ANHUI OPENS THE DOOR TO COOPERATION ON IPR

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 SHANGHAI 000132 SENSITIVE SIPDIS EMBASSY ALSO PASS WUHAN USTR FOR CHINA OFFICE - AWINTER, TWINELAND; IPR OFFICE - RBAE; OCG - TPOSNER DOC FOR NATIONAL COORDINATOR FOR IPR ENFORCEMENT - WPAUGH DOC FOR ITA/MAC: SZYMANSKI LOC/COPYRIGHT OFFICE - STEPP USPTO FOR INT'L AFFAIRS - LBOLAND DOJ FOR CCIPS - TNEWBY FBI FOR LBRYANT DHS/ICE FOR IPR CENTER - DFAULCONER DHC/CBP FOR IPR RIGHTS BRANCH - GMCCRAY TREASURY FOR OASIA - HAARSAGER, WINSHIP NSC FOR LOI, SHRIER E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EFIN EINV ETRD KIPR PREL CH SUBJECT: ANHUI OPENS THE DOOR TO COOPERATION ON IPR SHANGHAI 00000132 001.2 OF 004 ¶1. (SBU) Summary: On February 10, Anhui Province opened the door to cooperation on intellectual property rights (IPR) with the United State by holding a roundtable at the Consulate's request. The meeting was a breakthrough for the Consulate, representing the first engagement on IP issues with the province after numerous requests in recent years. Although IP protection in the province appears to be at a beginning stage, Anhui's effort will become increasingly important as U.S. companies increase investment in Anhui and counterfeiters driven from neighboring provinces search for new places to establish operations. The roundtable included representatives from the Anhui IP Administration, Copyright Bureau, Administration of Industry and Commerce (AIC),Public Security Bureau (PSB) and High Court, who outlined their efforts to strengthen IPR protection in the province. Anhui IP officials warmly welcomed the idea of cooperating on more IP-related programs and exchanges. IP Administration officials noted their efforts boost people's IP awareness and encouraged more patent filing. AIC officials said that over 90 percent of trademark cases were ex officio and urged U.S. rights holders to be more proactive in filing complaints. The Copyright Bureau emphasized their achievements on software protection and clamping down on internet-related IP infringement. PSB noted that IPR criminal cases have decreased in recent years and attributed this to "increased IP awareness in the population." On civil cases, an Anhui High Court judge noted there has been a steady increase in IPR-related civil cases, but most were relatively small in scale. End Summary. Further Cooperation with the United States Welcome -------------- -------------- ¶2. (SBU) Anhui IP Administration (AIPA) Director General Dong Rong regretted that the province had not been as actively involved in international cooperation on intellectual property rights issues as Shanghai and neighboring Jiangsu Province. He welcomed increased engagement on IP issues and expressed his desire for more regular communication with U.S. IPR officials. He noted that the province is planning to hold an IPR roundtable for foreign-invested companies. After hearing of U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)-sponsored "how-to-file" trademark and patent programs that are being planned for other provinces in China, Anhui AIC Trademark Office Director Liu Guojian expressed a strong interest, saying that Anhui would highly benefit from such programs. (Note: The two programs are aimed at boosting the understanding of local rights holders on how to file patents and trademarks both in China and in the United States. End note.) Other Anhui officials attending the February roundtable also added to the call for further cooperation and exchanges with the United States on IP issues and offered suggestions, including more roundtables and meetings with visiting Washington officials or other U.S. IPR experts. Promoting IPR Awareness and Encouraging Patent Filing -------------- -------------- ¶3. (SBU) Director General Dong said that AIPA placed great emphasis on disseminating IP knowledge and promoting IP awareness, including providing training courses for university students and organizing promotion activities on World IP Day. The province expanded its patent subsidy policy from the city level to the county level to encourage more patent applications. As a result, the number of patent applications increased 71.5 percent from 2007 to 10,409 in 2008. The rate of increase in patent applications ranked second among all provinces in China, Dong added. AIPA opened a patent application receiving office under the auspices of the State IP Office (SIPO) on December 17, 2008 for the convenience of applicants. (SIPO in Beijing is the only government unit that can officially examine patent SHANGHAI 00000132 002.2 OF 004 application in China. However, currently there are 25 patent application receiving offices in different provinces to receive patent applications and fees for the convenience of local applicants.) To facilitate the commercialization of patents, the province established three patent "trade and exhibition centers." Dong added that AIPA is