Fu Shuangjian, deputy director of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC), told an industry conference in Suzhou on Jan 12 that since the national trademark demonstration cities program began in 2008, it has succeeded in boosting the overall economies in pilot areas.

Thirty of the 53 demonstration cities that have 10,000 registered trademarks have a GDP surpassing 150 billion yuan ($22.7 billion), he noted.

A number of senior government officials, scholars and delegates from the cities gathered at the conference for a review of the initiative and wide-ranging discussion of trademark protection issues.

City delegates vowed to increase support policies for well-established enterprises and intensify law enforcement through better departmental coordination in crackdowns on trademark violators.

They also said local governments have paid particular attention to empowering famous trademarks and geographical indications in an effort to modernize and commercialize agriculture and bring more income to farmers.

"For me, this is a milestone in the history of China's trademark and intellectual property development," Fu said.

"It shows those abroad that China is continuing to boost its trademark strategy through application, operation, protection and management, and is also forging ahead with an innovation-oriented society," he noted.

The conference heard the latest figures that show more than 720,000 law enforcement officials and local industry and commerce bureaus have raided 1,372 counterfeit production sites.

Officials cracked down on more than 16,000 counterfeit cases with a combined value of 9 million yuan ($15 million), including 5,000 trademark violations and 91 cases of online sales of counterfeits.

They also dealt with more than 17,000 consumer complaints and prevented economic losses of 74 million yuan to consumers, according to SAIC data.

The number of international trademark applications from China has now surpassed 11,000 to rank eighth in the world and at the top of developing countries for six consecutive years.

Fu also noted the progress made in streamlining the trademark process, with the time needed for authorization shortened to 12 months last year compared to 36 months between 2002 and 2007.

"In 2007, the administration could only authorize 400,000 applications. The number has now increased to 1 million," Fu said.

He added that the SAIC will strive to lessen the time to 10 months by 2012. Some 70 percent of applications are expected to be filed online by the end of this year.

                                                                                                     Source: China Daily