Trade secrets are a valuable and highly useful form of intellectual property right and Coca-Cola is testament to this. They are the global leader in the beverage industry, and it is no wonder that the secret for the formula of the most popular soft drink in America is valued at millions of dollars.
Continue reading “How To Protect Trade Secrets when Meeting Potential Partners” »
Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba is back in the news this week, but with less fanfare than its biggest-IPO-in-history success story back in September. It has been criticised in a report from the State Administration of Industry & Commerce (SAIC) over hosting the sale of counterfeits, among other illegal trading issues. Data from the SAIC suggests 63% of listed brand goods on the site are not genuine – no insignificant number to be sure. This has kicked-off a battle between the SAIC and Alibaba, with counter-statements from the company and a number of accounts of alleged infringements emerging from both sides.
Continue reading “Alibaba – Who is responsible for keeping out the counterfeits?” »
The China IPR SME Helpdesk launched the Serious Game on Thursday, 22 May at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beijing. There were games to be played, prizes to be won and networks to be made. The name of the game was simple. Each person attending played in a team of four and each team had one hour to earn as much profit as possible – the team that earned the most amount of money would win a prize (hello, chocolates and legal vouchers!).
Continue reading “Let the Games Begin… It’s official: the Serious Game has been launched!” »
Whoever said learning about intellectual property rights in China couldn’t be fun? Well, even if they did they won’t anymore: The China IPR SME Helpdesk is set to release it’s IPR Serious Game – the most, ahem, entertaining IPR tool yet to be added to its arsenal.
So what’s it all about then…?
The intellectual property rights (IPR) available in China are very similar to those available in Europe. Assuming you have registered your IP and found it being infringed then you will want to enforce it. How might you find out your products have been infringed? Your customers might tell you about competing products, you might find infringements for sale on the internet, you might see infringing products at a trade fair etc… Continue reading “Enforcing Your Rights in China” »