China’s apparel industry calls for strengthening intellectual property protection

“The patent protection of the apparel industry needs to race against time.” Yan Wuzhou， legal director of Bosideng Group， said at the China Apparel Industry Intellectual Property Protection Forum that the Chinese apparel industry is in the process of transformation， upgrading and internationalization， and should be further strengthened the protection of apparel intellectual property rights.

On the same day， at the China Apparel Industry Intellectual Property Protection Forum organized by the Beijing Intellectual Property Judicial Protection Association and the Intellectual Property College of Renmin University of China， etc.， representatives of domestic apparel brand enterprises and industry associations generally said that the current infringements in the apparel industry are frequent， and if Chinas apparel wants to go global， it is necessary to speed up the application and protection of patents such as clothing styles， layouts and patterns.

At present， the new round of industrial revolution has swept the world， and the Chinas apparel industry is transforming and upgrading to branding， high-end， internationalization and differentiation.

Yan Wuzhou said that the current apparel industry logo squatting， style imitation and infringement and other issues frequently occur. The Patent Law of the Peoples Republic of China can find provisions for design patents， but the application for design patents takes 4 to 6 months， the registration of copyright takes 3 to 6 months， the approval of trademarks takes 12 months， and the sales period of new clothing is generally only about 6 months， so the current patent protection of the apparel industry needs to race against time.

According to reports， in France， the French Intellectual Property Code only takes 10 days to 15 days to review the protection of clothing design， and the design patent protection has reached 15 years. Yan Wuzhou suggested that China should speed up the cycle of clothing patent registration， speed up the review cycle through administrative regulations， and increase the intensity of infringement law enforcement and punishment.

In addition to clothing patent protection to compete with time， Chinese fashion designer Ma Sitong pointed out that the apparel industry still has difficulties in high cost of rights protection and strong professional definition of intellectual property. “Which design elements are based on popular trends， and which design details are applicable to intellectual property protection， these definitions are more difficult.”

“Intellectual property rights are the core assets for apparel companies.” Shen Yongfang， president of Shenzhen Garment Industry Association， summarized the current infringement status of Chinas apparel industry： the infringing object is mainly international famous brands and hot-selling goods； the infringing body is small and medium-sized clothing enterprises； infringers use the network to sell infringing goods in pursuit of short-term benefits； in the process of going global of apparel enterprises， intellectual property infringement is increasingly frequent.

Facing the current situation of intellectual property protection in Chinas apparel industry， how to create a fair and equitable intellectual property protection environment and promote international development？ Bai Xiaoli， deputy director of the Beijing Chaoyang Lawyers Association， believes that it is necessary to protect the corporate brand at a moderately balanced level. She suggested that at present China needs to use comprehensive legal means to protect the apparel industry patents， to carry out precautionary measures and to protect their rights afterwards. The whole society must jointly protect it and use the new technology to quickly register， deposit and collect evidence.

The forum also launched the compilation of the“White Paper on the Status of Intellectual Property Protection in Chinas Apparel Industry”， which will be released soon.