China Establishes Patent, Trademark And Copyright Integrated Office

The following is a contributed report on recent intellectual property news in China.

China has set up an administrative office called the Shanghai City Pudong New Area Intellectual Property Office, integrating patent, trademark and copyright administration in the Pudong New Area in Shanghai city.

The office will be put into full operation as of 1 January 2015, according to the 21 November 2014 issue of China Intellectual Property News. (For the story “Shanghai’s Pudong sets up a patent, trademark and copyright integrated office” in Chinese, see here.)

With its nameplate unveiled on 16 November, the Intellectual Property Office is the first of its kind in China that covers trademark and copyright administration in addition to conventional patent administration. China has numerous intellectual property offices at various levels, but trademarks and copyright are beyond their administration.

As a witness to the unveiling ceremony, Zhimin He, deputy head of the State Intellectual Property Office, expressed his hope that the Pudong New Area Intellectual Property Office will proceed with administrative restructuring and set an example to the other parts of the country.

Echoing He’s hope, Wen Zhao, vice mayor of Shanghai city, encouraged the new Intellectual Property Office to take bold and concrete steps forward and take care to gather replicable experience in centralised management and integrated law enforcement of patents, trademarks and copyrights.

The new Intellectual Property Office is vested with administrative management, law enforcement and public service involving patents, trademarks and copyrights in its jurisdiction in the Pudong New Area of Shanghai city, which aims at one-department administration, one-window service and one-team law enforcement.

Covering an area of 1430 square kilometres with a permanent population of 519 million, the Pudong New Area, an administrative district positioned at the deputy provincial level, was established in 1993 as part of China’s ambitions to boost Shanghai’s development. As the largest district in Shanghai, the Pudong New Area has integrated most of the city’s financial and shipping resources.

Mingjiang Liu is an editor, associate professor, and doctor of law in intellectual property with Henan University of Animal Industry & Economics in Zhengzhou city, Henan province, China, and may be reached at mjliu@pku.edu.cn.

Image Credits: Wenjie Jiang