According to Wikipedia . . .

Dalian is the governing sub-provincial city in the eastern Liaoning Province of northeastern China. It is China's northernmost ice-free seaport.

The coastal city of Dalian is where the China International Patent Fair 2006 is located.

I don't know much about Chinese IP law and/or practices.  However, a Professor Ping from Peking wants a reduction in Patent Fees from Philips.

The 3C DVD Patent Group owns most of the patents related to the DVD technology, and Professor Zhang is accusing Philips of charging expensive patent fees from Chinese DVD manufacturers.

With a lot of DVD players under $50, I wonder how much the Patent Group has been charging?

Pattoo blogged about the All-American Foreign Patent Office last year.  In that post the disturbing outsourcing trend was discussed.  Well, it seems that the outsourcing trend continues to swell.

The Indian IP outsourcing industry is estimated to touch between $400 million and $500 million in the next few years, Gupta said.

Patent problems in China? I thought patent problems were unique to the U.S. The website shanghaidaily.com is reporting that a teacher, Gui Binrong, is suing a publisher over a patent she applied a for in 2001 and received in 2003.

Gui didn't come up with technology to emboss the cover of books, she just holds a patent on the idea of using embossed characters and pictures. She doesn't claim to hold the rights to embossed charters on bo

The U.S. Patent System isn't the only Patent System considered to be problematic, according to a FT.com article.

According to a recent study commissioned by Brussels, the cost of registering patents across the EU typically varies between €€37,500-€€€57,000 ($45,500-$69,200). By contrast, the cost of registering a US patent is about €€€10,000 - a factor often cited by Brussels officials as part of the explanation for the EU'’s failure to improve its levels of innovation.

Ta