- Beijing

TV, film alliance guards rights

A copyright alliance for the film and TV industry was established last week. Organized by the Copyright Protection Center of China, the Television Artists Association, the Film Association and the Internet Society, the alliance is aimed at promoting the prosperity and development of the country's cultural industries and raising their international impact. It will highlight the application of digital copyright identifiers in copyright trading and provide services including copyright registration and management.

ccopyright.com.cn

- Hunan

Patent awards doubled

A revised regulation from the intellectual property office in Changsha will double the amount of award for each approved invention patent to 4,000 yuan ($651.2) for companies and 1,000 yuan to individuals for each application in the review period. An award of 3,000 yuan is available to individuals for granted patents, 2,000 yuan more than the previous policy.

Hunan Daily

- Guangdong

University awarded again

Sun Yat-sen University recently won the "patent creation prize" in the second Guangzhou Patent Awards. The university filed 549 patent applications last year, an annual increase of 21 percent, and was granted 336 patents, up 12 percent. At the same time, around 730 of its projects won a total patent fund of nearly 1.3 million yuan from the government. The award campaign is organized every other year, and the university was given the same prize in the first campaign in 2011.

Ipr.gov.cn

- Shandong

City recognizes local innovators

The result of the first patent awards in Liaocheng was recently announced by the city's intellectual property office. Of more than 50 entries from local companies, governmental organizations and research institutions, some 30 patents made the list at the awards, including three gold-prize winners. Owners of those prize-winning patents were awarded up to 10,000 yuan each.

LIAOCHENG EVENING NEWS

Proprietary tech aids wire installation

The State Grid Corp's Tancheng county branch last month launched a project to upgrade electrical wiring in the area using proprietary machines to remove old wires and lay new ones. The machine can improve efficiency, reduce labor costs and save 300,000 yuan annually, said developers. In one village, it took workers two-and-a-half days to finish laying 2,760 meters of new wires, a task that formerly required six days by traditional manual means.

sgcc.com.cn

- Shanghai

IT firms team up to fight piracy

Dozens of computer hardware manufacturers, software companies, computer retailers and online retailers, including Lenovo, Samsung as well as Gome and Suning, recently signed an agreement to promote an honest and reliable shopping environment in the city by recommending copyrighted software to customers. The agreement is part of the efforts by local industrial associations to promote integrity in business operation and eliminate pirated software.

YICAI.COM

- Chongqing

Court to solve disputes in new area

An IP court was founded last week in the Liangjiang New Area to handle a portion of the IP-related lawsuits in three districts in the city. The new area is the third in a series of national-level development zones. The annual number of IP lawsuits within the area increased from 174 when it was set up in 2010 to 587 last year. Local officials said that they aim to reach the target of granting 5,000 patents annually by 2015.

Legaldaily.com.cn

Workers operates the patented wire laying machine. Fang Dehua / for China Daily

(China Daily 03/05/2014 page17)