In the year 2001, SIPO actively and effectively developed international communication and cooperation and scored new achievements and breakthrough.

1. Further Strengthening of IP Foreign-Related Coordination

According to the function of SIPO, SIPO actively led and coordinated with the SAIC, the National Copyright Office, the Academy of Engineering, the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the State Forestry Administration, the Customs, the Public Security Departments, Courts, Universities, Research Institutes and other IP related departments to take part in the IP related exchanges and visits organized by SIPO, which expanded the influence of SIPO.

(1)From June 10 to 16, 2001, SIPO cooperated with WIPO to organized Advanced Seminars on IP Enforcement in Beijing and Shanghai, with about 250 foreign and domestic participants. From July 24 to 26, SIPO together with the Ministry of Agricultural and State Forestry Administration cooperated with the UPOV to organize Asian New Varieties of Plants Protection Coordination Conference in Beijing. Based on the EU-China IPR Cooperation Project, SIPO cooperated with the European Union and the European Patent Office to hold the International Symposium of WTO and IPR Protection-Enterprises' Strategies in Chengdu from November 28 to 29.

Exchanges and Cooperation with Hong Kong SAR, Macao SAR and Taiwan. From October 14 to 21, Deputy Commissioner Lin Binghui led a delegation to attend the Fourth Mainland and Taiwan Intellectual Property Symposium, enhancing the understanding and communication and promoting the exchanging and development between Mainland and Taiwan. From December 17 to 18, SIPO and the Hong Kong Intellectual Property Department and Macao Economic Service co-organized the "2001 Mainland, Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions Intellectual Property Symposium" in Macao. It was the first time that after Macao's return the three regions together held IP symposium in Macao, which increased the knowledge and understanding of the Macao IP laws and enhanced the exchanges and cooperation in the IP circles of the three regions.

Wide scopes of topics were discussed on these symposiums, which were focuses in the world intellectual property field. Speakers and participants from intellectual property legislation, judiciary and administrative enforcement and other fields attended these symposiums. Deputy Secretary of UPOV, Commissioner of SIPO, Representatives of EU, President of EPO, Director General of Intellectual Property Department of HKSAR and Acting Director General of the Economic Service of Macao SAR respectively attended the above-mentioned symposiums.

(2) Organizing a delegation to attend the 36th Assembly of WIPO. SIPO cooperated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Chinese Commission in Geneva), the National Copyright Office, the State General Administration for Industry and Commerce and other related agencies to proposed the meeting plan. Commissioner Wang Jingchuan as the chief of the Chinese delegation made an important speech on the achievements of Chinese IP system and the views of China regarding the major issues in the current international IP field, well explained the principle and standing point of China, and successfully accomplished the meeting.

(3) Other Foreign Related Coordination Work. According to the function of comprehensively coordinating foreign related IP affairs, SIPO closely paid attention to the development of WIPO in the IP field, actively participated in the reform of related international issues, such as the reform of PCT system, genetic resources, traditional knowledge and folk arts and literature and so on. SIPO specially organized twice seminars on the IP protection, generic resources, traditional knowledge and folk arts and literature inviting relevant agencies to participate.

In addition, SIPO further coordinated and enhanced the cooperation and communication with the Ministry of Agricultural and the Forestry Administration on the protection of new varieties of plants.

2. Multi-lateral Cooperation

From January 29 to February 2, SIPO dispatched experts to attend the Forum on the International Private Law and Intellectual Property in Geneva and the Expert Meeting on IP Issues of the Jurisdiction of Civil and Economic Affairs and Foreign Adjudication Convention on the International Private Law Conference in Hague organized by WIPO.

From February 9 to 10, Deputy Commissioner of SIPO, Ma Lianyuan, attended the WIPO seminar on intellectual property and small and medium-sized enterprises in Milan, Italy.

From April 5 to 6, representatives from SIPO attended the Administration Committee meeting, Advisory Committee meeting and the Council meeting in Geneva held by UPOV.

On April 28, President of World Sports Goods Federation, Secretary General and Chairman of Intellectual Property Committee visited SIPO, whom were received by Commissioner Wang Jingchuan.

From May 8 to 10, Deputy Commissioner Ma Lianyuan led a delegation to attend the WIPO Seminar on Intellectual Property Enforcement in New Zealand and made a speech.

From May 29 to 31, SIPO organized a delegation to attend the WIPO International Conference on Intellectual Property, Internet, E-commerce and Traditional Knowledge in Sofia, Bulgaria.

From June 6 to 20, SIPO dispatched representative to attend the International Jurisdiction Convention Diplomatic Conference in Hague, Holland.

