On April 28, the first landing activity of SHEIN's "Gravity and Innovation" Intellectual Property Empowerment Program (hereinafter referred to as the IP Empowerment Program) was launched in Panyu. Xie Weiguang, Deputy Secretary-General of Guangzhou Municipal Government, Huang Biao, Secretary of Panyu District Party Committee, Deng Yaoqi, Member of the Standing Committee of Panyu District Party Committee, Director of the United Front Work Department, and Deputy Secretary of the Party Group of the District CPPCC, Lan Weining, Deputy Director of Guangzhou Municipal Administration for Market Regulation (Intellectual Property Office), Jin Danhua, Vice Chairman of Panyu District CPPCC, Liu Yueping, President of Guangdong Garment and Apparel Industry Association, heads of Guangzhou Municipal Administration for Market Regulation (Intellectual Property Office), Panyu District Market Supervision and Administration Bureau, and relevant persons in charge of SHEIN and cross-border merchants participated.
Huang Biao pointed out in his speech that Panyu has more than 34,000 garment companies, and SHEIN has also been deeply cultivated here for 10 years, creatively forming a super garment industry ecology from upstream fiber processing, R&D and design, garment manufacturing, marketing channels, brand management, and partner sharing, innovating the digital flexible supply chain model of "on-demand production and small order fast return", and developing with the double engine of "own brand + platform", radiating Qingyuan, Jiangmen, Zhaoqing and other places in the province from Panyu South Village, among which SHEIN's own brand has developed thousands of suppliers. The platform has driven more than 300 cities across the country to bring sellers to the sea, serving consumers in more than 150 countries and regions, and growing into a global cross-border e-commerce leader, a global fashion leader, and a global top ten unicorn.
Panyu has formed a 100 billion industrial matrix composed of 100 billion enterprises, 100 billion industries, 100 billion industrial towns, 100 billion parks, 100 billion cross-border e-commerce, and five "100 billion", laying a solid foundation for Panyu's high-quality and sustainable development. Panyu will join hands with enterprises to integrate Panyu's advantageous industries such as clothing, jewelry, lighting and sound, and build the fashion industry into Panyu's second 100 billion pillar industry. It is hoped that SHEIN will continue to play a leading role, implement the IP empowerment public welfare plan, drive enterprises in the whole district, the whole city, the province and even the whole country to borrow ships to go to sea, build and share with good partners around the world, and work together to build the first highland of large international cross-border e-commerce enterprises, and make greater contributions to the rebuilding of new Guangzhou.
Shein Innovation Center
"Independent brand building is one of the core strategies of SHEIN, and its independent brands have also won the recognition and love of consumers overseas, with independent brands as the core, SHEIN has established an intellectual property protection system integrating copyright, trademark, patent and trade secrets, and in the process of coping with international competition, we have deeply realized the important role of intellectual property rights in brand and innovation protection. Sun Xun, senior vice president of SHEIN, said, "Combined with the development and experience of SHEIN's own brands, we have launched the 'Gravity and Innovation' IP empowerment program, and SHEIN will work with Zhongce Intellectual Property Research Institute to carry out brand and intellectual property protection public welfare services for cross-border business groups in the form of education and training, practical tool research and development, one-on-one compliance and legal consultation for three years, so as to help more Chinese brands and merchants in the process of intellectual property compliance, protection and innovative development in the process of internationalization." ”
Shein Innovation Center
The plan is expected to comprehensively improve the level of intellectual property use, management and protection of the covered small and medium-sized businesses, so that they will have the basic awareness of cross-border intellectual property protection and the ability to deal with and solve typical intellectual property problems, help innovation and brand building, and empower more Chinese brands to go overseas and develop internationally.
Shein Innovation Center
Jin Yongfeng, associate professor of the School of Intellectual Property of Jiji University Law School and executive dean of the South China Intellectual Property Arbitration Institute, pointed out in the training lecture that the common minefields of cross-border e-commerce intellectual property include the sale of popular models or the sale of shoes, bags, apparel and accessories of internationally renowned brands with slight modifications, the direct copying or modification of other people's products with unique shapes and novel structures, and even copying other people's pictures and product descriptions. Once these behaviors are found to be infringing, they will face product removal from the shelves, account bans, and subsequent high litigation compensation, so cross-border merchants should pay attention to compliance or protection of intellectual property rights to enhance the competitiveness of products and brands.
Lan Weining believes that SHEIN's intellectual property empowerment plan is not only a technical issue of intellectual property protection, but also a key issue involving industrial upgrading and effectively dealing with technical barriers to foreign trade, which is a large and very meaningful exploration, hoping to bring tangible gains to many upstream and downstream enterprises through the solid and in-depth development of activities, and effectively enhance the core competitiveness of enterprises.
Liu Yueping pointed out that the plan not only reflects SHEIN's foresight and sense of social responsibility, but also is of great significance to Guangdong's garment industry. "As an important factor in promoting sustainable fashion, intellectual property not only protects creativity and brand results, but also stimulates the innovation vitality of the entire industry. By strengthening the protection of intellectual property rights, we can promote the green, low-carbon and circular development of the fashion industry and achieve a win-win situation of economic and social benefits. ”
Text: Panyu financial media reporter Chen Xiaojie
Photo: Courtesy of Shein