Canton Fair
The intellectual property wars: How the Canton Fair cracked down
Theo Reilly looks at the IP battlegrounds that can emerge when global manufacturers converge at major trade shows – with insights from IP lawyer Sophia Hou on China’ s Canton Fair
here are few places
T more thrilling for an intellectual property lawyer than a trade show. When companies from across the world come together to sell similar types of products, the IP implications are headache-inducing. Who has the patent in that particular jurisdiction? What constitutes a violation?
In 2017, a German patent-owner brought a copyright claim against a company exhibiting a certain type of steel chair at a Cologne trade fair, for which they owned exclusive rights in Germany. The defendant pushed back, saying the chair was not actually for sale. The appeal court agreed that the defendant could exhibit whatever they wanted, provided it wasn’ t for sale, but
“ At the 126th Canton Fair in 2019, the Complaint Station handled 440 IP infringement complaints against 580 companies. By 2023, that number had risen to over 1,500 IP complaints in a single fair”
Below: Aerial view of Zone B of the Canton Fair Complex that distributing advertising material with the patented design actually constituted a violation.
If that single anecdote is enough to provoke some degree of confusion, one can imagine how complicated IP claims can become at trade shows. Not for nothing did Baselworld open its‘ IP Panel’, that has been handling disputes of this nature since 1985. In 2006, Frankfurt introduced its‘ Messe Frankfurt against Copying’ initiative for the same reason.
But if there’ s one fair that’ s famous for intellectual property issues, it’ s the Canton Fair.
Today, the Canton Fair is one of the biggest trade shows in the world. It began as a small export-focused event in 1957 when China was beginning to move beyond its years of isolation. The fair grew slowly, attracting international presence. In 1972, 42 intrepid businessmen from the USA became the first American visitors to attend the Guangzhou fair. Since then, as China has risen to become the world’ s largest manufacturer, the fair has grown in tandem.
But the growth of the Chinese export market has been unorthodox. In the 1990s and 2000s, China was renowned not for drones and robotics but knock-off phones and copycat products. The‘ Anycool’ phone, a play on the Samsung Anycall, for example – or‘ Adibos’ shoes, a brand with a logo bearing striking similarity to Germany’ s Adidas.
The Canton Fair was a stage for these IP theft cases. Infringements became so prevalent that organisers had to take action. In 1992, the Ministry of Foreign Economics and Trade reported that more than 200 trademark infringement cases had been handled at the 71st Canton Fair. By 1997, the fair had established a dedicated‘ Special IP Group’ to manage complaints with a dedicated Complaint Station. Despite the crackdown, the problem continued to grow: at the 126th Canton Fair in 2019, the Complaint Station handled www. exhibitionworld. co. uk Issue 5 2025 15