According to the press, during the 21-day Canton Fair this October(122nd session), the Canton Fair Complaint Station for Intellectual Property Rights(IPR) and Trade Dispute handled 554 IPR related cases in total, 78 more than the number of the previous session. Among all the filed cases, 402 were patent infringement - 48 more than the last session. The rise in number of IPR complaints indicates an increasing in awareness of IPR protection on the market. During the same period, the China Customs carried out a special operation - Operation Long Teng – that aims to intercept counterfeit and pirated goods exporting to other countries. The vigorous operation focused on export commodities for countries along the “One Belt, One Road” initiative, confiscating more than 6000 batches of goods that violated trademark or IPR. 

The deployment conference of ‘ Operation Long Teng’  (Image: WELLMAX)

Some of the infringing cases were initiated by the buyer, who knowingly requested the supplier to produce counterfeit products; however, some were manufactured without the awareness of the buying party. How can rights owners protect themselves from such cases?

Through our recent investigations on cross-border procurement cases, the China Customs told to us that if some crucial criteria can be considered at the beginning stage of seeking suppliers, many cases of financial losses can be avoided. Qualities such as having long-term export experiences and good reputation, and owning proprietary patents for technologies are indicators of a reliable partner for oversea buyers, because companies that meet the aforementioned criteria will be more likely to provide IPR protection for buyers to avoid the potential risks and losses during the process of oversea procurement. For example, buyers in the market for LED products should search for suppliers who are in the leading position of the LED lighting field. On the Canton Fair, we found that many long-term buyers and top brands of a market will visit a company - Shanghai Wellmax Lighting Industry Co. (WELLMAX).

WELLMAX as the most famous exhibitor on the Canton Fair (Image: WELLMAX)

WELLMAX is a long-standing exhibitor that has been attending the Canton Fair since 1990s. In the past 20 years, through devoting into product design and high-standard production management processes, the company has become the most famous exhibitor of the Canton Fair, providing buyers with not only high quality products but also holistic solutions that derived from the company’s R&D capability. WELLMAX’s self-developed LED bulb products have obtained proprietary patents, which provide its oversea client partners IP protection. With the overall advantages attributing to the ability of creating high value-added services, WELLMAX has successfully helped global partners fight against the severe market competition of the product homogenization and price battle. More and more oversea brands are choosing WELLMAX as their long-term partners, because the company has been proven to be a trustworthy lighting supplier.