China’s Achievements in IPR Protection Recognized at Home and Abroad

The State Council Information Office held a regular policy briefing. Zhao Gang, deputy director of China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA), was invited to introduce the latest developments in comprehensively strengthening the protection of intellectual property rights (IPR) and answer questions from journalists.

Zhao Gang said that in the first half of this year, China made great headway in strengthening IPR protection. During this period, the average time required for granting high-value patents was reduced to 20.9 months and the average examination period for trademark registration was reduced to 5 months. A total of 238,000 patents were granted, up 9.9% year on year; and 3.515 million trademarks were registered, a year-on-year increase of 67.8%. Altogether 1.338 million copyrights were registered from January to May.

In the first half of the year, local people's courts throughout China concluded nearly 150,000 civil cases regarding intellectual property rights, an increase of 80% year on year, and about 2,000 cases of IPR infringement were concluded, up by approximately 23% year on year. Procuratorial organs across the country approved the arrest of about 3,400 people in nearly 1,900 criminal cases involving IPR infringement. From January to May, public security organs nationwide solved more than 4,200 cases of infringement and counterfeiting, and arrested roughly 9,900 criminal suspects, involving more than 4.8 billion Yuan.

Zhao Gang said that China's achievements in IPR protection was recognized both at home and abroad. According to survey, social satisfaction with IPR protection in China increased from 63.69 points in 2012 to 76.88 points in 2018. In Business Confidence Survey 2019, a report released in May by European Union Chamber of Commerce in China, about 60% of 585 interviewed EU enterprises doing business in China believed that the country’s administrative and judicial protection of intellectual property was significantly strengthened. The International IP Index launched by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in March specifically pointed out that China achieved a lot in improving online sales environment and drug patent enforcement.

Zhang Zhicheng, director of the Intellectual Property Protection Department of CNIPA, said that as China continued to open wider to the outside world, enterprises seeking to do business outside China were encountering an increasing number of intellectual property disputes and lawsuits. To solve this problem, China set up a National Guidance Center for Handling Overseas Intellectual Property Disputes. In the future, enterprises and the public with relevant needs could seek help from the center.

September 8, 2019

Source: China Daily

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