■ TRADEMARKS
Record applications in PRC
China’s trademark office was the world’s busiest for the sixth consecutive year last year, receiving 708,000 trademark registration applications, the China News reported yesterday. The number of trademark registration applications filed by foreigners totaled 103,000 last year, making up 14.5 percent of the total, the paper said on its Web site, citing figures from an industry forum. Intellectual property is gradually emerging as a more important concept in China, although foreign companies frequently complain about continuing abuses.
■ TRADE
NZ official opposes FTA
New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters said yesterday he and his political party would vote against the free-trade agreement (FTA) with China signed a day earlier. There was not enough in the deal to erase a US$3.6 billion annual trade deficit with China, Peters told reporters. Prime Minister Helen Clark oversaw the signing of the agreement in China on Monday, which made her country the first developed economy to enter such a pact with the Asian giant. Peters leads the nationalist New Zealand First party, which joined Clark’s Labour Party-led government after 2005 polls.
■MACHINERY
Japan firms discuss merger
Japanese heavy machinery makers IHI Corp and JFE Holdings Inc said yesterday they had agreed to begin concrete talks on merging their shipbuilding subsidiaries, a move that would create the country’s biggest shipbuilder. The move comes as Japanese shipbuilders face intensifying competition from regional rivals South Korea and China. IHI and JFE will establish a committee to discuss the details of how operations of IHI subsidiary, IHI Marine United Inc, and its JFE counterpart, Universal Shipbuilding Corp, can be integrated, the firms said in a joint statement. They will also discuss production details, merger ratios and ways to stay competitive in shipbuilding operations, they said.
■SECURITY
Firms plan ratings agency
Eighteen Japanese firms said yesterday they were creating the world’s first ratings agency looking at data security, which they said was a rising concern for companies. The new firm, called IS Rating, will be launched on May 1 and start issuing ratings in July, both to Japanese and foreign companies and organizations. It will give out ratings based on how they manage data, including files containing personal information, which circulates within the firm or is shared with third parties. IS Rating will also offer training and edit documents to encourage security. Companies which are shareholders in the new agency include Matsushita Electric Industrial Co, Fujitsu Ltd, Fuji Xerox Co Ltd, Canon Inc and the Nikkei business media group.
■INVESTMENT
Intel sets up China fund
The global investment arm of US chipmaker Intel Corp said yesterday it had established a new China fund aiming to inject US$500 million into ventures in the booming Asian market. Intel Capital told a briefing in Beijing its Capital China Technology Fund II will be focusing on investments in wireless broadband, technology, media, telecommunications and “clean tech.” Intel Capital’s first US$200 million China fund has been fully invested in local Chinese companies, the company said. “Since 1998 Intel Capital has invested in more than 70 companies across China and Hong Kong,” Intel Capital president Arvind Sodhani said in a statement.
Agencies
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