On February 25, Quality Brands Protection Committee of China Association of Enterprises with Foreign Investment (“QBPC”) and the Food, Drug and Environment Crime Investigation Department of the Public Security Bureau of Shandong Province (“Shandong FDECID”) successfully held an exchange on IPR criminal protection in Shanghai. The participants included Shandong FDECID Chief Captain Ge Wenlei, Deputy Chief Captain Liu Gang, 33 representatives of local police units and nearly 80 representatives of 56 QBPC members from 14 industry working groups (IWGs).
Shandong FDECID Chief Captain Ge Wenlei and QBPC Best Practices/Enforcement Committee (BPEC) Chair Conan Chen delivered opening remarks. BPEC Vice Chair Peter Yang and Nora Zhang hosted the event.
Ge Wenlei
Peter Yang
Nora Zhang
In his speech, Ge Wenlei, on behalf of Shandong FDECID, thanked QBPC and its members for their support and enthusiastic participation in this exchange as well as their assistance in combating IPR infringement crimes. He also appreciated the efforts and contributions of Shangdong FDECID colleagues in IPR criminal protection. This was the fifth exchange and cooperation between the two sides. With increasing in-depth exchange and cooperation, both parties had achieved a lot through joint efforts. In the context of normalization of epidemic prevention and control, more and more IPR cases involving QBPC members had been investigated and handled, among which five had been commended by the Ministry of Public Security and one selected as a QBPC Top Ten Case of the year. These achievements highlighted the ability and determination of public security bureaus (PSBs) and right holders to fight together against IPR infringement crimes.
Conan Chen
On behalf of QBPC, Conan Chen thanked the police officers and member companies' representatives on site. He introduced 2021 IPR protection work of QBPC through relevant data. Besides, he reviewed the five-year cooperation between the QBPC and the Shandong FDECID since signing the MOU on August 1, 2017. Although the exchange was always held in winter every year, the enthusiasm for protecting innovation had never been affected by the coldness. Conan expressed his high respect and heartfelt thanks to Shandong FDECID and the local detachments for their great efforts and achievements in protecting right holders’ IPR and interests in accordance with the law and promoting the development and progress of IPR protection in China. After briefing on IPR-related laws, regulations and policies newly released in 2021, he emphasized that the laws and policies fully demonstrated the Chinese government's determination to protect intellectual property, and further enhance the confidence of foreign enterprises in the continuous improvement of China’s protection level and perfecting business environment under the rule of law. In the end, this exchange was very meaningful with such background, and he looked forward to further broadening cooperation and promoting collaboration level with Shandong FDECID in 2022 in order to achieve mutual benefits and win-win at a higher level.
The exchange focused on three topics: the characteristics, difficulties and trends in the counterfeiting industry; case study and collaboration between the police and the enterprises; and finally, exploration on the police and enterprise cooperation in combating IP crimes under new circumstances.
During the session of Characteristics, Difficulties and Trends in the Counterfeiting Industry, Gao Bin of Shandong FDECID firstly introduced the work for IPR criminal protection, the status quo of IP crimes in Shandong Province and the prospect. Wu Qian from Shandong FDECID analyzed the situation and measures taken by Shandong PSBs to crack down on drug-related crimes after the revision of the Drug Administration Law.
Afterwards, the representatives of Johnson & Johnson, Nike, ANTA, TWE, Kering and Beiersdorf, respectively on behalf of Pharmaceutical & Medical Devices, Sports, Fashion & Life Style, Food Beverage & Alcohol, Luxury Goods, Personal Care IWGs, explained the situation of relevant industries, the infringement trends and characteristics, and the priorities and difficulties in IPR protection.
In the session of Case Study and Collaboration between the Police and Enterprieses, the representatives of member companies Louis Vuitton, Burberry, Dyson and officers from local FDECID units from Weihai, Qingdao, Heze, Yantai and Zaozhuang shared the characteristics and highlights of relevant cases, and their successful experience of collaboration.
左起：主持人章艳华，专题讨论发言人陈超、刘刚、张涛、钮沙莎、邵克亮
From Left: Nora Zhang, Conan Chen, Liu Gang, Zhang Tao, Sharan Niu, Victor Shao
The panel discussion of this exchange focused on the cooperation between police and enterprises in combating IP crimes under the new situation. Deputy Chief Captain of Shandong FDECID Liu Gang, Deputy Chief of Qingdao Detachment Zhang Tao, BPEC Chair Conan Chen, Pharmaceutical & Medical Devices IWG representative Victor Shao (Sanofi) and Personal Care IWG representative Sharan Niu (Unilever) spoke on their experience from different perspectives, and discussed how the police and enterprises could effectively join efforts in the IPR protection under the new situation, and cooperate at a higher level to achieve a win-win result.
It is worth mentioning that this meeting specifically set up one-on-one exchange between police and enterprises for the first time. Under the guidance of the Shandong FDECID, representatives of member companies from the IWGs of Automotive (including bearings), Pharmaceutical & Medical Devices, Sports, Fashion & Life Style, Automation & Electric, Food Beverage & Alcohol, Personal Care and Wireless & Integrated Circuit had one-on-one discussions with local FDECID units from Jinan, Qingdao, Dongying, Weifang, Yantai, Weihai, Rizhao, Jining, Linyi, Dezhou and Heze on individual cases and related clues, etc. During networking break, QBPC members also set up product authenticity display booths helping the officers better distinguish fake product from the real ones.
Liu Gang made a concluding speech. He stressed that this was the fifth exchange between QBPC and Shandong FDECID on IPR criminal protection as well as the first meeting since the FDECID took over all IPR criminal protection in Shandong Province, to which both sides attached great importance. Shandong FDECID had always been adhering to the positive attitude of openness and win-win cooperation in carrying out IPR criminal protection and cooperation between police and enterprises. He also hoped that QBPC and its member companies would continue to support Shandong FDECID. Shandong FDECID would further deepen the concept of "Step Forward and Proactive", innovate cooperation mode and strive to be more efficient based on this exchange. Finally, he thanked QBPC and member companies for their strong support and active participation, and appreciated the hard work of the Provincial FDECID teams. Besides, special thanks were also given to QBPC office as well as the event organizing team staff from Shandong FDECID in providing excellent service for the event.
Liu Gang