Twelve Chinese Provincial/Municipal IP Offices Cooperate on Cross-Regional Administrative IP Protection
On 1 August 2023, the Guangdong Administration for Market Regulation (Guangdong Intellectual Property Administration) ("GIPA"), under the guidance of the Intellectual Property Protection Department of the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA), hosted in rotation an IP collaboration meeting in Guangzhou, Guangdong province. Apart from the GIPA, the participants also included representatives from the IP offices of Hebei, Jiangsu, Shandong, Sichuan, Hubei, Zhejiang, and Anhui provinces and the IP offices of Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Chongqing municipalities (together as "12 local IP offices).
The meeting saw the signing of a memorandum of cooperation, at the proposition of the GIPA, on the formation of an administrative IP protection alliance comprising the 12 local IP offices. In addition, to implement information and resources sharing among the allies, 254 IP infringement leads were transferred at the meeting, and there was also the announcement of the second batch of protected trademarks (comprising 360 marks) as well as the first batch of protected geographical indication (GI) (comprising 240 GIs).
The said IP collaboration activities aim at deepening regional cooperation in administrative protection of IP rights, strengthening law enforcement and supervision coordination, and promote information and resources sharing among the 12 local IP offices. The next IP collaboration meeting will be held in Chongqing.
