In 2006, the member departments of the Intellectual Property Coordination Conference of GD Government, along with other relevant authorities, actively created conditions to facilitate the improvement of GD's IPR system. They improved communication and cooperation, hence contributing to the growing resultant force of IPR protection. GD Government established the Office of GD Working Group for IPR Protection, and issued the Implementing Papers for GD Action Plans of IPR Protection 2006-2007. Ratified by GD Government, GD Office of Rectification and Standardization of Market Economic Order set up the GD IPR Protection Complaints Service Center, providing a convenient channel of filing complaints of IPR infringement. From its establishment until the end of 2006, the Center had received 18 cases of complaints of IPR infringement, 17 of which had been settled. The Center built and maintained a website for IPR protection, and established a work platform of information networks, hence preliminarily building a unified and efficient IPR complaint service system whereby information can be shared among diverse authorities for IPR protection.

In 2006, GD Provincial Development and Reform Commission attached strategic importance to IPR in formulating the Eleventh Five-Year Plan of the Social and Economic Development of GD and the Eleventh Five-Year Plan of the Development of GD High-Technology Industry, explicitly requiring that GD should implement the IPR strategy and build a social atmosphere favorable to IPR protection. GD State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission incorporated IPR work into the overall plan of the reform and development of GD stated-owned enterprises, guiding enterprises to formulate corporate IPR strategies and to effectively protect IPR. GD Department of Finance has been increasing financial resources for IPR protection; in 2006, a total of RMB 26 million was budgeted specially for IPR work, increasing RMB 5 million, and that significantly advanced GD's IPR protection.

GD courts valued communication and exchange between authorities of administrative enforcement. In 2006, GD Provincial Court dispatched personnel to IPOs, AICs, Copyright Bureaus, Customs Offices and other administrative departments for better communication, promoting the coordination between IPR judiciary procedures and administrative enforcement. GD municipal courts also followed suits, striving to build up the resultant force of IPR protection.

In 2006, GD Provincial IPO and GD Provincial PSD jointly set up an IPR Enforcement Liaison Office. The liaison office is responsible for improving the mechanism of case transfer, establishing intelligence and information networks, researching and solving significant issues arising from enforcement cooperation. GD Provincial AIC strived to build a mechanism for cross-department protection of trademarks; in the year, it strengthened administrative enforcement cooperation with GD Customs, providing better protection for trademarks. GD Customs, in turn, continued to deepen cooperation with IPR protection authorities such as PSDs, IPOs, AICs and Copyright Bureaus, improving the overall efficiency and capacity of IPR protection. Notably, GD Customs, according to the Tentative Regulations of Strengthening IPR Enforcement Cooperation jointly issued by Ministry of Public Security and General Administration for Customs, improved coordination with GD PSDs in terms of actively exchanging intelligence and jointly cracking down on IPR infringement in import/export. In March 2006, Huangpu Customs reported to the police a case of infringing on trademarks of Royal Philips Corporation and Motorola Corporation; eventually, the court sentenced 4 infringers to imprisonment of 9 months and 8 months. That was the first IPR case in which GD Customs exchanged intelligence with the police and finally brought infringers to criminal penalty.

Editor: Wing