China's Action Plan on Intellectual Property Right (IPR) Protection 2006 will soon be launched. The move signifies China's efforts to step up IPR protection this year. Hong Kong companies operating in the mainland should take note of the respective provisions governing the infringing and infringed parties and prepare themselves accordingly.

The action plan covers trademark, copyright, patent and import-export, and encompasses nine areas of protection, namely legislation, law enforcement, mechanism building, publicity, training and education, international exchange and cooperation, promotion of business self-discipline, provision of services to right holders, and topical research.

In respect of legislation on trademark protection, China is going to expedite the drafting, formulation and revision of laws and regulations such as the Trademark Law and Regulations on the Administration of Trademark Agencies. It will also formulate and revise a series of laws and regulations relating to copyright protection. As for patent protection, China is going to revise the Regulations on Patent Agencies and Manual of Patent Examining Procedure, as well as draft a third round of amendments of the Patent Law. Efforts will also be stepped up at revising the regulations and implementation rules governing the IPR protection of drugs. Meanwhile, customs will improve its regulatory framework and formulate relevant rules such as Measures on General Security.

Furthermore, China will continue to promote the implementation of the Measures for the Protection of Intellectual Property Rights At Exhibitions and proceed with devising and implementing an outline plan for IPR protection actions this year. On the basis of legislation, other key tasks for 2006 include strengthening research efforts, improving judicial interpretations, and resolving the issue of applicability of the laws in court rulings on certain cases.

To step up enforcement of IPR protection, China will launch seven campaigns during 2006. While continuing with the "Mountain Eagle" trademark protection campaign, another one aimed at the protection of the exclusive rights of registered trademarks will also be launched. For the protection of the audio-visual market, China will continue to strictly enforce the Action Plan for Combating Infringement and Copyright Piracy Crimes on Regional Basis. Public security authorities will continue to clamp down on production lines engaging in illegal CD production, as well as investigate and punish the infringement and piracy acts of audio-visual products distribution enterprises, copycat production factories and printing houses. The cultural authorities will team up with other relevant government departments to carry out three rounds of large-scale combat actions with emphasis on provincial capitals and medium and large cities. Moreover, China will organise special campaigns on patents to coincide with special days such as 15 March and 26 April.

In carrying out day-to-day enforcement, the cultural authorities will clamp down on the illegal activities involving online music and games. The industry and commerce administrations will strengthen supervision of trademarks by focusing efforts on monitoring processing activities involving brands, the printing of trademarks, and markets where goods are traded.

The following illegal activities are the major investigation targets of quality and technical supervision authorities: manufacturing and printing counterfeit labels; counterfeit packaging; forging or counterfeiting the names and addresses of other factories, especially those of famous domestic and foreign brands; forging or counterfeiting the quality labels of others; and non-compliance of label contents with the required standards.

Copyright authorities will investigate and tackle some key cases. They will inspect and verify the results of special campaigns targeting infringement on the Internet. The major targets will be the illegal, profit-making provision of movies, music and software on the Internet. A number of major cases will be handled this year, some websites will be closed down, and offenders punished. Copyright authorities will also crack down on production lines churning out pirated CDs, and will proactively cooperate with their counterparts in charge of the production enterprises concerned to carry out the campaign. Also, they will give support to the relevant authorities in monitoring the implementation status of the Copyright Law.

Food and drug administration authorities will further step up efforts at rectifying advertisements of drugs, medical equipment and health food; strengthening supervision over the distribution of Chinese medicinal herbs and Chinese medicine tablets; strengthening supervision over the distribution of vaccines; and seeking ways to improve the random checking mechanism for medicine and medical equipment.

The State Intellectual Property Office will join the National People's Congress Standing Committee in monitoring the enforcement of the Patent Law. To increase the magnitude of its enforcement efforts as well as standardise the behaviour and procedure of enforcement, China will soon promulgate the Rules Governing the Prompt Transfer of Suspected Crimes in the Course of Law Enforcement by Administrative Authorities (Trial Implementation).

As for building mechanisms with long-term effectiveness, China will establish report centres this year to handle complaints. Action will also be taken to raise public awareness of IPR protection, and 21 training courses will be organised.

In terms of international exchange and cooperation, efforts will focus on five areas: legislation, trademark, copyright, patent and customs protection, with 19 projects being planned. Among these, seven are joint campaigns between China and the US. Detailed measures designed to better serve the right holders will be adopted. Furthermore, research studies on strengthening IPR protection will be carried out.