The China State Administration for Industry and Commerce (CSAIC)
issued a circular on Thursday ordering its local branches to
strengthen protection of trademarks of farm products originating
from Taiwan in an effort to promote cross-Straits cooperation in
the agricultural sector.
The circular asked its administrative branches to step up the
protection of Taiwanese applicants' legal rights in trademark
registration.
It also told the branches to earnestly pursue their
responsibility in market supervision and protect the intellectual
property rights of agricultural products from Taiwan, especially in
the fruit market. Fake trademarks, false advertising and
infringement of registered trademarks will be seriously punished,
it said.
Statistics show that cross-Straits trade in agricultural
products had totaled US$ million by the end of 2004 and closer ties
in the last three years have spurred an influx of Taiwanese produce
into the mainland market.
The mainland has granted market access to 22 categories of
Taiwan fruit and removed tariffs on 15 of them. It has also removed
tariffs from 11 categories of vegetables and eight kinds of aquatic
products.
"Mainland consumers have reported a robust demand for quality
farm produce from Taiwan, including its tropical fruit, flowers,
seeds and seedlings," said He Ziyang, an official with the Ministry
of Agriculture, at a cross-Straits trade fair held last month in
Xiamen.
(Xinhua News Agency November 10, 2006)