Science and Technology Daily:

Just now, Mr. Shen, you introduced China's intellectual property rights development of 2018. Could you please give more information on the achievements and progress made by our country in IPR protection? Thanks.

Shen Changyu:

Thank you for your question. IPR protection is crucial for the system to improve property rights protection, so our entire society pays close attention to this issue. In 2018, the achievements our country made in IPR protection were evident in the following areas.

First, the understanding of IPR has been deepened. Last year, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized in his keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the 2018 annual Boao Forum for Asia that IPR protection is the centerpiece of the system to improve property rights, and it would provide the biggest boost to enhancing the competitiveness of the Chinese economy. The statement leads us to a much deeper understanding on IPR protection and provides us with a fundamental principle.

Second, the duty of IPR protection has been optimized and readjusted. Through reform of institutions, the centralized management of trademarks, patents and geographical appellation of origin has been realized. The law enforcement team of the State Administration for Market Regulation is in charge of unified law enforcement on trademarks and patents. Meanwhile, the National Intellectual Property Administration is responsible for construction of the system to improving property rights protection, guidance of law enforcement for trademarks and patents and judging standards for patent and trademark infringement. All of these raise the effectiveness of law enforcement for IPR protection. 

Third, a punitive compensation system for IP infringements has been introduced, which demonstrates significant progress in this regard. This punitive compensation system has been specifically written into the draft amendment to the Patent Law, by which fines could be imposed up to five times for malicious IP infringement. In the recently-passed amendment to the Trademark Law, the max compensation limit for malicious trademark infringement was been raised to a quintupled level, which is a fairly high standard globally.

Fourth, the credibility and efficiency of IP examination has been enhanced, the notable progress of which was also been seen last year. During the first China International Import Expo in Shanghai in 2018, General Secretary Xi Jinping made a clarion call on the need for enhanced credibility and efficiency of IP inspection. The State Council has conducted certain deployments, noting that in the next five years, the time it takes to finish trademark inspections should be reduced from eight months to less than four months, an efficiency level which would rank top among the OECD countries. Also, examination times for inventions and patents should be reduced by one-third, while for high-value patents the time could be cut by half, which will mean a ranking of the most efficient in the world. All of these strategies will contribute to strengthening the protection of IP from its source.

Fifth, joint punitive mechanisms have been built. Together with another 37 departments, the National Intellectual Property Administration of China has built joint punitive mechanisms against bad faith in the fields of IP that maximizes continuous negative influence on businesses involved in IP infringement. The mechanism is said to be the strictest punitive measure in the history of IP, and has forcefully deterred the practice of IP infringement. I believe all of the points mentioned above constitute fundamental reform of IP protection in China, and they have drawn wide attention to different quarters of our society. Thank you.