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The 10th meeting of the Guangdong/Hong Kong Expert Group on Protection of Intellectual Property Rights was held in Guangzhou today (July 28). The Expert Group agreed to deepen and actively promote co-operation and development of intellectual property (IP) in Hong Kong and Guangdong in a bid to enhance the economic strength, innovation capability and international competitiveness of the two places.
Looking ahead, co-operation projects of the Expert Group for 2011-12 include:
* promoting and developing IP trading in Guangdong and Hong Kong;
* organising IP seminars, training courses and exchange programmes for enterprises in both places;
* continuing to encourage Hong Kong enterprises in Guangdong to apply for accreditation of well-known trademarks; and
* organising IP activities for enforcement officials in both places.
The Director of Intellectual Property, Mr Peter Cheung, said, "IP trading refers to the buying, selling and transferring of IP rights under mutually agreed terms and conditions, such as the selling and purchasing of an avant-garde furniture design protected in the target market through assignment or licensing for production or distribution.
"This year, one of the new co-operation items for the Expert Group is to promote the concept and trend of IP trading in Guangdong and Hong Kong. We will invite interested organisations to provide IP information to nurture the fundamental conditions for IP trading and will also actively assist enterprises in tapping business opportunities and promoting the upgrading and restructuring of enterprises."
The leader of the Guangdong delegation, the Director-General of the Guangdong Intellectual Property Office, Ms Tao Kaiyuan, said that with the efforts of both sides, the collaborative environments had been optimised with the scope of co-operation expanded and the intensity of co-operation strengthened. She was glad to see the fruitful results and positive social impact of such a close co-operation. Ms Tao added that the strengthening of IP co-operation between Guangdong and Hong Kong played an important role in enhancing the competitiveness and ability to manage and apply IP in enterprises of the two places.
At the meeting, the two sides shared their latest developments in IP co-operation and reviewed the projects completed in the past year. These included the training course on intellectual capital management and IP management standards for enterprises in Guangdong and Hong Kong; the seminar on IP and the development of small and medium enterprises in the two places; support to Hong Kong enterprises in Guangdong in applying for accreditation of well-known trademarks; and the exchange programmes between IP-related non-government organisations in Guangdong and Hong Kong.
Law enforcement authorities in Guangdong and Hong Kong continued to work closely during the past year. With the efforts of both sides, new developments and breakthroughs had been achieved to strengthen the co-ordination mechanism for handling IP-related cases.
The Expert Group, set up after the Sixth Plenary of the Guangdong/Hong Kong Co-operation Joint Conference in August 2003, aims to enhance exchanges and co-operation on various aspects of IP protection, including promotion and education, training, enforcement, research study and information dissemination.
In today's meeting, the Guangdong delegation was led by the Director-General of the Guangdong Intellectual Property Office and comprised officials from the Guangdong Sub-Administration of China Customs, the Guangdong Provincial Public Security Department, the Department of Foreign Trade and Economic Co-operation of Guangdong Province, the Guangdong Provincial Administration for Industry and Commerce, the Copyright Bureau of Guangdong Province as well as the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the People's Government of Guangdong Province. The Hong Kong delegation was headed by the Director of Intellectual Property and comprised officials from the Customs and Excise Department.
A summary of the co-operation items has been uploaded to the website of the Intellectual Property Department at www.ipd.gov.hk.
Ends/Thursday, July 28, 2011
Issued at HKT 17:31
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