Intellectual Property Growing in Collision

Not long ago, Google, the Internet giant, spent USD 12.5 billion to acquire Motorola, which became the focus of the flash. Analysis of the industry, this is an important step in Google's mobile Internet era layout, but as Google's largest acquisition in history, of which, Google is more interested in Motorola's 17,000 patents.

In the textile and clothing industry, registered trademarks, product designs, and patented technologies are common intellectual property content. However, it is not optimistic that a survey conducted by the newspaper in the industry in relation to intellectual property issues conducted in October last year showed that more than 60% of apparel companies are dealing with intellectual property disputes. At the same time, service companies generally lack understanding of relevant laws and companies expect the government to play a greater role in protecting intellectual property rights.

Although domestic companies are still paying more attention to intellectual property rights, it is worthy of recognition that in the past ten years since the accession to the WTO, enterprises’ understanding and understanding of intellectual property issues have been deepened along with various international and domestic disputes. The government has also been We are committed to strengthening the improvement of relevant intellectual property laws and increasing enforcement efforts.

Enforcement of Legislation and Law Enforcement In 2008, China promulgated the “Outline of the National Intellectual Property Strategy” and clearly stated that by 2020 China will be built into a country with a high level of intellectual property creation, application, protection and management. Since China's accession to the WTO, China has continuously improved its laws relating to intellectual property rights. In 2001, the "Trademark Law" was revised. In 2008, the "Patent Law" was revised. In 2010, the "Copyright Law" was revised.

While the legal system has been continuously improved, the enforcement of government departments has also been stepping up efforts. It is not just anti-counterfeiting. The government functional departments have played an important role in helping companies to protect intellectual property rights.

In 2002, at the beginning of its accession to the WTO, the Wuhan Intellectual Property Office introduced a preferential policy for local apparel companies that could apply for patents free of charge. It turns out that in 2001, the number of patent applications in the apparel industry in Wuhan was 0. At the time, Wuhan garment enterprises were in a vicious competition, and the plagiarism between them was very serious and intellectual property rights were not properly protected. This practice of the Wuhan Intellectual Property Office has played a key role in reshaping the image of the industry and rebuilding a healthy competitive order.

Wang Linjie, a lawyer of the Legal Affairs Department of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, believes that in recent years, governments at all levels have been vigorously involved in the protection of intellectual property rights, which has brought about good social and economic benefits. Among these, it is worth mentioning that the efforts made by Nantong textile industry in protecting copyright have attracted the attention of the World Intellectual Property Organization, and in 2010 published a report on the impact of strengthening copyright protection on the development of China's textile industry in Nantong. 》

Regarding the basic practices and experience of copyright protection in the home textile market in Nantong City, Assistant Director-General Clarke of the International Intellectual Property Office believes that the main performance is in two aspects: first, the legal framework of the system, and second, the strong support of administrative agencies at all levels. Including management, law enforcement, transportation, warehousing, logistics, research and development, and services.

According to the success achieved in Nantong's home textile copyright protection, this is an important result achieved through the joint efforts of companies to establish rules and strengthen government protection.

Even in the border trade outside the WTO platform, the protection of intellectual property by the government has never been relaxed. On March 11, 2011, Manzhouli Customs seized 509 garments suspected of infringing on the “Adidas” intellectual property rights. This is the case in which Manzhouli Customs seized the largest number of alleged IPR infringement cases since it launched the “Special Action Against Intellectual Property Rights and the Production and Sales of Counterfeit Goods” last year.

The law is more robust, law enforcement is more stringent, and the protection of intellectual property rights is receiving more and more attention. It is precisely because of the active advocacy of the state that society and enterprises have universalized the awareness of respecting and protecting intellectual property rights.

Disputes are more complex In 2001, before the entry into the WTO, Dalian Sifan Fashion Co., Ltd. and Dalian Jinxin Fashion Design Center had a lawsuit. The plaintiff thinks that Fan Jin, the defendant, sold two ladies cashmere coats that infringed his own design patent rights. . This case was regarded as the first case in which the Chinese garment companies carried out a garment appearance patent.

After the Dalian Intermediate People’s Court heard the trial, the defendant “Jinxin” immediately stopped the infringement and compensated the plaintiff “Sifan” with an economic loss of 85,000 yuan.

The apparel industry infringes the design practices of others and has not been well cured. This seems to be the pain that the industry has suffered silently for many years. The person in charge of a well-known garment company in Hangzhou pointed out that the reasons for the repeated prohibition of intellectual property rights in the apparel industry are that “the garment market is changing rapidly, with high R&D investment and long research and development time, which has led many companies to be reluctant to research, develop and design new ones. Products, instead of customarily mimicking and following the trend, make plagiarism very common."

According to Zhang Ke, Brand Director of Beijing Gege Qipao Co., Ltd., the company develops hundreds of models each year. The plagiarism of original designs often occurs and is difficult to control. The time for applying for a patent is longer, which is inconsistent with the characteristics of fast fashion and popularity. Therefore, there is no patent application for pattern design. Wang Linjie said that in fact, many companies do not understand that since the design was born, the law has automatically granted copyright protection, so once the original design is plagiarized, it can be identified as intellectual property rights infringement.

In addition to design infringement, the adverse effects of trademark infringement are even more serious.