You are here: Home Media RoomQBPC News

QBPC in Seattle: Displaying IP Protection Achievements Overseas

Create Time:2019-02-25


On May 20th, INTA and QBPC co-hosted a workshop on China E-Commerce Law: What Does it Mean for Protecting Intellectual Property Online. Jack Chang made a presentation titled The Impact of E-Commerce Law on IP Protection-QBPC in Action. The workshop discussed the two most important aspects in e-commerce IP protection: legislation and law enforcement. With the help from specific cases, the organic integration of ruling-by-law thoughts and actions were presented perfectly to attendees from countries such as the USA, France, and Switzerland.
 
The first is legislation. Jack Chang, Chairman of the Quality Brands Protection Committee (hereinafter referred to as QBPC) and special advisor to President of L Brands Inc., mainly introduced the legislation process of the E-commerce Law of PRC (E-commerce Law), which was officially formulated in 2015, and also discussed the three time opinion collection on the draft amendment. QBPC and its members have continuously put forward suggestions on IP protection involved in clauses of the E-commerce Law, including definitions of responsibilities and obligations of IP right holders, infringers, and e-commerce platforms in trademark infringement and fake product sales on e-commerce platforms, as well as law enforcement intervention. Jack explained the reasons and overall goodwill of QPBC participating in the recommendations for legislation: to avoid discouraging the endeavors of e-commerce platform operators in governance; reduce the difficulty and costs of IP right holders in rights protection and avoid collisions with the policies that will reduce the cost of rights protection; and cut down on the burden of law enforcement administrations and the people’s court. The suggestions show the overall professionalism of QPBC and member companies, and the favorable social responsibilities of members to help push the “rule of law” for the market and improve China’s business environment. Jack elaborated on the advantages and different practices of QPBC in IP policies and legislation in China compared with other institutions, and publicly expressed respect and gratitude towards the members which have made great contributions.

 

                                                                                               Mr. Jack Chang, QBPC Chairman

Concerning justice administration, Zhang Jingli, the Deputy Director General of the IP Division of Economic Crime Investigation, Department of the Ministry of Public Security of the People's Republic of China (MPS), who attended the workshop on invitation, introduced the attitudes and actions of the public security system of China in fighting internet infringement and counterfeiting, guaranteeing the order of the internet economy. From 2008 to 2017, the nationwide public security organizations solved, in total, over 220,000 criminal cases concerning IP infringement and counterfeiting, and arrested over 260,000 suspects with the total value involved exceeding RMB 150 Billion. Most of the cases involved the internet. Zhang said, “Internet is not beyond the control of the law. The Chinese police will more confidently protect IPR”. Zhang explained the “zero tolerance” rule of China for internet infringement crimes, introducing the example of MPS fighting fake tobacco in 2016 and fighting fake drugs in 2018. Zhang also talked about the police-enterprise cooperation mechanism and mode in battling counterfeits on e-commerce platforms and emphasized that the Chinese police advocates the international cooperation philosophy of “promoting cooperation case by case and improving common sense by communication” in internet IP law enforcement. Since 2013, the cases solved in China involving foreign brands, including 179 brands from 14 countries, accounted for about 40.3% of the total cases cracked. The US brands accounted for 31% of the total cases involving foreign brands, followed by French brands occupying 20.7%, German brands 13%, and Italian brands 11%. The data provided by Zhang shows that the Chinese police are for equal treatment and equal protection of Chinese and foreign IPR and right holders.
 

Mr. Zhang Jingli, the Deputy Director General of the IP Division of Economic Crime Investigation, Department of the Ministry of Public Security of the People's Republic of China

Ms. Angela Shi, the Senior IP Manager of New Balance, introduced the case that cooperated with local Public Security organizations to fight counterfeits after the fake products of its brand were sold on e-commerce platforms. Shi mentioned that the Guangzhou police tracked down 35 fake products after finding counterfeits sold on an e-commerce platform. However, after checking the sales record of the past two years, the police found that the accumulated sales of fake products exceeded RMB 2.6 Million. Through criminal investigation, the infringer was sentenced to five years and two months in prison in the first judgment, and the second trial affirmed the original judgment. This case is an example of a successful cooperation mode for anti-counterfeiting among the Chinese police, right holders, and e- commerce platforms.
 

                                                                            Ms. Angela Shi, the Senior IP Manager of New Balance

After the seminar, Jack and Liu Fei, the Executive Director of QBPC, attended the round-table conference of the INTA Anti-counterfeiting Committee, China Subcommittee on invitation. In the meeting, Jack introduced the positive progress of China in fighting counterfeit crime and improving the transparency of IP criminal protection, as well as the legislation progress of the E-commerce Law. Jack invited representatives of MPS to participate in the roundtable discussion also.

The QBPC-INTA Workshop on E-commerce IP Protection was one of the important activities in the 2018 INTA Annual Meeting, and an example of the cooperation between QBPC and INTA. During the 2018 Annual Meeting, QBPC setup its own exhibition booth with display shelves, a banner, and brochures to display its professionalism and overall influence during the five-day annual meeting. On the first day, hundreds of right holders and legal personnel of professional institutions visited QBPC’s booth to learn about the platform capacity, purpose, service mode, and role as the domestic and international bridge. Representatives of QBPC members, such as Eastman and British Petroleum Company, warmly invited acquainted enterprise representatives to visit the booth of QBPC. Some members helped QBPC office personnel   receive visitors and helped them understand the role and value of QBPC from a professional viewpoint with their own experiences so as to improve their perception of QBPC and increase their enthusiasm and confidence in IP protection. 

 

              Representative from Chemours Chemical headquarters (second from the left) and BP authorized representative (far right)  visited QBPC booth

 

                                                                     Representatives of QBPC member companies visited the QBPC booth
 

                                          Ms. Loiuse van Greunen (center) Director, Building Respect for IP Division, Global Issues Sector, WIPO
 

                Mr. Michael Mangelson (center) Consul, Intellectual Property Attache, U.S. Consulate General Shanghai U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
 

                                             Mr. William Dobson (center) Director, Business Action to Stop Counterfeiting and Piracy, BASCAP