Previous seminars were also held in Changsha, Hunan on April 25th and in Haikou, Hainan on April 22nd.

“The RCD roving seminar series is one of several activities IP Key is undertaking to build awareness and understanding among Chinese stakeholders of the IP systems in Europe,” said Dan Prud’homme, Technical Expert of IP Key who participated in the seminars.

Christophe Gimenez, IP attaché to China from the Organization for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM), and Dr. Oliver Lutze, Special Counsel/Manager of the Shanghai Office of IP law firm Spruson & Ferguson (Asia), were the lead speakers at the seminars.

They were joined by senior speakers from SIPO as well as the heads of the IP offices in Sichuan, Hunan, and Hainan.

The seminars covered all major aspects of the RCD system, which is administered by OHIM, including filing, registration, invalidation and enforcement. A range of examples and cases were shared with the audience, and recommendations provided on design management approaches for Chinese companies looking to do business in Europe.

The IP Key project is the implementing instrument for the New Intellectual Property Cooperation agreement signed between the EU and China last year. The project is being implemented by OHIM, and supported by the European Patent Office, from 2013-2016. Over 30 activities, one of which is the RCD roving seminar series, are planned for 2014 alone.

(Source: ipkey.org)