CPA General Manager Visits IPR & Legal Service Workstation to Help Guide On-site Submission of Trademark Application during China International Supply Chain Expo 

From 28 November to 2 December 2023, the first China International Supply Chain Expo (CISCE) hosted by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) took place in Beijing.

The CISCE aims at connecting upstream, midstream, and downstream enterprises in the industrial chain and assisting in the building of a stable and smooth global supply chain. The theme of this first CISCE was "Connecting the World for a Shared Future". Among the 515 companies and institutions which participated in the five-day expo, about 130 came from overseas.

With new products released and cutting-edge technologies shared and disclosed during the expo, protection of intellectual property (IP) is vitally important. One of the highlights of the CISCE was the set-up of an IPR and Legal Service Workstation, which provided services including on-site acceptance of IP applications involving the exhibited products, consultation on IP protection and commercial cooperation, and dealing with complaints about IP infringement and commercial disputes.

As one of the partners of the expo, China Patent Agent (H.K.) Ltd. (CPA) actively participated in the provision of IPR and legal services at the CISCE. CPA general manager Mr. Wu Yuhe, also vice chairman of the China Intellectual Property Society and vice chairman of the Chinese Group of AIPPI (International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property), attended the expo and visited the IPR and Legal Service Workstation to help guide the carrying out of the new IP services and do media interview to publicise the event.

At the workstation, our firm, after full communication with the exhibitor and undergoing the necessary preparatory steps, successfully assisted a company from Dalian city of Liaoning province with the submission of three applications for trademarks in classes 6, 35, and 40, leading to expedited acceptance of the applications. The applicant's independently-developed new materials that reach the world's leading standard and can be widely used in the fields of automobiles, rail transit, ships, and aerospace were released during the expo.

The on-site IP application service was an echo and putting into practice of the Opinions on Further Optimising the Foreign Investment Environment and Increasing Efforts to Attract Foreign Investment issued in August 2023 by the State Council of China, in relation to the stipulations therein that endorse the acceptance of IP applications for copyright, patent and trademark etc. involving exhibited products at IPR workstation set up during exhibitions, as a means to effectively prevent infringement.