Journalists: Fu Zhenqiang, Wang Yifan, Jia Yuanchang, Song Baogang, Xu Kanghui and Xu Yifu
Intellectual property is an important kind of asset. The protection of intellectual property, growing on the soil of a socialist market economy, is being continuously improved in pace with that of the market. The Report on the Work of the Government (2022) clearly pointed out that intellectual property protection should be strengthened. Therefore, a number of NPC deputies and CPPCC members shared their observations, suggestions and insights during the Two Sessions.
The symposium of Greater Intellectual Property Protection and Better Business Environment getting underway
Although the Two Sessions, China’s assembly of policy-makers every year, was over, NPC deputies and CPPCC members will diligently continue the fulfillment of their duties. On the afternoon of April 22, a few days before the World Intellectual Property Day, a symposium of Greater Intellectual Property Protection and Better Business Environment was held in Beijing under the guidance of the CPPCC Daily and with its website as the major platform. NPC deputies and CPPCC members, academic experts and business representatives came altogether, focusing on the key points, major difficulties and bottle-necks for the protection of intellectual property rights in a new era, so as to provide better suggestions for the policy-making of establishing a better business environment.
Going Further: Paramount Importance for the Protection of IPR
The Outline for Building a Powerful Country with Intellectual Property Rights (2021-2035) released in September 2021 aims to comprehensively improve the creation, utilization, protection, management and service for intellectual property rights. How should the society make adequate preparations for things mentioned in this document of overarching guidance, so that all sectors can join hands and make China a country with strong intellectual property capacities?
We must fully appreciate the ultra-importance of intellectual property protection, says Jiang Bixin, NPC deputy, Vice Chairman of the NPC Constitution and Law Committee, former Deputy Secretary of the Party Group and Vice President of the Supreme People’s Court. He believes that such importance could be summarized by three points: to protect the soul of innovation, to protect the source of development and to protect the foundation of a strong country. In his view, there is a high degree of correlation, compatibility, interaction and complementarity between the protection of intellectual property rights and the establishment of a better business environment.
Jiang Bixin
NPC deputy, Vice Chairman of the NPC Constitution and Law Committee, former Deputy Secretary of the Party Group and Vice President of the Supreme People’s Court
Photo by Tian Fuliang, journalist from CPPCC Daily and its rmzxb.com.cn
Home-grown intellectual properties are essential assets for the country, and the mastery of such core technologies is vital to break the patent barriers by foreign countries ... the huge progress that we have made regarding industrial transformation and upgrading shall be attributed to the improved environment for innovation, says Liu Pingjun, Member of the 12th CPPCC, specially-appointed expert at the CPPCC talent pool for participation in the deliberation and administration of state affairs, former Deputy Director of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, and Chairman of the China Brand Building Promotion Association. Liu says that the purpose of establishing such a strong intellectual property protection system is to guarantee the enthusiasm of enterprises for independent innovation and to promote the reputation of Chinese brands. Liu suggests that a traceability technology brand cluster be established, together with mechanisms for brand evaluation and release build at national, provincial, municipal and industrial levels. Meanwhile, Liu suggests that holding the China Brand Day should be a key approach to promote the reputation of Chinese enterprises and the proud by our people in Chinese products. Good brands will take the lead in market consumption, meeting the needs by consumers both at home and abroad. Moreover, this is also good for winning global business opportunities and establishing the dual-circulation economic system for development.
Liu Pingjun
Member of the 12th CPPCC, specially-appointed expert at the CPPCC talent pool for participation in the deliberation and administration of state affairs, former Deputy Director of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, and Chairman of the China Brand Building Promotion Association
Photo by Tian Fuliang, journalist from CPPCC Daily and its rmzxb.com.cn
In May 2021, the Notice on Deepening the Reform of Delegating Powers, Strengthening Management and Optimizing Service for A Better Environment for Innovation and Business was issued. He Zhimin, Member of the CPPCC Standing Committee and Deputy Director of the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) believes that further efforts in delegating powers, strengthening management and optimizing service will be good for giving full play to the institutional advantage of IPR protection. Additionally, we will accelerate the formation of an intellectual property service system with active governmental initiatives and effective market mechanism. The government shall provide more balanced and accessible public services, while the market shall provide more precise and special value-added services. These two points would be mutually complementary and develop hand in hand. Meanwhile, a nationwide big data center for intellectual property rights and a public service platform will also empower China’s market players for innovation to keep pace with global trends of technological advancement.
