Legal-Express

The State Council recently released the 14th Five-Year Plan of IP Protection and Use, providing IP-specific guidance, basic principles, primary objectives, key tasks, support measures for the next five years.

The Plan arranges four measures, namely, enhancing leadership roles, inspiring exploration and innovation, adding investment and ensuring execution to secure the materialization of the objectives and tasks.

A total of 2,104 companies have participated online in the 7th China-Japan-ROK Industries Expo, which opened on Oct 26 in East China's Weifang city, Shandong province.

With the theme "New era, new pattern, new opportunity," this year's expo also features a hydrogen energy industry summit forum, a local government cooperation meeting, and a conference on talent exchange and development, aiming to further deepen cooperation among the three countries in terms of economy, trade, investment, science, technology and culture.

The People's Bank of China (PBOC) and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) jointly announced on Thursday that they have signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Fintech Innovation Supervisory Cooperation in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA).

The move aims to advance cooperation on fintech innovation on the basis of law and regulations, improve the quality and efficiency of financial services in the GBA and increase financial support for its development, said the PBOC.

During the Jan.-Sept. period, non-financial FDI into the country totaled 859.5 billion yuan. In U.S. dollar terms, FDI into the Chinese mainland totaled 129.3 billion U.S. dollars, up 25.2 percent year on year.

FDI into the service sector increased 22.5 percent in yuan terms, while high-tech industries saw FDI inflow jumping 29.1 percent year on year, data from the ministry showed.

The 130th China Import and Export Fair concluded in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, on Tuesday after attracting more than 600,000 visitors from around the world.

About 8,000 domestic and foreign companies displayed their latest products and technology in an exhibition area of 400,000 square meters, with 51 exhibition zones. An additional 26,000 firms exhibited their technologies, goods and services online in search of Sino-foreign cooperation and exchanges and an increased presence in world markets.

Meanwhile, the Pearl River International Trade Forum, a State-level event, was held for the first time to further expand the fair's influence.

At the opening ceremony, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the NCAC presented the WIPO-NCAC Copyright Awards, including the creativity awards and the awards for copyright utilization, copyright protection, and copyright administration management.

An exhibition marking the 30th anniversary of the implementation of the Copyright Law in China, and seminars on topics such as copyright protection in the fields of the film industry, private economic development and short-video platforms will be held during the expo.

Yan Jun, Head of Law Enforcement Inspection Bureau under the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) introduced that in response to the key fields with high incidence of IPR infringement and counterfeiting and highlighted issues, it is necessary to severely investigate and handle illegal acts, such as trademark infringement, counterfeiting patents, infringements on GIs, and malicious trademark applications. SAMR maintained severe crackdown on infringements. In January to August this year, a total of nearly 20,000 cases were investigated and handled nationwide.

The National Development and Reform Commission, China's top economic regulator, unveiled on Friday the latest draft version of the negative list for market access.

The draft list for 2021 indicates areas where investment is prohibited or restricted; all other areas are presumed to be open. It now comprises 117 items, compared with 123 in the 2020 version, according to the NDRC.