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Cologne trade fairs organiser Koelnmesse has got together with the organisers of Chinese exhibitor groups to crack down on product piracy
Koelnmesse president and CEO Herbert Marner signed an intellectual property agreement in Beijing, along with representatives of some 25 Chinese group organisers. It obliges the group organisers to observe German legal requirements and to take active measures to promote the protection of intellectual property rights at trade fairs and prevent any violations of such rights.
Product piracy on exhibited products is one of the chief problems plaguing the international trade fair business today. Koelnmesse says that the agreement is the first of its kind to have been initiated by a major European trade fair company.
Along with the agreement, support centres will be set up at trade fairs in Cologne to provide information to companies affected by piracy and to organise help from specialist lawyers and the German authorities.
Over 3,500 companies from mainland China, Hong Kong and Macao regularly exhibit in Cologne.
