SIPO head: Strengthened laws will protect IP rights

Improved laws, policies and enforcement will together help China better protect intellectual property rights, said the nation's top IP official at the 55th Series of Meetings of the Assemblies of the Member States of the World Intellectual Property Organization on Oct 5 in Geneva.

Shen Changyu, commissioner of the State Intellectual Property Office, said in his general statement that China has revised its Patent Law and Copyright Law, and established three intellectual property courts in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou to provide stronger legal support to IP protection.

IP-related administrations have also strengthened law enforcement against IP right infringements, he added.

The Chinese government issued an Action Plan for Further Implementing the National Intellectual Property Strategy for 2014-2020, which set a new goal of building the nation into an IP power and stressed that an intellectual property system should become the basic safeguard in encouraging innovation.

It then issued guidelines in March to inspire innovation by safeguarding IP rights.

In the first eight months of this year, SIPO received 699,000 invention patent applications, an increase of 21 percent from the same period a year earlier, including 19,000 international applications through the Patent Cooperation Treaty, up 20 percent.

In the same period, the national trademark administration received more than 1.8 million trademark applications, a rise of 30 percent.

About 1.2 million copyrights were registered last year, up nearly 20 percent from 2013.

The commissioner praised the work of WIPO's China office over the past year and said the cooperation between China and WIPO has achieved "abundant fruits".

"WIPO should continue to play an irreplaceable role in international IP norm settings," he said. "We need to advance the negotiations and formulation of international IP treaties and regulations, which will make them more balanced, reciprocal and inclusive.

"IP services in the WIPO framework should be expanded with improved efficiency and better quality."

Shen also suggested that WIPO pay more attention to the concerns of developing countries in their IP development, and provide them more support and technical assistance.

China will continue to support the work of WIPO "to better support a great role of intellectual property in the promotion of common development, and allow innovation and creativity to better fit the needs of people around the world", Shen said.

Ada Leung, director of the IP department of Hong Kong, said in her complementary remark that it is important for all businesses, big or small, to properly maintain and develop their IP portfolios in the globalized economy.

The Hong Kong government has organized training programs and launched a one-on-one consultation service to help small companies manage and use their IP resources effectively, she said.

The WIPO Assemblies of the Member States are the top-level meetings of the organization, held annually or biannually. The 55th Series of Meetings lasted 10 days through Oct 14.

zhangzhao@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 10/14/2015 page17)