1. Beijing
CNR: 300 million yuan on rail R&D
China CNR Corp Ltd announced on Jan 19 that it will invest a total of 300 million yuan ($45.6 million) in a train testing lab.
In cooperation with the China Academy of Railway Sciences, CNR began to build the lab last year. When complete it will focus on research into the pull and control of locomotives and multiple units in high-speed trains, a crucial part of advanced train technology.
Beijing Business Today
2. Shanxi
Taiyuan piracy telephone hotlines
The Taiyuan city government has set up public telephone numbers for information on piracy and infringement.
The effort calls on the public to take a more active part in the fight against counterfeits and illegal products, according to local authorities.
The city government also launched a crackdown on intellectual property crimes across the city.
Fake brand products, organized crime and pirated books, videos and software are all targets of the raids.
The government will pay rewards to those whose information is useful in the effort.
Taiyuan Daily
3. Jilin
Internet cafes join for legal content
An Internet cafe alliance for use of copyrighted videos was formed last week in Changchun, capital of the northeastern province.
Following this year's traditional Chinese New Year festival, more than 3,000 Internet cafes in the province will have access to a video portal developed by Guang Yinwangshi Tech, one of the alliance founders.
All copyrighted content will be provided by domestic online video sites Sohu, Letv, Joy and Cntv, which are also members of the new copyright group.
Operators of Internet cafes will not have to pay fees for use of the portal for at least six months.
The alliance will later collect annual fees ranging from 1,000 yuan ($152) to 3,000 yuan based on an internet cafe's business volume.
Other co-founders of the alliance are the China Film Copyright Association and a provincial Internet cafe association.
Xinhuanet
4. Hubei
4.4b yuan in tech transfer deals
For the full-year, the value of contracts for technology transactions surpassed 4.4 billion yuan ($668 million) last year in Wuhan, capital of the central province.
The wide range of deals included patents and know-how, software and integrated circuit design.
The boom in technology transfer is partly due to an atmosphere of protecting IP in the city, according to the local administration.
A professional IP exchange was established in late December last year in Wuhan, the nation's third such center. The others are in Beijing and Shanghai.
Changjiang Daily
5. Fujian
Trade secrets protected in court
Concerns that commercial secrets like software code, design plans and medicine formulations might be revealed in court proceedings could be alleviated in Xiamen due to a new judicial order to protect secrecy.
The city's intermediate court adopted the new measure early in the new year, the first of its kind in the nation.
When evidence presented contains commercial secrets, the court can issue a written order - at the request of parties concerned or on its own initiative - to limit or prohibit reading, extracting or copying the information.
Those who are bound by the order are not allowed to use such trade secrets for any purpose other than the litigation, or reveal it to others.
Violating companies face fines of up to 300,000 yuan, or more than $45,000. For individuals, the maximum fine is set at 10,000 yuan.
Fujian Daily
6. Taiwan
Results from cross-Straits accord
After a cross-Straits intellectual property agreement took effect last September, mainland authorities dealt with 73 claims related to application dates by the end of 2010 - 64 over invention patents, eight for utility model patents and one trademark case.
Twenty-three requests for priority rights were handled in Taiwan during the same time, one over a trademark, one about a utility model patent and the rest for invention patents.
Reciprocal acceptance of claims helps prevent illegal pre-emptive applications due to differences in time requirements in filing, a measure important to the island's industries, said the administration officials.
The agreement was signed by the mainland's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits and its Taiwan counterpart, the Straits Exchange Foundation.
Beijing Times
