On November 30, Quality Brands Protection Committee of China Association of Enterprises with Foreign Investment (QBPC) and Guangzhou Municipal Administration for Market Regulation (Guangzhou Intellectual Property Office) held an exchange meeting. Following the 3rd Dialogue on Administrative Protection of IPR of Foreign Invested Enterprises held in Shanghai, this was a further in-depth exchange between two sides. 17 representatives of 14 QBPC member companies and 2 observers from 10 different industries attended the meeting.
Wan Zhong, Director of the Intellectual Property Protection Division of Guangzhou AMR, delivered an opening speech and expressed his hope to work together with QBPC and right holders to enhance IPR protection and improve the business environment. Lin Yu, a fourth-level researcher of the Division, introduced the structure and functions of the office, as well as the positive results of the IPR protection work carried out in recent years.
The administrative enforcement of Guangzhou AMR covered the fields of trademarks, patents, geographical indications and trade secrets. Guangzhou AMR actively explored new initiatives to handle right holders' complaints for the protection of their rights. The Guangzhou AMR had joined hands with 39 departments in the city to issue the "Guangzhou Memorandum of Cooperation on the Issuance of Joint Punishment for Seriously Defaulting Subjects in the Field of Intellectual Property Rights and Their Related Persons" to improve the inter-departmental joint enforcement mechanism in the field of market supervision. The AMR also carried out cross-regional cooperation with law enforcement departments in Shenzhen and Hong Kong, and collaborated with Guangzhou Customs, Guangzhou Court and Guangzhou Public Security Bureaus to make effective connection between administrative law enforcement and criminal justice.
In addition, the Guangzhou AMR attached importance to the protection of trade secrets with currently preparing to build a trade secret protection base and planning to draft trade secret protection guidelines. The AMR paid great attention to the joint protection with the PSBs for bridging administrative and criminal justice, cooperation between government and enterprise for the establishment of trade secret protection demonstration park, social publicity and education to guide enterprises to establish trade secret protection awareness and internal confidentiality system in enterprises.
The officials in charge of the Enterprise Registration Department and Price Supervision Department of Guangzhou AMR also attended the meeting, answered the questions raised by the enterprise representatives and provided guidance and suggestions on the IPR protection.
QBPC member companies representatives and Guangzhou AMR in the exchange and discussion
Leon Lyu, QBPC Government Affairs and Public Policy Committee Vice Chair, thanked Guangzhou AMR for their support and introduced QBPC and the industry working groups. Member representatives also introduced their company business in turn and shared the issues in IPR protection such as case enforcement, parallel import, enterprise name infringement, and e-commerce counterfeiting. The officials of the AMR made responses and provided guidance one by one.
Guangzhou AMR Deputy Director Weining Lan and officials of the Enterprise Registration Department and Price Supervision Department
Lan Weining, Deputy Director of Guangzhou AMR, made a concluding speech. He emphasized that Guangzhou was a leading city in cross-border e-commerce, and cross-border e-commerce protection was also one focus of the AMR. Guangzhou AMR hoped to work together with the QBPC members to explore new methods and countermeasures in facing new problems and situations in IPR protection, and strive to create a better business environment.
Post-meeting group photo