Microsoft word - 2006.7.doc

10 Years of “Wei Ge” Trademark Battle Ended with American Pfizer as the
Losing Party
Over 10 years of “Wei Ge (Viagra)” trademark dispute finally ended. American Pfizer, the first to introduce ED (erectile dysfunction) drugs to China, ultimately failed to Yesterday Guangzhou Welman held a press conference and announced that the Supreme People’s Court dismissed Pfizer's retrial request and upheld Welman as the legitimate holder of the trademark “Wei Ge”. It is learnt that the “Wei Ge” trademark case dates back to 1998 when the miracle ED drug “Viagra” which was developed and manufactured by Pfizer just came out and its Chinese name “Wei Ge” was widely used by domestic media. However, in May of that year, Guangzhou Welman first registered “Wei Ge” as its trademark in China, which forced “Viagra” of Pfizer to be registered as “Wan Ai Ke” when it entered China market. Subsequently, Pfizer filed a lawsuit against Welman as well as its authorized manufacturers and sellers, requesting the court to recognize “Wei Ge” as an unregistered well-known trademark in China. The Supreme People’s Court ruled as below: Pfizer clearly declared “Wan Ai Ke” as the official product name and admitted that it had never used “Wei Ge” as its trademark in mainland China, so although “Viagra” was called as “Wei Ge” by the media, it is uncertain that Pfizer had the genuine intention of using “Wei Ge” as its China’s IP Law Retrieval System (Chinese-English Bilingual Version) was
launched in Beijing
Keynote: This law retrieval system is a partner project advocated by the EU-China Project on the Protection of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR2) and the China International Electronic Commerce Center (CIECC). It is also a free search engine and information source designed to help users search and obtain legal resources in the current legal framework of IP protection and enforcement in China. China’s IP Law Retrieval System, a new platform of laws and regulations relating to IP protection and enforcement in China was launched today at Shou Ren International Conference Center of Peking University. Attendants of the opening ceremony for this platform included high-ranking officials from the Ministry of Commerce of China and Delegation of the European Commission to China as well as senior scholars from This law retrieval system is a partner project advocated by the EU-China Project on the Protection of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR2) and the China International Electronic Commerce Center (CIECC). It is also a free search engine and information source designed to help users search and obtain legal resources in the current legal framework of IP protection and enforcement in China. The launch of this retrieval system not only facilitates better access to IP law information for domestic enterprises but also increases public awareness of IP protection. It is a window for China-based multinational companies to know the status quo of IP protection in China, providing information services and IP protection for their trade with China. It is learnt that China’s IP Law Retrieval System adopts the Chinese-English bilingual model and includes more than 140 Chinese legal texts (including the English version), ranging from regulations and laws to department rules or judicial interpretations, and covering main areas of IP protection. It involves all IP-related laws such as the patent law, trademark law, copyright law, administrative law and administrative procedure law, anti-monopoly law, civil law and criminal law. Wang Yang, head of the Department of Treaty and Law in the Ministry of Commerce of China, said that this law retrieval system would set a good example to the close cooperation between China and the EU in IP protection. At the opening ceremony, Rudie Filon, official from the Delegation of the European Commission to China, introduced the history of effective cooperation between China and the EU in the IP field till now. He stressed that the launched law retrieval system provided rich IP law information for Sino-European trade, especially providing strong support for small and medium-sized enterprises in terms of safeguarding their IP rights. He told the media that a bilingual EU IP Law Retrieval System similar to China’s IP Law Retrieval System was also being developed. It is known that the EU-China Project on the Protection of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR2) launched in 2007 is a partner project in the IP protection field between China and the EU. With over EUR 16 million in joint funding over four years, IPR2 aims at improving the effectiveness of IPR enforcement by reinforcing the reliability, efficiency and accessibility of the IP protection system in China. This is done by means of close cooperation with the Chinese authorities at all levels in the legislative, judicial, administrative and enforcement fields and providing them with technical

Source: http://www.lindaliugroup.cn/files/ipc/news/en/2009.7.pdf