The USPTO recently announced that it will host a seminar next month regarding the protection of IP in China. The seminar, entitled “USPTO China Road Show,” will be held from April 2-3, 2008, at the Houston Hobby Airport Marriott Hotel in Houston, Texas, and will focus on teaching businesses how to protect against intellectual property theft from China. According to the USPTO announcement (link below), “China was the number one source of counterfeit products seized by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in 2007, accounting for 80 percent of all seizures,” noting further that the “realities of piracy and counterfeiting … cost the American economy approximately $250 billion annually.” According to the seminar webpage (link below), topics include “China’s laws and regulations that may affect how a business protects and enforces its intellectual property, how best to protect business assets to avoid intellectual property problems in the first place, how to recognize when an intellectual property asset has been infringed, what to do if infringement occurs, and what the U.S. government is doing to improve the intellectual property protection and enforcement environment in China.” This USPTO program is held free of charge, but attendees are required to register via the link available at the seminar webpage link below.

USPTO Announcement: LINK
Seminar Webpage: LINK