and cases usually have little knowledge about the legal systems in destination countries. They barely have any experience and face huge legal costs, the newspaper cited experts as saying.
The official aid system can meet their needs, better protect their rights and interests, and increase their competitiveness in global markets, according to the center.