Beijing, China
June 24, 2008
by Hepeng Jia,
SciDev.Net
China has launched a national intellectual property rights (IPR)
strategy to encourage innovation and strengthen its legal
framework in the field.
The National IPR strategy outline, published earlier this month
(5 June) by China's State Council, aims to turn China into "a
nation with an internationally leading level of creating, using,
protecting and managing IPR by 2020".
The strategy aims to boost the number of patents held by Chinese
citizens over the next five years.
It also seeks to establish an effective legal protection system
for genetic resources and indigenous knowledge.
Although China is one of the world's top three nations in terms
of patents issued (see China hits top three in patent
applications), most of its patents for invention are owned by
foreign companies operating in the country. According to China's
State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO), 53 per cent of the
67,948 invention patents issued in 2007 were filed by foreign
individuals or companies.
The strategy will see China's government revise laws on patent,
trademarks and copyrights. The website of SIPO quoted its head,
Tian Lipu, as saying that the new patent law will be submitted
to the legislature for approval before the end of the year.
Previous Chinese patent law focused on the protection of the
patent, but this revised law will also outline how a patent can
be used and benefits shared, as well as how to avoid patent
abuses.
The strategy will also seek to increase the ability of
government departments and courts to help protect IPR.
Sun Pingping, a spokesperson for SIPO, told SciDev.Net that
although there are many existing laws and regulations on IPR,
the national strategy can coordinate their functions by guiding
their revisions, refining and updating when necessary.
Sun Guorui, an intellectual property law professor at Beihang
University in Beijing, says that the main significance of the
strategy is it makes IPR creation and use a core value for
policymaking.
"For example, in the science community, awards or promotion are
given mainly as the result of publishing high-impact papers. But
in the future, the number of patents filed can be an important
indicator of scientists' output," Sun told SciDev.Net.
He adds that the strategy will need to be followed by more
concrete action implemented by different government departments.
For example, the health ministry will have to finalise its
measures on how to protect the patents of traditional Chinese
medicine. |
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