Since China joined the World Trade Organization, all bureaus of the industry and commerce sector have made more of an effort to ensure trademark registration, said Li Dongsheng, vice-minister of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC) on June 12th. The administration has investigated a total of 193,332 cases of trademark infringement; of which 28,041 involved the infringement of foreign trademarks. A total of 774 suspected cases of criminal infringement and 778 suspected criminals were transferred to the judicial sector.

At a press conference held jointly by the State Council Information Office and the SAIC, Li Dongsheng said that aside from investigating large amounts of trademark infringement cases, the SAIC also formulated an effective management plan to contain wholesale retail markets that sell trademark infringing products. By posting public notices around cities, the bureaus of the SAIC in Beijing, Shanghai, and Tianjin were able to protect forty well-known trademarks belonging to enterprises from France, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Luxembourg, the United Kingdom, and Germany. All clothing and small commodity markets were prohibited from carrying products that were not authorized by the trademark owners.

SAIC and all of its associated branches has increased the protection of Olympic trademark use as well. Up until now, the Trademark Office of the SAIC has entered sixty-nine Olympic trademarks into the records. Seven special trademarks have also been registered.

By People's Daily Online