Containers line up at the busy China (Shanghai) Free Trade Zone in Lingang. Shanghai Customs has beefed up measures to better protect the intellectual property assets for local enterprises. (Zhang Suoqing)
Pudong-based enterprises have made a breakthrough and acquired protection from Shanghai Customs for their intellectual property assets after a rigorous strategy to do business overseas.
The three-month campaign ensured enterprises can now safeguard their intellectual property rights over traditional export products with comparative advantages, such as: Home appliances, consumer electronics, engineering machinery and several other featured items.
Customs sent officers to several key enterprises for intellectual property law enforcement coordination to work with intellectual property law enforcement staff to launch a crackdown on offenses against intellectual property.
The Shanggong Shenbei (Group) Co, on Luoshan Road, is the parent of Shanghai Shanggong Butterfly Sewing Machine Co and owns brands "Shanggong" and "Butterfly" which are often counterfeited by industry peers.
Shanghai Customs carried out surveillance protection on products with high risks of being counterfeited and seized 100 fake "Butterfly" sewing machines exported by a trade firm in Ningbo City. As a consequence, an offender was discovered and eventually found guilty by the No.3 Intermediate People's Court of Shanghai last September.
First IPR Center launched
Shanghai's first intellectual property protection center was established in July, in Zhangjiang Hi-tech Park, to shorten the patent application process and enhance protection. The China (Pudong) Intellectual Property Rights Protection Center helps to halve the application process by 15 months. Previously, applications had to be lodged with the State Intellectual Property Office in Beijing, a process which could take up to two-and-a-half-years.
The center hires an expert panel to evaluate and help improve the patents before submitting them to the national office.
Those submitted through the Pudong center will also enjoy a faster "green channel" in Beijing.
At present, the center offers fast access on high-end manufacturing and bio-pharmaceutical industries for Pudong-based companies from both home and abroad. The service will expand later.
The two pillar industries of Pudong generated more than 140 billion yuan ($21.42 billion) in production value in 2016, and more than 6,500 approved patents. Most came from leading companies, such as: Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC), MicroPort Scientific Corporation and Semiconductor Manufacturing International (Shanghai) Corp.
