Organizers of this months ITMA Asia + CITME 2008 have announced that they are to take tough action and expel offenders who flaunt their stringent new measures to enforce Intellectual Property Rights. Comprehensive measures to protect Intellectual Property Rights are in place to safeguard visitors and exhibitors at ITMA ASIA + CITME 2008 against counterfeit or ‘copied’ technology.

The show organisers are determined to enforce stringent regulations to ensure that only genuine and original machines and components are presented at the event, which is being staged in Shanghai from July 27 to 31. Before the event, all exhibitors have signed a commitment to respect IPRs by promising not to show any products which infringe other companies’ rights, and to co-operate with the appropriate agencies on this.

At the show, the organisers will have a dedicated IPR Office, located in Hall W4, staffed by a team of qualified officials from Shanghai Intellectual Property Administration. This office will handle any complaints or disputes related to patents, trademarks and copyright. During the event, the organisers will also be issuing reminders to all exhibitors of the need to unite in protecting IPRs and to work with the show administrators in monitoring this.

ITMA ASIA + CITME 2008 is expected to attract some 100,000 visitors to this first combined show, jointly owned by the European Committee of Textile Machinery Manufacturers CEMATEX and a Chinese consortium made up of CCPIT (Sub-council of Textile Industry, China Council for the Promotion of International Trade), CTMA (China Textile Machinery Association), and CIEC (China International Exhibition Centre Group Corporation).

All the partners are resolved that firm action will be taken if IPR breaches are found – with sanctions ranging from the removal of any offending machinery, components or supporting materials from display, to the suspension or expulsion of the exhibiting company. The IPR Office will carry out detailed and impartial investigations or obtain relevant evidence, in cases where a company is suspected of an infringement of any such rights, provided they are effective in China.

Anne Zheng, spokesperson for the show organisers states : “Exhibition organisers have a duty to take all appropriate steps to enforce IPRs, for the protection not only of exhibitors, but also of show visitors, who are entitled to expect a legitimate and lawful presentation of the technology, products and services that are on offer.

At ITMA ASIA + CITME 2008, we do not expect this to be a major problem, but we are nevertheless taking these responsibilities extremely seriously.

We believe that the measures we have in place for the show will be effective as a safeguard should any such complaints arise. They are also very important to ensure the healthy development of the exhibition itself.”

While the organisers are aware that counterfeiting is a fact of life in textile machinery globally, the CITME and ITMA events which are the constituent parts of this new combined exhibition have strong track records on IP issues. In China, CITME has employed specialist professionals since the late 1990s to handle IP-related complaints, and first established an on-site IPR Office in 2004. ITMA has also had a legal secretariat in place at all its shows since 2003.

Maria Avery, CEMATEX Secretary General, acknowledges that complaints sometimes do arise at shows regarding competitive equipment suspected of being copied, but the important fact is that they are always dealt with quickly and fairly: “Actually, the trend shows that the number of complaints received is gradually dwindling, which is perhaps partly due to the growing acceptance that copying and counterfeiting is intrinsically wrong as well as having a negative impact on the progress of innovation generally in textile machinery.

“Furthermore, both ITMA and CITME have long-established and proud reputations as world-class events where visitors can experience the best and latest technology, based on genuine and thorough R&D work by the leading manufacturers. We are convinced that ITMA ASIA + CITME 2008 will uphold this tradition, and the zero tolerance IPR measures being implemented will help to guarantee that we will succeed in our objective of stamping out patent infringements.”