China Palm Expo to act on intellectual property infringements
Published: ASIA
CHINA: The organising committee behind China’s Palm Expo trade exhibition is promising to target copycat brands for its 2011 show, which takes in place at Beijing’s International Exhibition Centre between May 26th and 29th.
In a statement issued by IIR Exhibitions Pte Ltd, the committee has expressed its intention to make a ‘strong stand in clamping down on intellectual property infringements’ at the exhibition, ultimately ‘discouraging and eliminating’ products that break copyright laws. According to IIR managing director for Asia, Rosalind Ng, the organiser hopes that its efforts will ‘encourage more international exhibitors and participants to tap the growing China market.’
China has long presented a challenge to foreign manufacturers who wish to break into the territory only to find that their designs have been reverse-engineered by domestic factories, then sold to the market as original products. Because Chinese law requires international copyright holders to re-register their designs within China itself, the genuine manufacturers can find themselves pitted against a copycat factory that has already registered the stolen design as its own. As a consequence, China-based trade exhibitions have struggled to eliminate fake brands and low-quality imposter products which have a right by law to exhibit.
To combat the problem, IIR is planning a ‘series of exchanges’ at Palm Expo 2011, including the publication of a handbook titled ‘Information on the 20th Palm Exhibitors Trade Marks and Patents’, which will be distributed free of charge to all professional visitors. The book’s objective is described as creating awareness of intellectual property protection amongst exhibitors and preventing infringement within the show.
All of the exhibitors will also be required to sign an Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Protection Contract and declare that they understand the ‘Measures for the Protection of Intellectual Property Rights during PALM EXPO Exhibition’ and ‘Measures of Beijing Municipality for the Protection of Intellectual Property Rights during the Event’.
Most dramatically, the organiser is claiming that ‘copy products are not allowed to be displayed during the exhibition and action will be taken to remove such products if they have infringed the copyright law’. It is unclear how the Chinese copyright system will affect this.
Rosalind Ng expressed enthusiasm regarding the IIR statement, commenting: ‘we are delighted to be working with our partners in sending a strong signal to the industry that infringement of intellectual property rights is not to be condoned.’