Nantong city adds State-level IP protection center
The new China (Nantong) Intellectual Property Protection Center, located in the Nantong National High-tech Industrial Development Zone, is officially up and running. [Photo/ntfabu.com]
The city of Nantong – in East China's Jiangsu province – recently added an important State-level Intellectual Property, or IP protection center, that is expected to boost the productivity of the sector and help companies with the sometimes fractious and highly technical area of the law.
According to the Nantong Market Supervision Administration, the new facility is called the China (Nantong) Intellectual Property Protection Center and it is situated in the Nantong National High-tech Industrial Development Zone.
It officially started operating recently after it passed an acceptance inspection conducted by the China National Intellectual Property Administration, or CNIPA, local media reported on April 10.
The center is one of the first group of national intellectual property protection centers established in the middle and northern parts of Jiangsu province with the approval of the CNIPA.
Mainly targeted at the major intelligent equipment manufacturing and textiles industries, it provides one-stop IP public services. These include rapid patent pre-examinations, rapid IP rights conformations and protection, as well as IP protection and operations instructions.
It is expected that the new center's rapid pre-examination facilities will greatly shorten the duration of the entire patent authorization and examination process.
Specifically, the processing duration of patents for invention authorizations and examinations will be cut from 22 months to three to six months. That for patents for utility models will be reduced from seven to eight months to one month, while the duration for design patents will go down dramatically from the current one to three months to five to seven days.
It is understood that the center will effectively connect the key links for IP protection – among them, examinations and authorizations, the administrative enforcement of law, juridical protection, arbitration mediation and industry self-discipline – once it ramps up to full operations.
The center is expected to be involved in such areas as 24-hour rapid infringement judgments, the stationing and working of public security organs and procuratorial legal organs and the courts.
It will also dispatch professional service staff to companies, to provide services including authoritative legal opinions, instructions on dealing with foreign disputes and early warnings for potential patent disputes. For the businesses in question, it is expected to their costs related to those cases.
Tel: +86-513-85361605 (General Department); +86-513-85361607 (Pre-examination Department)
Address: Floor 6, Building A2, Jianghai Smart Park, No 266 Xinshiji Avenue, Tongzhou district, Nantong
