Journey
Canon China’s Intellectual Property Division
Canon China is the Canon Group’s national sales company for mainland China, and is headquartered in Beijing. Canon China’s Intellectual Property Division is one of the divisions at the headquarters, and day-to-day operations are conducted by a mixed team of local intellectual property specialists and employees on secondment from Canon, Inc.
Since its establishment in 2001, Canon China’s Intellectual Property Division has expanded the scope and area of its activities as the core base for the Canon Group's intellectual property activities in Asia, primarily in China and Southeast Asia, while being involved in a wide range of external affairs, including anti-counterfeiting, brand management, trademark applications, and handling of infringement disputes.
In 2012, the company established a patent team and started supporting patent applications in mainland China in collaboration with the Intellectual Property Division of Canon Inc. In 2019, it expanded the scope and scale of its work by absorbing the patent team of CIB (Canon Information Technology (Beijing) Co., LTD., now renamed Canon Innovative Solution (Beijing) Co., LTD., CIS).
Let's get to know Canon China IP team by a few interesting numbers!
IP Enforcement Team
The number of registered trademarks “102”
Since its establishment, the IP Enforcement Team has consistently worked to protect Canon's business in mainland China by maintaining a proactive stance on rights protection externally and by building stable and efficient mechanisms for IP protection internally. 102 is the number of currently effective registered trademarks held by Canon China. Since the first trademark application in 2003, the team has accumulated and protected Canon China’s intellectual property through successive generations, helping to safeguard the brand.
Enforcement actions “2,528”
Over the past 20 years, from 2001 to 2022, the IP Enforcement Team, in cooperation with various levels of law enforcement in China, has conducted 2,528 enforcement actions against manufacturers and/or distributors of counterfeit goods. This number represents several generations of efforts to protect the Canon brand. China has long faced an extremely serious counterfeit goods problem, and the distribution environment for these goods is changing rapidly. The IP Enforcement Team is at the forefront of the global fight against counterfeit products and continues to experiment with new methods and approaches to protect the Canon brand and Canon users from counterfeit items by accurately identifying trends in the manufacture and sale of such items and working to suppress the process, from production to distribution, in multiple ways.
Learn about Anti-Counterfeit Enlightenment Video （Go to Canon China’s page）
Canon logo use applications “1,617”
As the Canon China Brand Management Committee (BMC) office liaison, the IP Enforcement Team has handled 1,617 Canon logo use applications from 2014 to 2022. Despite the significant adverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on business operations in the China region, the number of applications to use the Canon logo recorded double-digit growth for three consecutive years from 2020 to 2022. This indicates not only that Canon China’s business marketing activities are expanding, but also that awareness of the importance of brand management within the company is growing, thanks to awareness-raising activities led by the Intellectual Property Division over the years. By adjudicating on and administering various applications for use of the Canon logo, we are working to further enhance Canon’s brand image and its influence.
Patent Team
Experience “more than 10”
Members of the Patent Team have an average of more than 10 years of experience within the patent industry, with some having more than 20 years of experience. All are professionals with extensive business experience. Members of the team regularly gather information on Canon products and Chinese market trends and share it with each other so that effective patents can be obtained for Canon on a daily basis. Patent engineers aim to build on this technical knowledge and provide advice and response documents in line with Canon's strategy and Chinese patent practice, while also referring to foreign patent applications. Furthermore, not only patent engineers, but also translators, regularly study Canon’s technology and IP practices to ensure the quality of Chinese translations of Canon’s patent specifications.
Patent Team “2 to 1”
From 2014, the Patent Team took advantage of being located in the same city as the then CIB’s Patent Team to interact regularly, allowing both parties to develop a better understanding of each other’s work. In 2018, the two sides began reciprocal personnel secondments to deepen mutual understanding and trust, and in 2019, the two patent teams were amicably and fully integrated. Today, the members of both teams work together as one Patent Team, not only supporting Canon’s patent applications, but also contributing to Canon China’s business, and all team members cooperate in a wide range of tasks. For example, for departments considering new businesses, the team provides patent training, patent searches based on product characteristics, and other services to support the launch of new businesses. Furthermore, since patent information is sometimes required at the time of product bidding in China, the team works with the Intellectual Property Division of Canon Inc. to provide the necessary patent information to business divisions in a timely manner, helping to increase the likelihood of winning a bid.
What is the key to the development of Canon China’s Intellectual Property Division? The answer is a relaxed atmosphere in the workplace. We support each other in a spirit of mutual understanding and trust to advance the work of the Intellectual Property Team as a whole.
We also conduct various team-building activities outside of work to bring out the talents and personalities of our personnel. Take a look at this passionate team. Do you know what each of our shirt numbers means?
(As of February, 2024)
