On August 5, the Quality Brands Protection Committee of China Association of Enterprises with Foreign Investment (QBPC) hosted the 2024 Forum on Criminal IP Protection in Changzhou, Jiangsu. The event was executed in cooperation with the INTERPOL International IP Crime Investigators College (IIPCIC), IP Key China and United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
Nearly 200 people including leaders and officials from relevant local public security, procuratorial and judicial departments of 17 provinces and municipalities, China Association of Enterprises with Foreign Investment (CAEFI), IP Key China, INTERPOL International IP Crime Investigators College (IIPCIC), USPTO, Revenue Solicitors Office of Ireland, EUROPOL, relevant foreign embassies and consulates, scholars, representatives from trade associations and QBPC members attended the event either on-site or virtually. QBPC Best Practices/Enforcement Committee Chair Peter Yang moderated the event.
Peter Yang
In his opening remarks, QBPC Chair Michael Ding expected that all participants could take advantage of the opportunity to share the trend of Criminal IP protection, exchange best practices, and discuss common issues and proposals in order to achieve more and better collaboration in combating against IP crime in future.
Michael Ding
Cao Hongying (Executive Vice President of CAEFI), Shi Lingyun (Deputy Director, General Operation Division of Nanjing Customs) (on behalf of General Administration of Customs of P.R.C), Zheng Zhaoli (Senior Sergeant Grade II, Public Security Bureau of Jiangsu Province), Valerio Papajorgji (IP Cooperation Expert, International Cooperation Department, EUIPO) and Michael Mangelson (IP Counselor of USPTO) presented the keynote speeches.
Cao Hongying stated that criminal protection played a key role in the whole chain of IPR protection as an indispensable tool to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of IP right holders, combat IP crimes, maintain market order, and promote innovative development. QBPC had held multiple criminal protection forums, providing a platform for communication and exchange on intellectual property criminal protection for law enforcement and judicial departments, industry, and experts and scholars at home and abroad. He hoped that the forum would be a full success.
Cao Hongying
Shi Lingyun outlined the effectiveness and measures of China Customs in IPR protection and combating infringement and counterfeiting. She emphasized the importance of joint efforts between domestic and foreign right holders and law enforcement departments, which could improve the efficiency of IP protection and safeguard high-quality development.
Shi Lingyun
According to Zheng Zhaoli, Jiangsu PSB had attached great importance to IPR protection and especially the demand of criminal IP protection. Through strengthening the actual combat practice, the convergence of execution and punishment, police-enterprise cooperation and other measures, the PSB had made improvement in terms of the ability to protect innovation, solve cases, serve enterprises, and enhance collaborative protection and team capabilities.
Zheng Zhaoli
Valerio Papajorgji highlighted the importance of China-EU cooperation on IPR, with the goal of creating a more level playing field for European companies in China by improving the transparency and fairness of China's IPR protection and enforcement system, as well as promoting benefits for Chinese companies and the general public. Despite advances in China's fight against counterfeiting and piracy, he believed that the issue of infringement remained substantial. The two sides had strengthened their cooperation to boost IPR enforcement through a number of initiatives, and he hoped to continue to collaborate effectively with his Chinese counterparts in the future.
Valerio Papajorgji
Michael Mangelson said that China had been actively transforming its intellectual property system while citing cases of cooperation between U.S. rights holders and Chinese criminal law enforcement authorities. He mentioned the huge economic impact of counterfeit and pirated goods, as well as challenges such as online market and lack of deterrent penalties. Therefore, he called for increasing cooperation between law enforcement and rights holders to overcome obstacles and stay one step ahead of criminals. Finally, he emphasized the USPTO's commitment to working jointly with Chinese partners to strengthen IPR protections.
Michael Mangelson
In the session of Topic Speeches, Lu Chuan (Senior Prosecutor of Fourth Rank, Intellectual Property Prosecution Department of Shanghai People’s Procuratorate) mainly focused on promoting the comprehensive performance of intellectual property inspection with high quality and efficiency, as well as comprehensively escorting the accelerated development of new quality productivity; Deng Lili (Prosecutor of People's Procuratorate of Fengtai District of Beijing Municipality) introduced the practice and its effectiveness of the Beijing Municipal Procuratorate in IPR protection; Du Kong (Captain of Brigade, Food, Drug & Environmental Crime Investigation Department of Shanghai PSB) outlined the responsibilities of the brigade, current trends of IPR protection, as well as practical problems and countermeasures; Song Xiaogang (Deputy Captain of Food, Drug & Environmental Crime Investigation Detachment, Changzhou PSB) shared the measures and achievements of his team in cracking down on IP infringement crimes; Kirstine PEDERSEN (Head of IIPCIC, INTERPOL Global Academy, INTERPOL General Secretariat) underlined the importance of the Forum on Criminal IP Protection as a unique platform to come together and build capacity to fight transnational organized IP crime. She said that sharing knowledge remained as a key pillar of the support INTERPOL brought to its membership. Capacity building and training was an area of high demand from its member countries. This was why it offered a wide range of opportunities to learn new skills through its INTERPOL Global Academy and specialized College; and Aoife Raftery (Assistant Revenue Solicitor, Revenue Solicitors Office, Ireland) discussed the trends, challenges, and opportunities of intellectual property crime in Ireland.
On the second day of the forum, four panels will focus on New Trends, Challenges and Explorations in Criminal IP Enforcement, Digital Economy and IP Protection, New Hotspots and New Characteristics of IP Litigation, Criminal Incidental Civil Litigation and International Collaboration & Exchange on Criminal IP Enforcement. Please stay tuned!
