AN intellectual property right service center, offering consulting services to Expo exhibitors and helping them solve IPR-related disputes, will start operation in mid-April, officials said yesterday.

The center will be set up in the service hall for exhibitors in the Expo administrative area, officials said at a government intellectual-property working conference yesterday.

Staff members from the legal affairs department under the Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination will be in charge of the center's day-to-day work.

If there are complicated IPR disputes, experts from the government and professional lawyers will be invited in, said Huang Jianzhi, deputy director of the bureau.

"In this way, we can both avoid waste of human resources and gather all-around powers for IPR protection," Huang said.

The city will also start a service hotline, 12330, to accept complaints about infringement of exhibitors' intellectual property rights.
                                                                                          Source: ShanghaiDaily.com