Tag Archives: Tom Duke

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UK Concludes Week of IP Activities in China

Both the United States and the UK just recently concluded a week of activities on IP issues.  Here’s a summary of the UK activities:

Baroness Neville-Rolfe,  the UK Minister for IP, led a large delegation and series of activities that covered 8 cities (Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Nanjing, Guangzhou, Chongqing and Hong Kong) in 4 days. The delegation attended the 2nd UK-China IP Symposium in Beijing, which was attended by 180 companies from the UK and China, as well as a High Court judge, and officials from the UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO).  SIPO Commissioner Shen Changyu opened the Beijing program.

The speech by Baroness Neville Rolfe is worth reading. It emphasizes some of the science and technological cooperation between China and the UK, including scientific citations and the Newton Fund for further developing science and technological cooperation. The speech also talks about joint criminal enforcement and other cooperative efforts, as well as how “good collective licensing can contribute hundreds of millions to the economies of both the UK and China.”  Minister Rolfe also highlighted four areas where UK businesses thought that worked well in China: border detentions by China Customs; sophisticated judgments in the Chinese courts; enforcement of IP rights at trade fairs in China and the transparency and openness to stakeholder input during recent legislative reforms

Agreements were also signed, including between the China Britain Business Council with Alibaba Group, covering IP protection on the Alibaba and Taobao sites, and between the UK Copyright Licensing Agency and the China Written Works Copyright Society on collective licensing cooperation.

The program also included extensive government to government meetings at the central and provincial/municipal level, including a bilateral with State Councillor Wang Yong which made the CCTV1 evening news.

Follow these links to the UK government news report, and to the British Chamber news report.

Last week, the United States hosted the bilateral JCCT IPR Working Group in Washington, DC.  The Ministry of Commerce also hosted a bilateral cooperation forum.  More on the forum in my next blog.

Thanks to Tom Duke, the UK’s IP Attache in Beijing for pointing out these UK activities to me!

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Introducing Tom Duke: a brief Q&A

Following our year end review of  individuals’ transitions in China’s growing IP field, here is a Q&A with Tom Duke, a new IP officer at the UK Mission:

Why did the UK decided to send you to Beijing? Is it part of  a broader plan?

My role in Beijing is the first part of a planned international IP attaché network for the UK IPO. As it’s a new post, one of the priorities is to establish the most effective way that I can deliver added value to the networks already on the ground in China (for example in UK Trade & Investment, the FCO and UK/EU projects and industry associations). From reading a couple of your articles about your time in the US embassy, I know you have spoken about providing colleagues with the right tools – based on accurate information of the Chinese IP landscape – and amplifying messages that can benefit all stakeholders. Continue reading →

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China Transitions: Where People Went in 2011, And Where They Are Headed

Looking back on 2011 and into 2012, it has been a year with considerable transition for individuals following IP issues in China.

There were some important lateral changes in the private sector.   With the Hogan Lovells merger, Doug Clark went to Hong Kong, and Horace Lam left Hogan Lovells for Jones Day in China.  Former Supreme People’s Court IPR Chief Judge, Jiang Zhipei, left the Fangda Partners for King and Wood.  Meanwhile, King and Wood, which already had a large China IP practice, merged with the Australian law firm, Mallesons, which has a Chinese IP practice.  Amongst the more recent retirees from the Chinese government, Xu Chao, of the National Copyright Administration, and Yin Xintian, of the State Intellectual Property Office, both left the government for the Wanhuida law firm.  An Qinghu, the former Director General in charge of the Chinese Trademark Office, also left his parent agency, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, to work for the Chinese Trademark Association. Continue reading →