15th Meeting of Guangdong/Hong Kong Expert Group on Protection of Intellectual Property Rights held in Guangzhou
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     The 15th Meeting of the Guangdong/Hong Kong Expert Group on the Protection of Intellectual Property Rights was held in Guangzhou today (August 18). The Expert Group agreed to further strengthen co-operation, reinforce existing accomplishments, take the co-operation to a higher level, and extend the scope of co-operation. The Expert Group will also continue to focus on promoting intellectual property (IP) trading and fostering co-operation between high-end service agencies in the next phase of development, in order to encourage innovation and overseas market expansion by enterprises, as well as boost economic development in the two places.
 
     Co-operation projects of the Expert Group for 2016-17 cover seven areas, namely:
 
* Improving the mechanism of Guangdong/Hong Kong IP co-operation items;
* Reinforcing co-operation on cross-boundary protection of IP in Guangdong and Hong Kong;
* Promoting co-operation on IP trading in both places;
* Promoting exchange and deliberation on IP in both places;
* Improving guidance services in IP in both places;
* Organising IP promotion and education activities in both places; and
* A new area of co-operation: strengthening the co-operation on IP in the Guangdong Free Trade Zone (Guangdong FTZ).
 
     At the meeting, the two sides reviewed the co-operation projects completed in the past year, including the Guangdong/Hong Kong Seminar on IP and Development of Small and Medium Enterprises, which aimed to promote innovation among enterprises; the exchange programme on copyright trading between Guangdong and Hong Kong copyright industries; promoting the use and trading of IP to enterprises through supporting the Business of IP Asia Forum co-organised by the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council and the Hong Kong Design Centre; and promotion and education activities targeting young people in both places. New co-operation items completed last year include strengthened exchanges and co-operation between the industries in both places in the fields of e-commerce, trademarks and high-end IP services, and production of an Announcement in the Public Interest on copyright protection.
 
     Law enforcement agencies in Guangdong and Hong Kong have continued to combat cross-boundary infringement through various means, such as intelligence exchange and joint operations.
       
     During the press conference after the meeting, the Director of Intellectual Property, Ms Ada Leung, said, "The Expert Group completed 21 co-operation items in the past year, with eight of them being new items, and the results are encouraging. In the coming year, the number of co-operation items will increase to 24, including strengthening the co-operation on IP trading of Guangdong and Hong Kong and among high-end service agencies in the Guangdong FTZ, with an aim of enhancing the level and extending the scope of co-operation in the future, as well as boosting economic development in the two places."
       
     The Director-General of the Guangdong Intellectual Property Office, Mr Ma Xianmin, said, "In the next stage of development, Guangdong and Hong Kong will incorporate new developments and trends to strengthen the protection of IP rights and to focus on promotion of IP trading, contributing to the innovations and developments of the two places."
 
     The Expert Group was set up after the Sixth Plenary of the Hong Kong/Guangdong Co-operation Joint Conference in August 2003. It aims at enhancing exchanges and co-operation on various aspects of IP protection, including promotion and education, training, enforcement, research study and information dissemination.
 
     The Guangdong delegation was led by the Director-General of the Guangdong Intellectual Property Office and comprised officials from the Guangdong Intellectual Property Office; the Guangdong Provincial Public Security Department; the Department of Commerce of Guangdong Province; the Guangdong Provincial Administration for Industry and Commerce; the Guangdong Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television Bureau (Copyright Bureau); the Guangdong Sub-Administration of China Customs; the Patent Examination Cooperation Guangdong Center of the Patent Office of the State Intellectual Property Office; and 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 Commerce and Economic Development Bureau, the Intellectual Property Department and the Customs and Excise Department.
 
     A summary of the co-operation items has been uploaded to the website of the Intellectual Property Department (www.ipd.gov.hk/eng/ip_cooperation_corner/meeting.htm).

Ends/Thursday, August 18, 2016
Issued at HKT 12:00

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