Por Maarten Roos

O pervasiveness continuado de falsificar em China é não somente um problema da lei, mas também um do enforcement. Quando as leis e os regulamentos de China se conformarem ao acordo em aspectos negocí-relacionados de direitas de propriedade intelectual (DESENGATES) e de outros princípios internacionais extensamente aceitados, determinadas partes do mecanismo da proteção de China provaram ineficaz. Os exemplos comuns são os padrões elevados para que a responsabilidade criminal dos falsificadores, o burden elevado da evidência para provar registos maus da fé, e a dificuldade prove os danos em continuações civis. Na uma mão, está abundante desobstruído que as polícias, as autoridades administrativas e as cortes faltam frequentemente os recursos, o conhecimento ou a determinação para combater eficazmente infringements.

Próprio desenvolvimento continuando de China, e a pouca pressão internacional da extensão, conduzirá gradualmente às melhorias nas edições acima, mas este não é proprietários individuais process de uma propriedade intelectual (IP) pode influenciar. Os proprietários podem entretanto assegurar-se de que tenham as direitas exclusivas a seu IP em China sob a lei chinesa, e que a mais melhor decisão pode ser feita rapidamente sobre se fazer exame da ação de encontro a um infringement percebido. Tais proteção, geralmente baratas e raramente time-consuming, são o elemento o mais básico à estratégia do IP de uma organização.

Identificando o gerente do IP

Cada organização deve apontar alguém para interesses coordenados do IP. Whether it is an IP specialist, lawyer or manager, at least one person needs to maintain a clear perspective on the organization’s IP interests and rights, collect information on potential infringements, and be able to respond immediately in case of need.

Responding quickly and decisively to potential IP infringements is often a crucial part of the success of an IP enforcement action. Therefore the most effective IP Managers are people with authority, who are able to reach decision makers quickly. They build communication channels with sales persons and others in the organization to learn of infringements. And they ensure that a law firm is retained to support enforcement actions at short notice, with a valid Power of Attorney and relevant IP registration certificates in place.

Identifying your IP Portfolio

IP rights gain value during the course of one’s business. A regular review of an organization’s intellectual property to identify which are sufficiently valuable to protect will prevent an organization from being caught off-guard.

Logical moments to conduct such an IP audit are when a foreign company enters a new market or when it establishes a subsidiary. Thus foreign companies investing in China should make an IP review part of their due diligence. Furthermore, as China is a fast-developing market place, a yearly review is recommended. During this review, the IP manager should identify the old and new IP that the organization (and perhaps its affiliates) owns in China, and whether the corresponding rights are registered (in case of trademarks and patents). If not, then the IP manager should be able to proceed with registration at short notice.

Among the IP that should be reviewed are:

(1) Brand names, either developed by the organization or its affiliates abroad, or even those that have developed in the market – e.g. a Chinese version of an existing international mark;
(2) Domain names which correspond to the trade name and/or above brand names (especially those ending with .com, .cn and .com.cn);
(3) Patents, which are technical inventions developed by the organization or its affiliates abroad;
(4) Specific designs of industrial products which are distinctive and may be easily copied
(5) Copyrights, such as software, catalogues, webpages and articles; and
(6) Trade secrets, undisclosed technologies, confidential business information and other sensitive data to which the organization has rights through contractual obligations of employees or commercial counterparts.

All the above can be protected under Chinese law. However trademarks and domain names must be registered before another party does so, and for a patent filing to be granted the technique or design must be either novel (not publicized elsewhere before the filing date), or must be applied for within a certain period after the corresponding foreign application. This makes the timing of such applications crucial.

Registered trademarks, copyrights and designs may also be recorded with the Chinese customs authorities. As a consequence, if customs finds goods that are infringing on recorded rights, it will notify the owner immediately so that the latter can take action. If they know of a shipment of counterfeits, owners of recorded rights may also notify customs directly.

Maarten Roos, Wang Jing & Co

This is the first part of the article Protection vs. Enforcement. Next week we will publish the second part.