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Product- and Trademark piracy 9. April 2016 · 2 min read

IP infringement in China: It’s not as bad as all that!

Our friends from Trademarks and Brands Online (TBO) wrote an article about IP infringement in China and the statement that nearly 40% of products sold online in China were counterfeit. Brand owners and those that want to protect their Intellectual Property in China are therefore alarmed and skeptical in trusting the chinese market at all.

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In this article TBO stated that there is no reason to be that frightened – there are reasons to be optimistic! A report by Chinese state news agency Xinhua on November 2 fan fear, saying that just under 59% of items sold online last year were “genuine or of good quality”.

China’s Ministry of Commerce sampled 92 online-bought items and found out that just 54 were authentic.

That’s a small sample, yes, but it hardly makes encouraging reading for a country desperately trying to lose its image as a hub for counterfeits and a ‘Wild West’ for brand owners’ efforts to protect and enforce their IP.

China is actively fighting Intellectual Property infringements, but the prejudice that China is a dangerous environment for brand owners still remains. That’s why the government teamed up with with Disney to help protect the multi-national’s IP. The government will also launch a partnership with world’s largest e-commerce retailer Alibaba.

Another good thing is China’s upcoming trademark law that was passed in 2014. The new copyright law, which is currently being drawn up, and partnerships aimed at improving the protection of IP that involve the China-Britain Business Council. Another campaign was the “Red Shield Net Sword” initiative, an anti-piracy programme aimed at reducing the number of counterfeit and sub-standard goods on e-commerce websites.

>> Read the whole article here !