---- The 2019 “Intellectual Property Service Long March” Ended Successfully in Hubei
From December 2nd to 3rd, during the 13th China Patent Week 2019, the 2019 “Intellectual Property Service Long March” ushered in the end. Six departmental units of the National Intellectual Property Administration, PRC (CNIPA) and several intellectual property service agencies went to Wuhan, Hubei Province, participating in more than a dozen activities, such as the Dialogue on the Subject of Intellectual Property Services and Industrial Development, the Analysis of the Patent Trend of the Blockchain Industry, and Circuit Examination of Invention Patents; There were also experts and scholars visiting the park and key enterprises to provide close-range, high-quality docking of intellectual property services.
He Zhimin, deputy director of the CNIPA, said in his speech that "this Intellectual Property Service Long March in Hubei province is a key content of the 13th China Patent Week. I hope all parties could work together to take the opportunity of the series of patent week activities to promote the high-quality development of the entity economy and deliver excellent services to the front line. At the same time, making the industry, the region and the public the actual beneficiaries of the intellectual property services and helping create a better environment for innovation, investment, and business. "
Excellent Conditions for Innovation Embedded with Hubei Characteristics
In recent years, a number of national projects such as the Patent Examination Cooperation Center, the Intellectual Property Protection Center, and the National Intellectual Property Service Industry Cluster District, have been settled in Hubei province, which have been continuously improving the level of intellectual property creation, utilization, protection, manage-ment and service in the region. Reports claimed that the year of 2018 witnessed 130,000 patent applications and 64,000 authorized applications in Hubei Province. More than 1,500 international patent applications were filed through the PCT, with 382 well-known trademarks, ranking seventh in China. It is also worth mentioning that Hubei's patent protection index ranks first in central China.
Yang Yunyan, deputy governor of Hubei province, expressed his gratitude to the CNIPA for its consistent support to the intellectual property work in Hubei. He hoped that the "Long March" activity could be a bridge connecting the main body of innovation, the market and intellectual property service resources to solve the contradictions encountered in the process of marketization and industrialization of scientific and technological achievements, and better transforming those achievements into productivity, competitiveness, and economic benefits, so as to lead the industrial transformation and then the economic take-off.
Enabling Intellectual Property to Promote Industrial Upgrading
Trademark, as an intangible asset of an enterprise, embodying the wisdom and labor of the enterprise, is a sharp weapon to compete in the market. In 2019, China further strengthened the protection of exclusive rights to use a trademark, making six amendments to the Trademark Law of the People's Republic of China, focusing on two aspects: i. regulating malicious applications and hoarding registrations; ii. enhancing punishment for violations of exclusive trademark rights. In this revision, the upper limit of punitive damages for trademark infringement has also been lifted from 3 times to 5 times.
In addition to promoting industrial upgrading through trademark and brand work, intellectual property operations can also empower traditional industries. Ye Fang from Wuhan Intellectual Property Exchange, taking the traditional publishing industry as an example, pointed out that with the development of mobile Internet technology, digital content is rapidly changing the way people entertain and read, hence becoming the core of Internet consumption, which is exactly the pain point traditional publishing industry faces. While facing “external troubles”, the traditional publishing industry is also dealing with “internal troubles”, such as the problem of innovation input-output ratio, the revenue ratio of innovative business and traditional business, and the staffing problem of innovative business. In this case, how to ensure innovation as well as the costs of trial and error do not exceed expectations? Ye gave her answer, which required innovation in the operation mode of intellectual property, improvement of the overall content monetization speed and efficiency, construction of publishing integration trading system, survival of the fittest through market inspection, thereby promoting a virtuous circle and development of the entire industry, and finally creating a win-win situation of multi-party integration.
Exploring Service Models and Solving Difficult Problems
This "Long March" activity specially invited industry associations, well-known expert representatives from enterprises and service agencies to discuss the issue of "IP Services to Promote High-quality Development of the Industrial Economy". Participants made discussions from various aspects of the following subjects: IP industry association serving industrial development, new models and formats exploration of IP services, and high-quality IP service agencies in the eyes of enterprises, etc.
At the same time, to solve the difficult intellectual property problems of local enterprises and to promote the transformation of intellectual property results, this "Long March" activity also carried out public consultation through setting up full-chain intellectual property service module like patent examination, agency consultation, information utilization and operation, trademark brand management, universities intellectual property transformation, corporate intellectual property strategy, overseas intellectual property layout, etc. Intellectual property professionals from 15 institutions such as Hubei Intellectual Property Rights Assistance Center, Wuhan Intellectual Property Protection Center, and Hubei Center for Patent Examination and Cooperation provided solutions to the confusion and difficult issues enterprises encountered in their IP work on the spot.
Looking back on 2019, the CNIPA organized a total of 4 "Long March" activities, beginning with the National Intellectual Property Publicity Week and ending up with the China Patent Week. The ‘Long March’ has passed through 8 cities, attracted nearly 300 intellectual property service agencies and more than 2,000 enterprises and institutions. It has further strengthened the emphasis on intellectual property work, improved the docking accuracy between the intellectual property services and the manufacturing industry, enhanced the capacity and level of intellectual property services and conducted beneficial explorations on perfecting the long-term mechanism for the development of intellectual property services.
