China will Make Greater Efforts to Promote Global IP Protection
In his keynote speech delivered at the opening ceremony of the Second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that China would “fully improve the legal framework for protecting IPR, step up law enforcement, and enhance protection of the lawful rights and interests of foreign intellectual property owners”; “China will strengthen cooperation with other countries in IPR protection, create an enabling environment for innovation and promote technological exchanges and cooperation with other countries on the basis of market principles and the rule of law”. His remarks show China’s firm determination to strengthen IPR protection.
China’s IPR protection only has a history of 40 years; but it is the past four decades that saw the establishment of IP-related laws and regulations, the decisive role of the market in allocating innovation resources and the smooth operation of innovation market mechanisms, thanks to broader and stronger IPR protection. At present, China has already become an important player in the world’s innovation landscape, and ranked the first in patent application for 8 consecutive years.
Statistics from World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) shows that in 2018, China-based applicants filed 53,000 applications under WIPO’s Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), following applicants from the United States (56,000). These achievements are results of China’s strong IPR protection. Francis Gurry, Director General of WIPO, said that “China’s impressive achievements in intellectual property can be attributed to Chinese leaders’ attention to the development of science and technology, innovation, and intellectual property at a strategic level. As a developing country, China has made remarkable progress in intellectual property in the past four decades, and thus has a lot of experience to share with the rest of the world.”
Given the fact that intellectual property serves as a bridge for technological exchanges and innovation cooperation among countries, China will undoubtedly promote IPR protection and will never walk backwards. China will also take a more active part in global intellectual property governance. In addition, China is ready to engage in comprehensive, multifaceted and high-level international cooperation, uphold and safeguard the multilateral framework of the World Trade Organization (WTO), and work with other countries to establish an intellectual property system featuring extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits. China says no to unilateralism; it will work to help developing countries have more say and greater representation in this process and establish international intellectual property rules featuring openness, inclusiveness, fairness and justice, so as to make greater contributions to global intellectual property protection.
June 23, 2019
Source: Organ of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China
Photo from: 6199pic.com
