The government will take further action this year to protect
intellectual property rights (IPR), Vice-Premier Wu Yi said yesterday.
"China has made remarkable progress in IPR protection in a very
short history spanning just 30 years," she said at a national
conference for directors of intellectual property offices.
The progress made has helped safeguard the legitimate rights of
IPR owners and guaranteed a fair economic order," Wu said.
"We will use the protection measures to enhance Chinese people's
innovation capacity while building a harmonious and a moderately
prosperous society in all respects," the vice-premier said.
She said the government will put more emphasis on law
enforcement and also amend laws on patents, trademarks and
copyrights in a timely fashion to accommodate technological
developments.
Over the past year, the country has made huge progress on IPR
protection, Tian Lipu, commissioner of the State Intellectual
Property Office, said at yesterday's conference.
The country accepted more than 4 million domestic and overseas
patent applications last year, compared with 3 million in 2006, he
said.
Also last year, the number of domestic and overseas trademark
registrations rose to 3 million, again much higher than in
2006.
This indicates a massive amount of progress in terms of both
Chinese people's awareness of the need for intellectual property
rights, and the country's innovation capacity, Tian said.
The Patent Law, which was implemented in 1985, has played an
increasingly positive role in stimulating innovation and
technological progress, he said.
To keep pace with economic and technological developments, the
law is soon to be revised, Tian said.
A draft of the amended law, which includes a huge amount of
input from the public and experts, has been completed and submitted
to the State Council for approval, he said.
A nationwide campaign will also be launched later this year to
improve the public's awareness of key IPR issues and to help
nurture an IPR culture within the commercial sector, Tian said.
(China Daily, Xinhua News Agency January 30, 2008)