The China/Australia Free Trade Agreement may change that – the Top 6 picks.
If you own valuable IP, doing business in China has always been laced with a fear that whatever you produce may be counterfeited and there'll be nothing much you can do about it.
We're not sure that's necessarily going to change, but the new China/Australia Free Trade Agreement may give us a little more protection and rights than we currently have in China.
There's no use reading the whole thing . . . it's boring. So we've distilled the Top 6 changes that mean protecting your IP in China may be a fairer prospect (all of these already exist in Australia).
Here they are.
- New criminal penalties for counterfeiting and pirating of IP.
- Customs seizures for suspected counterfeit goods.
- Treatment of Australians at the same level as the Chinese in respect of registration and enforceability.
- Trade mark, design and patent searches on the internet. No joke, you can't do that at the moment.
- Protection for well known trade marks.
- Written reasons to be provided and a chance to appeal any rejection of IP registration.
The Agreement is yet to come into force, but that seems only a matter of time. Hopefully the final legislative version won't be watered down. Decent IP protection is a necessity for all but the foolishly brave.
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