On May 22, the Quality Brands Protection Committee of the China Association of Enterprises with Foreign Investment (QBPC) Internet Committee (IC) held the Launch Meeting for Research on the Evaluation System of IPR Protection Index for E-commerce Platforms (2024). The meeting was chaired by IC Committee Chair Annick Wang, and invited Professor Xue Jun of Peking University Law School to introduce the project and answer questions from QBPC members. More than 40 representatives from 32 member companies attended the meeting.
At the beginning of the meeting, Annick Wang said that the report on "Research on the Evaluation System of IPR Protection Index for E-commerce Platforms" conducted by QBPC in cooperation with the Business Law Research Center of Peking University in 2022-2023 attracted much attention upon its release. Currently, due to the rapid development of e-commerce platforms, the adjustment of business models and the enhancement of business competition and other factors, QBPC would continue to carry out this project in 2024 while further adjusting the proportion of research targets, and including more platforms and business models, extending the horizontal comparison between platforms to the vertical comparison of the same platforms in different years, as well as including the issue of the distribution of responsibilities between the right holders and the platforms under the new business format. As usual IC would collect opinions from members through questionnaire surveys and other methods. She looked forward to active participation by members.
Professor Xue Jun further explained the purpose, major adjustments, and expected results of the project. He stated that the research team would strive to expand the influence of the report and encourage platforms to treat IPR protection with the right mindset through the report.At present, the fierce commercial competition between e-commerce platforms had to some extent led to a decline in the level of IPR protection while the attention to IPR protection of new business format on platforms was insufficient. He expected to fully address these issues in this year's report. He believed that the public opinion influenced by the report would be a driving force for the platforms to make progress, which would help to raise the importance of the platforms' IPR protection departments, as well as presenting an objective reflection of the current situation of IPR protection in e-commerce for legislators, policy makers and enforcers, so that all stakeholders could work together to improve the IPR protection environment of the e-commerce industry.
In her concluding speech, Annick Wang said that IC was established to unite the efforts of member companies. Supported by real and effective data and case feedback, IC would speak out and help members solving the problems on Internet platforms. At the end of the meeting, Professor Xue Jun put forward prospects for the project and analyzed the potential influence of Interim Provisions on Anti-Unfair Competition in the Internet Sector issued by State Administration for Market Regulation on future online brand protection.