WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  IP/C/W/537 
20 October 2009 
 (09-5140) 
Council for Trade-Related Aspects 
of Intellectual Property Rights Original:   English 
 
 
 
TRANSITIONAL REVIEW MECHANISM OF CHINA 
 
Communication from Japan  
 
 
 By means of a communication from the delegation of Japan, dated 2 October 2009, the Secretariat has received the following contribution in  the context of the transitional review mechanism 
under Section 18 of China's Protocol on Accession.  
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I. COPYRIGHTS 
1. "Outline of the National Intellectual Property St rategy" issued in June 2008 says, "(8) Laws 
and regulations concerning IPRs ne ed to be improved.  Special in tellectual property laws, such as 
…Copyright Law, and related regulations  need to be promptly revised."  
 Also, "China Action Plan on IPR Protection 2009" issued in April 2009 says, "2.4 To promote 
the revision, formulation and implementation of Re gulations on the Copyright Protection of Folklore 
and to work on the revision, formulation and implementation of Administrative Measures for 
Voluntary Registration of Works and Reward Rules for Legal Licensing of Textbooks."   Please provide us with the detailed schedule for the establishment, revision and implementation of the above laws  and regulations, including the opportunity for public comment from 
relevant stakeholders and submission of  the comments to the State Council.  
 2. Please provide us the detailed schedule for the establishment of the regulation on the royalty 
regulation for broadcasting and television organi zations, which Article 43 of the Chinese Copyright 
Law stipulates that the State Council is to establish.  
 Also, please tell us China's view on the time  when the Chinese Government is planning to 
start collecting the royalties.  Especially, whethe r the provisions concerning collecting royalties will 
be effective retroactive to October, 2001, when the Chinese Copyright Law was revised to introduce 
Article 43.   3. It is our understanding that collective management  societies in China are not able to distribute 
royalties to right holders appropriately because user s of copyrighted works often do not report their 
actual usages fully.  To solve this  problem, Japan believes that ther e is a need to ensure the full 
enforcement of a user's obligation to provide fu ll information about their usages, and need to 
encourage them to build an adequate system for distribution, as stipulated under Article 27 of the 
Regulation for Collective Management of Copyright.  Please inform us of China's view on this matter.  
Also, if the Chinese Government is planning to take any measures against this problem, please 
provide us with their details. IP/C/W/537 
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  4. Concerning the permission of distributing visual content which should be protected its 
copyright properly over mobile network, please prov ide us with the detailed information, including 
the regulations, relevant authorities, the pro cedures, and the documents to be submitted. 
II. TRADEMARKS 
A. E
XAMINATION PERIOD OF TRADEMARK  
5. In 2008, China answered through the TRM that  the average pendency period in the year 2008 
was about 28 months (i.e. from the receipt of an app lication to the issuance of  first Office action).  
Please let us know how long it takes on an average now.   Your informing us of the future perspective 
of possible reduction in the average pendency period would be appreciated. 
6. Please let us know an average length of time from a receipt of a request for an opposition 
processed by the China Trade Mark Office (CTMO) to  a start of a substantial examination on the 
opposition and from a start of a substa ntial examination to a final decision respectively.  In addition, 
please provide us with an average length of time from a receipt of a request for a review processed by the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board (TRAB)  to a start of a substantial review and from a 
start of a substantial review to a final decision respectively.  
B. E
XAMINATION OF TRADEMARK  
7. Please let us know whether the CTMO has a sy stem to examine trademark applications 
together or not when a same trademark is filed designating several classes of goods and/or services 
respectively. 
III. ENFORCEMENT 
8. We would like to know what kind of concrete  measures based on relevant provisions of 
Criminal code you have undertaken to meet your  obligations of imposing sufficiently deterrent 
punishment against wilful trademark counterfeiting or copyright piracy.  And would you please provide us with figures/statistics, concrete cas es of detection and other data to support the 
establishment and effective management of the system to impose deterrent punishment.  ( See 
Article 61 of TRIPS Agreement )  
9. According to Article 61 of the TRIPS Agreement, in appropriate cases, remedies available 
shall include the seizure, forfeiture and destructi on of the infringing goods and of any materials and 
implements the predominant use of which has been in  the commission of the offence.  We would like 
to know what kind of cases your Government is c onsidering to be "appropriate cases" to fulfill the 
requirement under the Article. 
IV. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY TRIBUNAL 
10. The Supreme People's Court of the People's Repub lic of China issued its regulation regarding 
allocation of judicial reviews of administrativ e decisions on intellectual property cases including 
patent and trademark on 22 June 2009, where the term  of intellectual property tribunal is found.  This 
tribunal can expedite a judicial review.  Please le t us know how long you are expecting the tribunal 
will shorten the pendency period of a case.  
11. Please let us know whether a judge familiar with intellectual property is or will be 
strategically allocated with the intellectual propert y tribunal established.  If so, please let us know how 
many such judges have already been or will be allocated and how much they are familiar with 
intellectual property, such as experience in judging intellectual property cases.   IP/C/W/537 
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  12. Please let us know whether a civil case concerni ng infringement of intellectual property right 
is or will be judged at intellectua l property tribunal.  In addition, please provide us with coordination 
between a civil tribunal and intellectual property tribunal when intellectual property right in a judicial review case is the same as the intellectual pr operty right in a civil case and when both cases are 
pending.  
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