He Zhimin
Member of the CPPCC Standing Committee and Deputy Director of the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) Photo by Tian Fuliang, journalist from CPPCC Daily and its rmzxb.com.cn
In recent years, the procuratorial organs have continuously strengthened their insightful thinking and strategic layout of the procuratorial undertaking for intellectual property, particularly by establishing specialized institutions and organizations for intellectual property rights, and actively exploring the implementation of relevant systems for the procuratorial protection of intellectual property rights. Zhen Zhen, Member of the CPPCC Standing Committee, Counsellor of the State Council and former Deputy Procurator-General of the Beijing Municipal People’s Procuratorate, further suggests that through more legislative efforts and the improvement relevant policies, China should build a mechanism for providing incentives for and guarantees of the creation of intellectual property rights. In the other way around, there should also be wider and stricter punishment upon IPR-related crimes and infringements in accordance with the law. Further, we need to build a comprehensive network of the protection, supervision and co-governance for IPR-related issues, together with diversified means for resolving disputes over intellectual property rights. In addition, a full-fledged and well-rounded working mechanism is also a must for the coordinated exercise of procuratorial rights in this aspect. Last but not least, we should also strengthen the publicity over the judicial protection of intellectual property rights so as to raise public awareness on this issue and build a favorable social environment for intellectual property protection.
Zhen Zhen
Member of the CPPCC Standing Committee, Counsellor of the State Council and former Deputy Procurator-General of the Beijing Municipal People’s Procuratorate
Photo by Tian Fuliang, journalist from CPPCC Daily and its rmzxb.com.cn
Bearing in Mind: New Demands in New Business Forms
The protection of intellectual property rights ensures people’s faith in innovation. The revitalization of the seed industry also faces the problem of IPR infringement. Li Chenggui, Member of the National Committee of CPPCC and President of the Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, says that the current agricultural field is more homogenized, with a large number of enterprises doing various businesses in this sector, even with counterfeits and infringements. This has put negative influence on seed-breeding and hindered the innovation in the industry. In order to further protect innovative achievements of breeding and solve the problem of seed homogeneity, he suggests that we should raise the threshold for the approval and registration of new varieties so as to ensure the specificity, consistency and stability of new varieties. Additionally, information technologies shall also be applied to improve breeding efficiency, together with improved law enforcement through modern technological means.
Li Chenggui
Member of the National Committee of CPPCC and President of the Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences
Photo by Tian Fuliang, journalist from CPPCC Daily and its rmzxb.com.cn
Ye Xiaoxi, Member of the Standing Committee of the Beijing Dongcheng District People’s Political Consultative Conference, Executive Vice Chairman and Secretary General of the Society of Arts and Crafts in Beijing, says that the protection of intellectual property rights is most prominent in knowledge-intensive industries. Through investigation, it has been found that problems reported recently mainly exist regarding infringement on patented design, trademark logos and advertising slogans as well as the service for intellectual property application. Ye suggests that for specific industries or enterprises, patent fee shall be reduced or be free of charge, while an Internet platform for public protection of IPR and an all-in-one hotline number for IPR affairs should be established as soon as possible.
Ye Xiaoxi
Member of the Standing Committee of the Beijing Dongcheng District People’s Political Consultative Conference, Executive Vice Chairman and Secretary General of the Society of Arts and Crafts in Beijing
Photo by Tian Fuliang, journalist from CPPCC Daily and its rmzxb.com.cn
Liu Hongyu, Member of the National Committee of CPPCC and Founding Partner of Jincheng Tongda & Neal, has been engaged in legal services in the frontline for many years. Liu observes that in recent years, relevant laws such as the Trademark Law and the Copyright Law have increased the upper limit on amount of statutory compensation for intellectual property infringement cases. The calculation on the compensation related to actual losses, infringement benefits and actual licenses has also been optimized. In practice, however, there are few cases winning compensation based on the actual loss of the infringed, due to difficulties for evidence provision and differences in the standards or philosophies of judgment. Meanwhile, the cost for such infringement is too low and the punishment onto such behavior is too little. Liu says, to solve these problems, the innovation of basic legal theory is a must, the reform of judicial concepts is essential, the improvement of legislative technology is vital and the concerted efforts of the legal community to make breakthroughs in practice is the key.
Liu Hongyu
Member of the National Committee of CPPCC and Founding Partner of Jincheng Tongda & Neal
Photo by Tian Fuliang, journalist from CPPCC Daily and its rmzxb.com.cn
The building of the intellectual property system must always be in line with scientific and technological innovation, and the shield for a good business environment also need to be firmly established in the digital economy. Pi Jianlong, Member of the National Committee of CPPCC and Director of the Beijing Jintai Law Firm, says that we shall never underestimate the loss caused by intellectual property infringement in the digital economy. He suggests that laws and regulations should be included in IPR-related legislative affairs, and be particularly strengthened regarding the protection on digital intellectual property. Additionally, it is also important to establish an administrative mechanism for the protection of digital intellectual property rights, to build a monitoring platform for intellectual property, and to impose harsher penalties on infringement.
