Yesterday, jurists from China and the US gathered in Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang Province, for a forum aiming to help Chinese exporters respond to charges of intellectual property rights (IPR) infringement.

Zhang Qin, deputy director-general of the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO), said that though many eastern Chinese enterprises are export-oriented, "few are aware of IPR protection, especially Section 337 investigations, and some have suffered a great loss in export deals."

Under Section 337 of the US Tariff Act of 1930, imports subject to allegations of patent, trademark or copyright infringement can be barred from entry, with complaints dealt with by the US International Trade Commission (USITC).

"We will establish an IPR protection system and relevant rules to help Chinese exporters in their development in the domestic and international markets," said Zhang.

Huang Song, from Shanghai's Haiwen & Partners, said the USITC logged 45 complaints under Section 337 against Chinese businesses last year, 22 of which involved enterprises on the mainland.

According to Thomas L. Jarvis, a registered patent attorney and a partner at Finnegan Henderson Farabow Garrett & Dunner Ltd., the USITC is currently investigating 26 complaints under Section 337, 15 of which relate to China.

The two-day seminar -- American Intellectual Property and "337" Litigation Practices -- is sponsored by the SIPO's Intellectual Property Development and Research Center.

Also on Wednesday, students from 40 Beijing universities and colleges witnessed the destruction of more than 20,000 pirated discs they had exchanged with legal ones in a month-long campaign sponsored by Beijing Students Federation.

Since November 7, students in the capital have been able to swap 2 pirated discs plus 6 yuan (74 US cents) for one authentic one.

(Xinhua News Agency December 15, 2005)