Center to help solve IPR disputes abroad

The National Intellectual Property Administration has set up a center to help enterprises better solve intellectual property rights disputes overseas, the administration said on Wednesday.

"The center will collect IPR-related difficulties and problems that the enterprises met in other countries and then guide them to deal with the disputes," said Zhang Zhicheng, director of the administration's protection department.

Meanwhile, an information sharing platform will also be improved to ensure enterprises can find IPR-related documents and reach IPR specialists in a timely manner as well as offer them more efficient legal services, he said.

He introduced the services at a news conference on the country's IPR protection and improvements, held by the State Council Information Office on Wednesday.

In addition, the administration has increased IPR-related international cooperation to help Chinese enterprises prevent risks in overseas trades and investments, he added.

In recent years, Chinese IPR-related governmental departments and judicial authorities have strengthened IPR protection by increasing administrative and criminal punishments to infringers and violators.

In 2015, the administration built the online platform to share foreign IPR-related laws, rules and information with Chinese enterprises.

From January to June, courts across the country concluded more than 150,000 civil IPR disputes and more than 2,000 criminal IPR cases, up 80 percent and 23 percent respectively year-on-year, according to Zhao Gang, deputy director of the administration.

From January to May, Chinese police detained more than 9,900 suspects for alleged IPR infringements and violations such as producing or selling counterfeit goods, he said.

"We're also working with legislators to increase the illegal cost of IPR infringers by amending the Patent Law and the Copyright Law, and further shortening the time allotted for reviewing patent and trademark applications by upgrading our intelligent systems," he added.

At the beginning of this year, China improved IPR protection in patent disputes by establishing a national-level IP court. The new court, under the Supreme People's Court, aims to streamline the appeal process by allowing litigants to bypass top provincial courts.