Shanghai, China and New York, USA – On April 13 (Beijing Time), the Quality Brands Protection Committee (QBPC) and the International Trademark Association (INTA) signed the fourth Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to deepen the strategic cooperation between the two parties since 2014.
According to the MOU, both parties may engage in the following activities in areas of mutual interest: development of programs and specific collaborative projects related to trademarks, dispute settlement, trademark rights enforcement, and in other IP related areas; exchange of research and information on issues of mutual interest; exchange of experiences and educational material; promote each other (events, news and articles) on the official websites and newsletters; share events regularly and give discounts to the members of each other for the events participation.
During the online signing ceremony, QBPC Vice Chair William Mansfield and INTA CEO Etienne Sanz de Acedo made opening remarks respectively. Etienne stated that INTA had very good and strong partnership with QBPC over the years from 2014 in brand protection and fighting counterfeiting both in China & outside China. And it was pleased to renew the MOU with QBPC. William pointed out the significance of the cooperation in terms of breadth and depth. INTA had a wide coverage with members from around the world and it represented one of the largest global repositories of knowledge and practice about trademarks on earth. QBPC had a deep depth of knowledge and experience about brand protection centered on one of the largest economies (and the heart of most supply chains) on earth. The cooperation took a formal step to link these two intellectual property powerhouses as each brought with it absolutely essential tools in the struggle against modern counterfeiting. QBPC fully expected this collaboration that joined breadth and depth for the good of all would result in more than the sum of its parts.
After the signing ceremony, QBPC Vice Chair John Groves and INTA President Tiki Dare made endorsement remarks respectively. John said that his company had been a member of QBPC for sixteen years, and been a member of INTA for even longer, and he really valued the membership of both organizations. He mentioned that many of colleagues in INTA found dealing with China IP issues somewhat complicated and frustrating, notably in recent years the amount of time and money spent opposing and then litigating against a proliferation of bad faith trademark applications. For the last 20 years QBPC had been facilitating and promoting the continuous improvements of administrative and judicial protection for intellectual property in China through cooperative engagement with Chinese criminal, administrative and judicial enforcement authorities, and played an important part in achieving the improved IP environment in China today. In the process, QBPC had gained a lot of respect. Moreover, the leadership of QBPC had many years of experience of practical IP protection in China, while INTA brought global perspective and trademark expertise. Although a lot of progress had been made, there still remained much to do. Together the two organizations could do it faster and more effectively.
Tiki made a comprehensive introduction about INTA and talked about three priority issues on counterfeiting, namely customs and border measures, criminal enforcement and online counterfeiting. Besides, he reviewed the joint achievements made by the two parties in the past years.
In the end, QBPC Chair Michael Ding made closing remarks. He said it was another milestone for both parties to renew the MOU, which matched one of the focuses of QBPC to strengthen the cooperation with the outstanding intellectual property associations all over the world. Through this kind of win-win collaboration, QBPC could not only share the best practices and insights in China with the headquarters of its members and right holders in various countries, but also bring back some constructive comments from the international IP community to relevant Chinese government authorities for their reference. QBPC looked forward to continuing cooperation with INTA for mutual benefit and best practice sharing to empower members through improving IP protection and business environment.
