China Trademark Annual Meeting 2006

The China Trademark Annual Meeting 2006 was convened between 27 and 29 November 2006 in Sanya City, Hainan Province. Present at the Meeting were more than 300 people, including, among others, foreign and Chinese IP officials, experts, trademark practitioners, representatives from the local administrative authorities for industry and commerce and those from the industry. Those attending and giving speeches at the Meeting were Mr. Li Dongsheng, Vice-Commissioner of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC); Mr. Ernesto Rubio, Assistant Director General of the WIPO; Mr. Wubbo de Boer, President of the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (OHIM); Mr. Gerhard Bauer, Treasurer of the International Trademark Association (INTA); Mr. Wang Jingchuan, Counsel to the State Intellectual Property Office for the work on making the Intellectual Property Strategy; Mr. Hou Liye, Deputy Director General of the Trademark Office of the SAIC; Mr. Yang Yexuan, Assistant Ombudsman of the Trademark Reexamination Board (TRAB) of the SAIC, and Mr. Li Jianzhong, President of the China Trademark Association.

At this year's Annual Meeting, a variety of events were held with focus on the central theme of "Innovation, Protection and Development". In addition to the speeches and presentations given by the Chinese and foreign experts, special seminars were held on the international protection, innovation, protection and development of trademarks and brands, and formulation and execution of trademark strategy and tactics; a moot court was set up before which administrative cases based on real trademark cases were heard by the bench consisting of judges, TRAB officials, and lawyers. Also held at the Meeting were the exchange meetings for trademark attorneys from China and Japan to compare notes and for the senior trademark attorneys from both courtiers to talk on, and looked into, the measures to cope with issues of trademark counterfeit, assignment, and nullification.

At the Annual Meeting, the China Patent Agent (H. K.) Ltd. was elected Vice-President member entity of the China Trademark Association.