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World Business Quick Take

■ IPR
Beijing tightens patent law
China plans to adjust its patent law to better meet its WTO obligations, boost innovation and safeguard economic security, state media reported yesterday. Research on an amendment to the Patent Law began earlier this year, with proposed changes to be disclosed by the national legislature next year, the state-run newspaper China Daily quoted Tian Lipu (田力普), commissioner of the State Intellectual Property Office, as saying. "I hope the amendment can be completed by 2008," Tian said. China joined the WTO in 2001 with pledges to open its own markets and fight commercial piracy that costs Western companies an estimated US$16 billion in lost sales each year.

■ BEVERAGES
Kirin boosts China presence
Japan's Kirin Brewery said yesterday that it would invest about US$84 million to build a cutting-edge factory in China and take other measures to boost business in the world's biggest beer market. Kirin will turn Zhuhai Kirin President Brewery, a joint venture with a Taiwanese firm, into a wholly-owned subsidiary by purchasing the 40 percent stake held by the partner, the Japanese firm said. Kirin will also start building a second plant in Zhuhai, China, for completion in June 2007. The new Zhuhai factory alone is estimated to cost &$165;6.6 billion (US$55.5 million). The new plant will aim to produce 200 million liters of beer a year initially, double the production of the existing plant, and increase capacity to 400 million liters in the future. Products from the new plant will be shipped not just to the Zhuhai delta area but also to northern China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and the Philippines, the company said.

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