More than 800 new trademarks in the second half of this year, according to Yiwu Industrial and Commerce Administration, have been registered. The total number of registered trademarks in Yiwu has reached 23,277 up to date, in which 74 have been recognized as national well-known trademarks (6 of them have been recognized by the State Administration of Industry and Commerce), 77 as provincial well-known trademarks, and 200 as well-known ones in Jinhua City. Brand Helps Business With gradual economic recovery in the second half of this year, brand has become an important asset for companies in Yiwu to survive and transform in the post-crisis era. The local industry and commerce administration has listed 2009 as the Year of Service, and helped local companies to register trademarks as a way to implement brand strategy, facilitate their business upgrading and empower development of Yiwu-based companies. The officials of Yiwu Municipal Industry and Commerce Administration have visited firms to get familiar with trademark registration and use situation, and also communicated with business managers to improve their awareness on the value of international branding. Moreover, they also carried out special training courses for business owners to help them have a better understanding of international trademark registration. By taking advantage of incentive policies in Yiwu fully, the Industry and Commerce Administration has successfully encouraged and assisted many local firms to register their own international trademarks through different ways. At present, Yiwu has 715 international trademarks. According to the long-term plan of Yiwu Municipal Industry and Commerce Administration, the number of international trademarks owned by Yiwu-based companies will exceed 1,000 in next three to five years. While assisting local firms in developing, creating, using and protecting brands, Yiwu Industry and Commerce Administration has also actively explored approaches to using existing trademarks to maximize corporate trademark values. In the first half of this year, the Industry and Commerce Administration has launched a key policy allowing companies to use their trademarks as collateral for bank loans. To promote the implementation of this policy, the Industry and Commerce Administration has carried out various publication events and also provided key support to Yiwu firms with national well-known brands to help them obtaining bank loans with brands as collateral. Brand Helps Farmers With regard to promoting the development of “branded” agriculture, Yiwu Industry and Commerce Administration also encouraged trademark registration for agricultural products to boost farmer income by adding value from trademarks and place of origin certification. This Department also encouraged agricultural cooperatives and leading agricultural product companies for trademark registration and application, and even started “one-for-one” special services for key players. For instance, there are 29 agricultural cooperatives registered under Yixi Industry and Commerce Office, but few of them are in normal operation. Thus, Yixi Office makes great efforts in developing agricultural cooperatives and provided proper guidance to them. Via field studies and various training programs, this Office successfully promoted development of agricultural cooperatives in this district. At present, at least 15 cooperatives are in smooth operation, among which 4 cooperatives are functioning especially well. Among these 15 cooperatives, 13 have signed orders with both rural households and agricultural product processing enterprises, 6 have signed deals with agents, and 12 have owned their own trademarks. In addition, Yixi Industry and Commerce Office has worked hard on “branded” agricultural production according to agricultural development situation in Shangxi town, and a series of local agricultural products with certain level of mass production and place of origin certification have emerged. Many local farmers have recognized the value of trademarks, group trademarks and place of origin certificates in agricultural production. Yixi Industry and Commerce Office succeeded in recommending Wudian Potato and Hongfu Fruits to provincial and municipal authorities, and the registration of Sihe brand has also begun.
