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05 May 2014
In order to improve the business environment in China, the government has announced plans to make information of any IP violation public.
A document endorsed by the State Council has stated that information relating to the making and distribution of counterfeits or substandard products, along with any other IP infringement cases, will be disclosed to the public within 20 business days of an administrative decision.
“Such disclosed information will cover both civil and criminal decisions,” says Johnson Li, an attorney-at-law at China Patent Agent (HK) in Beijing. “As a general rule, all court decisions should be disclosed to the public except for when content of the decisions involves privacy or confidential information that is not proper to disclose.”
The action is to enhance government transparency and is expected to help develop a credit services market.
However, the biggest challenge is that such a system faces obstruction from some groups, Li tells Asia IP. “And the establishment of the whole system covering all local governments may take some time.”
Case details, penalties and evidence will be made public in all channels including government websites, bulletins, press conferences, newspapers, magazines, radio and television.
Nevertheless, the information disclosure system includes some rules to protect privacy. “For example, relevant parts of disclosed decisions concerning privacy or confidential information will be removed or [masked], so in most cases, disclosure will not raise privacy concerns for the public,” Li says. “But sometimes it could be a challenge for government authorities to find exactly which part involves privacy and which not.”
