WIPO’s Arbitration and Mediation Center (WIPO Center) and the Format Recognition and Protection Association (FRAPA) are to join forces later this month in providing alternative dispute resolution services to address problems of format plagiarism or the unauthorized copying of television (TV) formats, such as those used for game, reality or talent shows and sitcoms. Programs using these formats are often remade in different markets using local parties.

Western businessmen have often noted that their Chinese counterparts seem to place less stock in rules, laws and contracts. Their sense of ethics is more situational. . . . Social relations and trust are far more important than paper commitments. Microsoft could not get Beijing to enforce its IP laws for years – until the company spent time and effort developing a relationship with the government . . . Once Microsoft had convinced the Chinese government of its benign intentions, those same laws began to get enforced.”

Beijing-based Wangzhihe, established in 1678 and specializing in Beijing-style pungent beancurd, noticed in July 2006 that its brand had been registered by OKAI on Nov. 21, 2005. As it wanted to expand into the German market, it filed a lawsuit against OKAI in a court in Munich in January 2007.

Background here.

The European Court of Justice ruling last Thursday in Intel v CPM (noted . . . by the IPKat) has not just attracted a fully-fledged Rapid Response Seminar. It has also generated a batch of swift responses,

Apple this week has won a trademark infringement lawsuit against a Chinese electronics company. New Apple Concept Digital Technology Co. was ordered to pay 400,000 yuan (~$58,000 USD), completing a battle between the two companies that began in 2006 when the Shenzhen-based manufacturer was ordered to stop using its trademark, according to China Central Television. New Apple Concept had used a logo that featured an apple with the characteristic missing bite.