Pi Jianlong
Member of the National Committee of CPPCC and Director of the Beijing Jintai Law Firm
Photo by Tian Fuliang, journalist from CPPCC Daily and its rmzxb.com.cn
Although China’s copyright contribution to the world has been increasing, Zhang Li, Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Press and Publication, who has long studied digital copyright, also believes that with the continuous advancement of technologies, copyright issues will be involved in all aspects of the economic and social fields. Besides, it has been increasingly difficult to protect such rights. In order to further stimulate innovation in the content industry, it is imperative to strictly punish infringers, increase the cost of infringement and strengthen technical means to make up for the imperfection of relevant laws.
Zhang Li
Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Press and Publication
Photo by Tian Fuliang, journalist from CPPCC Daily and its rmzxb.com.cn
Concrete Measures: China’s Own Story for IPR Protection
Intellectual property is an important supporting pillar for building an innovative country and a core element for a country to participate in global competition. How to tell China’s own, featured story for its efforts in the protection of intellectual property rights?
Nowadays, there are more categories of industries with more detailed subdivisions, with new business forms and models emerging one after another as well as online and offline businesses deeply integrated together. Nan Jun, Deputy Director General of the Law Enforcement and Inspection Bureau of the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), says that it has been increasingly difficult for cross-regional and cross-border law enforcement. He suggests that the leading role and coordinating function of the Office of Leading Group for National Cracking down on IPR Infringement and Counterfeit and Shoddy Goods should be further brought into play. It is also vital to vigorously promote the development of IPR power, to focus on all kinds of public interests and individual concerns, to continuously strengthen systematic design at the top level, to innovate the approaches of law enforcement, and to severely crack down on infringement and counterfeiting. Meanwhile, we also need to raise the public awareness of IPR issues through greater publicity, so as to create a market-oriented and law-based business environment that meets international standards.
Nan Jun
Deputy Director General of the Law Enforcement and Inspection Bureau of the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR)
Photo by Tian Fuliang, journalist from CPPCC Daily and its rmzxb.com.cn
When it comes to strengthening international cooperation on digital intellectual property rights, Pi Jianlong believes that, in addition to providing enterprises with relevant knowledge of the IPR systems of developed foreign countries, it is also essential to promote the establishment of an international cooperation and coordination mechanism for digital IPR, and to actively participate in law enforcement exchange activities held by international organizations, and strengthen cooperation with international organizations in enhancing law enforcement capabilities.
From the dual-track system to coordinated protection, China has gradually formed a large-scale layout for the protection of intellectual property rights. Yi Jiming, Director of the Institute for International Intellectual Property of Peking University, further suggests that we should further improve the intellectual property protection system, strengthen the building of talent pools and improve the quality of intellectual property protection in terms of administrative law enforcement, judicial protection, arbitration and mediation, professional self-discipline and public integrity.
Yi Jiming
Director of the Director of the Institute for International Intellectual Property of Peking University
Photo by Tian Fuliang, journalist from CPPCC Daily and its rmzxb.com.cn
The protection for intellectual property shall be systematically comprehensive, with multiple measures integrated together. Jiang Bixin believes that in a new era, it is imperative to promote a higher level of intellectual property protection with all-round, all-field, all-market-entity, all-production-element, full-industrial-chain and full-life-cycle efforts. We have to make concrete measures to address people’s desperate needs such as the difficulty in evidence provision, hardship from long legal process, low compensation, absence of consistent standards and poor efficacy. Additionally, intellectual property protection should be market-oriented, convenient, institutionalized, systematized, socialized, specialized, precise, scientific, international and rational.
The symposium of Greater Intellectual Property Protection and Better Business Environment getting underway
Photo by Tian Fuliang, journalist from CPPCC Daily and its rmzxb.com.cn
The symposium of Greater Intellectual Property Protection and Better Business Environment getting underway
Photo by Tian Fuliang, journalist from CPPCC Daily and its rmzxb.com.cn
As socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era, the concept of intellectual property protection has become more deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and intellectual property protection is constantly taking a new step. At the end of the meeting, the attention of the guests to intellectual property rights is still growing.
Representatives of TCP Group, Tencent Group and Alibaba Group attended the meeting.
