On August 21, 2007, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce issued a Notification on Launching Special Campaign against the Unfair Competition Acts of ''Bang Ming Pai'' (Siding Along With Famous Brands) (hereinafter referred to as the Notification). The Notification requests AIC authorities at various levels to focus on investigating and cracking down those illicit acts like registering others'' well-known trade names or trademarks as the enterprise names and using the said names by all means in an intentional effort to get consumers to mistakenly associate the imitated products with the genuine ones, as well as imitating the specific name, package and decoration of famous goods and infringing the trade secret. The campaign will be launched from August until December 2007.

The Notification, which clearly categorizes ''Bang Ming Pai'' as a typical unfair competition act, refers the local AIC authorities to apply the Anti-Unfair Competition Law, Trademark Law and the Provisions on Administration of Enterprise Name Regulation, as well as the Interpretation of the Supreme People''s Court on Some Issues Concerning the Application of Law in the Trial of Civil Cases Involving Unfair Competition, to investigate and crack down the following acts:

1. Using the trade name that is identical with other''s registered trademark in prominent way;
2. Using the simplified enterprise name that constitutes the false advertisement on the place of origin and manufacturer of
the goods;
3. Using the enterprise name (including that of the foreign or regional enterprise, which is for business use in China) that contains other''s trade name of certain market reputation and is known by relevant public.

Background:

The so-called ''Bang Ming Pai'' (Siding Along With Famous Brands) refers to all kinds of misdemeanor related to the imitation or ''cloning'' of well-known name brand goods currently being produced or sold in China. Essentially, offenders using trademarks that are identical with, or similar to famous brand names in an intentional effort to get consumers to mistakenly associate the imitated products with the genuine ones, whether that be by wrongly assuming that the goods in question are related to the famous trademark or by convincing the consumer of the products'' legal authenticity. In both cases, the offenders desire to utilize the business reputation of famous brands to expand market sales and obtain illicit profits.