drafting implementing regulations for the National IP Strategy for use by Anhui administrative agencies. ¶4. (SBU) DG Dong further explained that AIPA has a close working relationship with other IPR authorities in Anhui. From January 2006 to December 2008, AIPA organized 21 joint enforcement actions with the Anhui AIC and the Anhui Copyright Bureau. With the support of the PSB, patent offices in Anhui conducted several special enforcement actions and handled 76 patent transfers from January 2006 through December 2008 (patent transfers: the company who sold goods without patent granted claimed that their goods were patented). Patent officers in Anhui handled 7 patent infringement cases in 2008. Dong said that AIPA also participates in two inter-provincial IP cooperation systems. One is the East China IP Cooperation System including Anhui, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Fujian. The other is the mid-China IP Cooperation System, including Anhui, Jiangxi, Henan, Hubei, Hunan and Shanxi. IP Complaint Centers Find a New Home -------------- ¶5. (SBU) Dong also noted that the national telephone IPR hot line number might change from 12312 to 12330 because the responsibility has been changed from the Ministry of Commerce to the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO). Currently, callers can dial 12312 anywhere in China to file an IP-related complaint with IPR Complaint Centers located throughout the country. To mirror the change at the national level, AIPA will take charge of the Anhui Complaint Center, which is currently under the supervision of the Anhui Market Order Rectification Office. Trademarks - High Percentage of Ex-Officio Cases -------------- --- ¶6. (SBU) Anhui Administration of Industry and Commerce (AIC) Trademark Department Director Liu Guojian pointed out that less than 10 percent of total trademark cases were filed by right holders - the remainder of the cases were ex-officio. The province handled 1,903 trademark cases in 2008, most of which were low value cases. Among these cases, only 105 (5.5 percent) were foreign-related. He emphasized that the province attaches special importance to foreign-related cases and wants to actively work with foreign rights holders to ensure their rights are protected. He noted that U.S. rights holders generally do not file cases with Anhui AIC offices and asked the Consulate to encourage U.S. companies to more actively use Anhui's administrative enforcement system. He also recommended that U.S. companies follow Japanese companies' example of holding seminars for Anhui IP enforcement officials on how to differentiate counterfeit goods from legitimate goods. He said that this practice greatly helps administrative and enforcement agencies detect counterfeits and raises the awareness of foreign brands. ¶7. (SBU) On IP protection at trade fairs, Director Liu explained that the local AICs are responsible for ensuring the trade fairs within their jurisdictions are free of counterfeit goods. To combat infringement, Liu explained that Anhui initiated the "trademark authorization system" at wholesale markets in 17 cities in 2008. Under the system, vendors must show trademark registration certificates or authorization SHANGHAI 00000132 003.2 OF 004 certificates prior to market entrance. AICs in Anhui will expand this experimental system to all markets of the province in 2009. Proud of Anhui's Software Copyright Protection -------------- - ¶8. (SBU) Anhui Copyright Bureau Copyright Department Director Wu Anming outlined the province's efforts to protect copyrights, highlighting the department's achievements in software copyright protection and cracking down on internet-related infringement. All "upper level" government offices in Anhui now use legitimate software. In addition, the province is now focusing on urging companies, particularly state-owned enterprises, to follow suit. The province requires the pre-installation of software before any computer can be sold to the public. To facilitate this work, enforcement agencies have signed contracts with management departments of big shopping malls. Shopping malls have in turn signed contracts with lessees. In total, Anhui copyright bureaus confiscated over 80,000 pirated optical discs in 2008. Wu said that representatives from Microsoft recently sent a banner to the Anhui Copyright Bureau in recognition of Anhui's "effective enforcement," which increased the use of legitimate software in Anhui. ¶9. (SBU) Director Wu noted that in 2008 Anhui copyright bureaus handled a total of 11 internet infringement cases and transferred one case for criminal enforcement. In June 2008, Anhui held a seminar on IP protection on the internet with the National Copyright Administration. The International Federation of Phonographic Industry (IFPI) and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) attended the seminar. In July 2008, the Anhui Copyright Bureau started to "supervise" local well-known websites and reach out to companies if violations were found. ¶10. (SBU) According to Wu, textbook piracy in Anhui has decreased markedly in recent years. Anhui copyright bureaus strengthened management and held courses to train textbook providers and university staff on copyright protection. Wu underscored that the province has also spent a great deal of effort on protecting its own folklore, such as Huanmei Opera. Criminal Enforcement - A Slowdown in Cases -------------- ¶11. (SBU) The Anhui Public Security Bureau Economic Crime Investigation Division (ECID) Political Commissioner Chen Xunzhang said that in 2008, the province investigated 82 IP-related criminal cases worth 12 million RMB (USD 1.8 million). Of the 2008 cases, 55 cases had been closed (as of our discussion on February 10) and 40 suspects had been detained. There were about 300 IP-related criminal cases investigated in 2006 and 130 cases in 2007. Chen attributed the decrease in criminal cases to the "increased IP awareness" among the general population in Anhui. ¶12. (SBU) Anhui PSB ECID officer Fei Guangdong discussed about the "Shanghai Initiative, " which allows PSB to begin investigations based on credible evidence, rather than waiting for a rights holder to first prove a criminal threshold has been met. Fei was dubious that such an initiative would be effective, saying that if the case has not met the criminal threshold, the investigation by PSB would be restricted. For example, the PSB could not freeze accounts before the case was established. Civil Cases on the Rise -------------- SHANGHAI 00000132 004.2 OF 004 ¶13. (SBU) Anhui High Court Third Civil Division Deputy Director Zhang Kun said Anhui had 430 first instance civil IP cases in ¶2008. There were a total of 545 civil IPR cases in 2006 and 2007 combined. Although the number of civil cases per year was on the rise, most cases were relatively small in value, according to Zhang. Patent cases took the lion's share, accounting for one third of all cases, followed by copyright cases. In 2008, there were eight cases involving foreigners, representing an increase of 60 percent over 2007 (five cases). From 1999 through 2008, the province handled 1935 civil IP cases in total. Zhang said some new types of cases had emerged in recent years, including cases on new plant varieties and copyright infringement on the internet. Cases filed in Hefei courts (Hefei is the provincial capital) accounted for 52 percent of Anhui Province's case load. Zhang assured that the province has a strong record of enforcing verdicts in IP civil cases. He attributed this to the fact that 70 percent of cases were handled through mediation. According to Zhang, there have been no IP case retrials in the province. ¶14. (SBU) Deputy Director Zhang said that Anhui has no special IP tribunal combining the adjudication of civil, criminal and administrative cases. However, the province is researching the possibility of establishing a special IP tribunal. Zhang said there are currently 112 IPR judges in Anhui. More than 95 percent of them hold a bachelors degree, and 20 percent of them hold a masters degree. The Anhui High Court regularly holds courses to train IPR judges and published several guidance regulations on IP case adjudication, including the Implementing Regulation on the National IP Strategy for use by Anhui courts published in December 2008. Zhang pointed out that Anhui was the first province to establish a system of hiring outside experts as consultants for technical issues in IP case trials. Anhui courts are also boosting transparency through several measures such as holding media conferences and publishing IP case decisions on the internet. The province has published 90 percent of recent IP civil case judgments on the internet, said Zhang. Comment -------------- ¶15. (SBU) Although Anhui, with a per capita GDP of USD 2,085, is the poor step-sister of Zhejiang and Jiangsu (per capita GDPs of USD 6,078 and USD 5,700 respectively),Anhui's efforts to boost IP protection are increasingly important. Growing numbers of major companies are setting up operations in the province; currently more than 40 Fortune 500 companies have facilities in Anhui. Leading U.S. presences include FedEx, Wal-Mart and Johnson Controls. At the same time, U.S. rights holders and investigative companies have said that counterfeiters are increasingly moving to more rural areas such as Anhui and northern parts of Jiangsu Province as more affluent jurisdictions in the Yangtze River Delta become more effective in shutting down counterfeiting operations. While Anhui's capacity and experience in IP protection seem to be in nascent stages, the province is beginning to move in the right direction. Moreover, the recent willingness of Anhui to engage with the United States on IP protection is a good sign that the province is beginning to understand the global nature of the IP problem. CAMP