China

Trade secrets are a valuable and highly useful form of intellectual property. Nearly all businesses in all industries and sectors have them. Nevertheless, they are often undervalued and overlooked by their owners. This is not least the case in the service sector where the relative value of trade...

Trade fairs are an excellent opportunity for a business to showcase new products and scout business partners for manufacturing, promotion, and distribution. Unfortunately, in China, these exhibitions are a common prowling grounds for intellectual property rights infringers, so it is important to...

The European Network of Research and Innovation Centres and Hubs (ENRICH) in China is holding an Autumn series of online workshops offering advice on doing business in the Far East nation. Three workshops are aimed at SMEs among others and will provide relevant knowledge and practical tips from the...

While in the past, European companies came to China to take advantage of low-cost manufacturing for export, more recently, they have come to enter the Chinese domestic market, establish R&D, engage in cooperative development, take advantage of a skilled work force, establish suppliers, and develop...

Internet usage is truly booming in China, with more than 701 million ‘netizens’ (as of December 2016), China connects more people to the Internet than any other country. In fact, every fourth person on the Internet is from China. Facilitated by the increasing availability of broadband technology and...

Prior trade mark registrations, also called ‘bad-faith registrations’, are a significant problem that many European companies encounter in China. This process commonly involves a Chinese company first registering the trade mark of a foreign company in China with the express intention of selling it...

In this article, we will discuss protecting IP when seeking Chinese manufacturers and will address what it takes to design an NNN (non-use, non-disclosure, and non-circumvention agreements) which can pose enough of a credible threat to dissuade contract violations. Defining protected information...

Webinar date: 3 March 2020, 10:30 AM Brussels time The International IPR SME Helpdesks are organising a joint webinar on the 10 basic Intellectual Property tips to succeed abroad. The webinar is hosted in partnership with CUBE IN, INNOWWIDE and ENRICH - three initiatives assisting European companies...

Call ID:COS-SMECC-2019-2-01 Deadline: 02 April 2020 17:00:00 Brussels time Considering the economic potential and size of the Chinese market, the extent of difficulties faced by SMEs in accessing the market and gaps in existing first-line business support services for SMEs, the European Parliament...

China’s intellectual property rights (IPR) system has come a long way in the past 30 years, and development continues – a revision of the trade mark law came into force in May, paving the way for more thorough protection for rights holders. Although China is now coming into line with international...

For most businesses, intangible assets represent more than 50% of the value of the enterprise. The most significant group of intangible assets are those protected by intellectual property such as inventions, designs and brands. Since they form such a large part of the overall value, their management...

In one of the most famous trade mark infringement case, New Balance Trading (China) – the Chinese affiliate of US sports footwear brand, New Balance – was ordered by a Guangzhou court to pay RMB98 million in compensation (equivalent to approximately EUR14.3 million), and to publicly apologise to...