On May 8, the State Council Information Office (SCIO) held a regular briefing on the State Council's policy of furthering reforms to "streamline the administration, delegate power, and improve regulation and upgrade services" in the field of intellectual property rights. It is reported that such reform continues to deepen so that innovation achievements can better benefit society.

At the briefing, He Zhimin, Deputy Commissioner of the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA), introduced the latest developments and next steps in China's reform of government functions in the field of intellectual property, and together with relevant responsible persons of the Intellectual Property Protection Department, Intellectual Property Utilization Promotion Department, and Public Service Department under CNPIA, answered questions from reporters.

He Zhimin said that the reform in the field of IPR is an important part of China's overall deployment of reform of government functions. It is strong support for implementing the innovation-driven development strategy, continuously optimizing the business environment, promoting the construction of a new development pattern, and achieving high-quality development. During the 13th Five-Year Plan period, the reform of government functions in relation to intellectual property has achieved remarkable results. First, remove unreasonable obstacles, and reduce institutional transaction costs. The examination and approval time for the establishment of patent agencies has been cut down from 20 working days to 5 working days, trimming off more than 15 million patent and trademark application materials. Second, strengthen fair supervision and create a fair and orderly environment. In the past three years, more than 150,000 malicious squatting and hoarding trademark registration applications have been rejected, and 220,000 irregular patent applications have been confirmed. Third, improve service quality and accelerate innovation development. Processing cycles for trademarks, high-value patent examination and other businesses have all been reduced by more than one-third compared with those at the initial period of the 13th Five-Year Plan. More than 52 million pieces of basic trademark information have been opened free of charge, and the types of patent data have increased to 34.

He introduced that with the support of the Office of Function Transformation under the General Office of the State Council, CNIPA has studied and drafted the Notice on Deepening the Reform of Government Functions in the Field of Intellectual Property Rights for Better Innovation and Business Environment. It is reviewed and approved by the State Council executive meeting and will be issued in the near future. Notice highlights "deepening", and further self-pressurize on the basis of goals and tasks identified by the State Council to promote a solid implementation of reform measures; strives to meet differentiated and diversified needs with the focus on public experience, enhancing the pertinence and precision of reform measures; underlines quality-oriented development and promotes the transformation of intellectual property work from the pursuit of quantity to the improvement of quality, so that IPR will truly become an "opening mountain ax" and a "philosopher's stone" on the road to innovation and development of market entities.

According to Notice, before the end of June 2021, all localities will completely cancel the subsidies and awards for patent and trademark applications. In answering questions from a reporter with Southern Metropolis Daily, He pointed out that the CNIPA requires all localities to completely cancel the subsidies and awards for patent and trademark applications, and guide local governments to shift the focus of subsidies and awards to the promotion of practical application of intellectual property rights, the enhancement of intellectual property rights protection and the improvement of public services.(Translated from CNIPA Website Chinese Version)