EU-China training for IP protection at trade fairs

2010/06/09

IPR2, together with the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT), entrusted by the Ministry of Commerce, will implement a training programme with Chinese companies and government officials on how to protect IP at trade fairs, at Guilin, Zhejiang, Beijing, 12-16 July 2010. European experts will present the leading IP protection measures in Europe, and explain how companies can prepare to make use of the system, supported by case studies from major exhibitions in Europe. In addition, the training will elaborate the role and scope of the recently introduced function of on-site mediation support for exhibitors.

As part of its co-operation with MOFCOM, IPR2 will address IP protection at trade fairs in China. This will include awareness-building activities such as best practice seminars on the protection of IPRs at trade fairs, physical presence at exhibitions and moot trials on IPR enforcement in Europe and China, for example at the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai. Read more.

It is in this context that IPR2 engages with the Ministry of Commerce to create a better understanding of strategies that are developed in the European Union, for example Italy, France, Germany, etc to protect IPRs at trade fairs by establishing a mediation desk at different European trade fairs. Based on the existing laws and practices in China, recommendations will be given as to how European experience could benefit the development of a stronger IPR enforcement at trade fairs in China. In addition, this exercise will also aim to build the knowledge of European and Chinese companies on how to protect their rights at trade fairs in China and Europe respectively.

On the basis of the previous experience at European trade fairs, IPR2 supports CCPIT and MOFCOM with targeted training from industry exhibitors, service providers to exhibition organisers, and finally to CCPIT staff. The training focuses on how to effectively prepare for the participation to a trade fair, how exhibition organisers can support industry representatives in the protection of IPR at trade fairs, and on how mediation services can be set up and assured in preparation, during, and as follow up actions to a trade fair.

This first training session targets Chinese companies attending exhibitions abroad; the second targets the exhibition organisers and government officials; and an additional session will focus on 'training of trainers' for those government officials responsible for supporting Chinese companies when attending exhibitions abroad.

CCPIT was established in 1952 and comprises enterprises and organisations representing the economic and trade sectors in China. It is the most important and the largest institution for the promotion of foreign trade in China and aims to promote foreign trade, manage foreign investment, introduce advanced foreign technologies, conduct activities of Sino-foreign economic and technological cooperation in various forms, promote the development of economic and trade relations between China and the rest of the world.

This forms part of IPR2's ongoing collaboration with MOFCOM on the protection and enforcement of IP rights at trade fairs, and builds on the experience gained at the CeBIT trade fair in Hanover in March 2009 and 2010, the Frankfurt Messe 2010, the IFA exhibition in Berlin and Schweissen and Schneiden in Essen in 2009; the EU-China Seminar on the Protection of IPR at Trade Fairs, in Beijing and Shenzhen in November 2008, as well as the preparation of a study on European experiences and practices to support the preparatory work. View www.ipr2.org/tradefair
                                                                                                       Source: ipr2.org