News

The AUSTRIA CONNECT Greater China 2017 took part from October 26 to 28th in Shanghai. The AUSTRIA CONNECT is a platform for networking with national and international participants to meet international experts, exchange ideas with fellow business people and talk to ADVANTAGE AUSTRIA office heads from the Greater China region. The conference was co-sponsored by go-international , a shared export-initiative of the Austrian Federal Ministry of Science, Research and Economy and the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber.

The motto of the annual conference was "Innovation, Opportunity and...

Switzerland Chamber of Commerce, SwissCham Beijing, together with the Israel Chamber of Commerce, IsCham , hosted a seminar with the title The Art of E-commerce: Your way into China on October 26th at IBCC- Israeli Business and Cultural Center at 798.

“15.5% of all retail sales, amounting to $752 billion, were transacted online last year — up 26.2% year-on-year.” ---China’s National Bureau of Statistics
“Over 500 million people reportedly engaged in online shopping in China in 2016. By 2020, it is estimated that e-commerce sales in China will surpass those of the...

IP in China and Beyond. At Friday, October 20, 2017 the International Trademark Associaton (INTA) hosted an seminar for young practitioners and trademark administrators at the China IP Training Center in Beijing (北京上地西街信息路6号环岛东南角). The seminar was hosted for young practitioners and trademark Aaministrators with less than five years of professional experience, or professionals with more experience who are accompanied by a young practitioner. The speakes gave an overview about the US, EU and Chinese trademark system and gave also practical advises about this topics. Starke took part at the...

On Thursday, October 12th, the Associatiof the German Automobile Industry (VDA) organized the second product safety day in China. Discussions included the legal framework of the recall campaigns of vehicles, before and after accidents. AQSIQ officials also reported on how to interpret new standards (for example GB / T 34402-2017) on the safety of vehicles in China, and specialists from the German automotive industry showed ways in which product safety measures can be implemented in the production process and how important herefore product saftey officers are. 130 experts from the...

Mr. Daniel Albrecht , Managing Counsel of Starke, took part in the “2017 China Arbitration Summit” in Beijing at September 20, 2017.

The “2017 China Arbitration Summit”, co-hosted by Supreme People’s Court of the People’s Republic of China(SPC) , China Council for the Promotion of International Trade(CCPIT) and China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission(CIETAC) , was held in Beijing on September 19-20, 2017. Being the most important event during China Arbitration Week, the China Arbitration Summit is a high standard conference in China and one of the most...

Zhongde Metal Group Co., Ltd. expands its business areas - the Jieyang Business Group will build further industrial cities in Guangdong Province, modeled on the Metal Eco City. Electromobility is the focus of the provincial capital of Guangzhou.

On behalf of the city government, the Zhongde Metal Group will develop a new automobile cluster in the existing Autocity " Guangzhou Huadu International Automobile Industry Base". The target group for the settlement are manufacturers and suppliers in the field of e-mobility and smart manufacturing.

The group hosted on Friday,...

Starke took part at the first China Austrian SME Conference in Jieyang. Nearly 60 companies from Austria joined the SME conference hosted by the China German Metal Eco City at September 14. 2017. ZhongDe Metal Group Co., Ltd . is the developer, investor and operating company behind Metal Eco City.

The Sino-German Metal Eco City (MEC) is an innovative industrial park, which will open up access to the Chinese market for German and Austrian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The MEC is located in the north of the large metropolis of Jieyang , at the heart of the southern...

At September 8th 2017 the Shenyang local authorities hosted the first Shenyang-Germany Intellectual Property Seminar. The German-China Industrial Park of Shenyang has made a lot of effort to organize this event and get an interesting group of participants together. Starke Managing Counsel Daniel Albrecht gave a lesson about the differences between the Chinese and German trademark law. Thanks to all 60 participants and my co-speakers, special from the University of Shenyang, the Intelllectual Property Office and the Custom Service of Shenyang.

Counterfeiting products are not unusual in China. The key players of E-commerce in China are the Alibaba Group , which holds 70% of the total E-commerce market in China with Taobao and Tmall, and JD. com with a 20% market share. They step up taking various measures to crack down on counterfeit products, but the effect is quite limited. According to a survey published by State Administration for Industry and Commerce of China (SAIC) and China Consumers’ Association in 2015, there are 7 of 9 E-commerce platforms in the spot-check which sell counterfeit or substandard quality goods. However...

Taobao won an online landmark counterfeiting case against a vendor selling fake Royal Canin cat food on the huge online market. The court ruled that the defendant, a man named Yao, damaged the reputation of Taobao and therefore should pay compensation in the amount of 120.000 Yuan within 10 days. Taobao is also asking the court to order the defendant to publish a written apology in several prominent print and web publications for a week.

This was the first ruling of its kind in China, exemplifying the country’s efforts to fight counterfeiting which has cast a shadow over China’s...

In the " Tyrolean Economy " of August 10th 2017 you will find an article entitled "How to secure Tyrolean businesses against trademark viaolation in China". The article is in German language. Experts report on the invitation of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber how to effectively protect themselves against trademark infringements and plagiarism. The Austrian Economic Chambers represent more than 450,000 member companies and is voice of Austrian business.

The article reports in detail about the speeches of Dr. Martin Glatz , head of the Austrian Chamber of Commerce in Beijing,...

ORG Packaging Co. is being sued by TC Pharmaceuticals for infringing the Red Bull trademark right of TC Pharmaceuticals.

Being one of the major suppliers of Reignwood Group , it announced in July its receipt of a civil complaint and other filings with the Peoples Court in Beijing serving notice of the suits, which demands the court order ORG Packaging to cease forging and manufacturing its registered trademarks - including “Red Bull” and associated image logos - and claiming compensation for its monetary losses in the amount of over CNY 30 Mio.

This has been part of a...