In July, Madame Emma C. Francisco, Commissioner of Philipine Intellectual Property Office, wrote to SIPO, requiring SIPO to be its PCT international searching authority and international preliminary examination authority, on which SIPO agreed and informed the Philipine Office.

From August 29 to 31, SIPO organized a delegation to attend the WIPO Asian and Pacific Region Forum on the Policy Formulation, Organization Construction and Non-mystery of Intellectual Property in New Delhi, India.

From September 10 to 13, Commissioner Wang Jingchuan led a delegation to attend the First Commissioner Policy Dialogue Meeting between Three Offices of China, Japan and Korea in Tokyo, Japan. The meeting was an important regional cooperation in the field of intellectual property in the East Asia region in the 21st century, with the purpose of further expanding the cooperation scope between the three offices on the basis of original multi-lateral cooperation, which had a landmark meaning for the patent cooperation between three Offices. With the co-efforts of three offices, the First Commissioner Policy Dialogue Meeting between Three Offices of China, Japan and Korea was successfully accomplished. On the meeting, Commissioner Wang Jingchuan delivered an important speech on the Commissioner meeting mechanism and the establishment of working group and expert group in special fields, which was positively responded by Commissioner Kouzo Oikawa of Japan Patent Office, and Commissioner Leem Laegue of Korean Intellectual Property Office. In addition, Commissioner Wang reported the latest development in domestic intellectual property field, demonstrated the views of China towards international intellectual property issues, agreed on enhancing the cooperation between the three offices through developing human resources and using information technology, and expressed the wish to train talents in the IP field for ASEAN countries with full use of the current facilities in China. After the meeting, Commissioners of the three Offices signed the Summary of the First Commissioner Policy Dialogue Meeting between the Three Offices of China, Japan and Korea. It was decided on the meeting that the second dialogue meeting would be held in Korea in 2002. On September 11, Commissioner Wang Jingchuan attended the first meeting between the three Offices of China, Japan and Korea and the 10 IP Offices of ASEAN countries, on which participants fully discussed and exchanged views on the cooperation mechanism of ASEAN+3, development in the field of international IP and other issues. Representatives from all countries positively delivered speeches on the cooperation frame and content of ASEAN+3 IP Offices and meeting ways. On September 12, invited by WIPO, Commissioner Wang attended the International Seminar on the Role of IP Offices in the 21st Century in Tokyo, delivered a speech on the topic of Benefits Brought by the International IP System to China, and answered questions raised by participants.

On October 12, the first pilot Chinese class of long distance learning co-organized by SIPO and the WIPO World Academy was formally launched, for which Head of the Education Division of the Academy attended the ceremony.

From October 17 to 19, SIPO dispatched representatives to attend the WIPO Symposium on Intellectual Property, Traditional Knowledge and Related Affairs in Asian and Pacific Region co-organized by WIPO and Indonesian Government in Indonesia.

From October 22 to 26, SIPO organized a delegation to attend the Seminar on Internet Protocol and E-Commerce in Asia and the Seminar on Rights of Broadcasting Organizations in Asian Countries organized by WIPO in Manila, Philippine.

From October 22 to 31, representatives from SIPO attended the Training Seminar on the Promotion of Commercialization and Transfer of Technologies Through Intellectual Property Management in Universities, Public Research and Developing Agencies in Asian and Pacific Region co-organized by WIPO and Singapore Government.

From October 23 to 25, SIPO organized a delegation to attend the WIPO International Trademark Protection Symposium in Asia co-organized by WIPO and the National Industrial Property Office of Vietnam in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

On October 25, Advanced Economist Keith Maskus of the R&D Department of World Bank visited SIPO and listened to the opinions of SIPO on the IP protection situation on Chinese traditional medicine, zoology technologies, software, e-commerce and other industries.

From November 5 to 9, SIPO organized a delegation to attend the Training Seminar on the Protection and Implementation of Copyright and Neighboring Rights co-organized by WIPO, Japan Copyright Office, the Ministry of Culture of Japanese Government and Japan Copyright Research and Information Center in Tokyo.

From November 21 to 22, Dr. Idris, Director General of WIPO, visited China and met President Song Jian of China Academy of Engineering and leaders of the SIPO, SGAIC and National General Administration for Copyright.

In November, officials from World Health Organization responsible for intellectual property affairs visited SIPO and held discussion with departments of SIPO on issues regarding intellectual property, pharmaceuticals and public health.

From November 20 to 22, SIPO organized a delegation to attend the WIPO Asian Seminar on Promoting Coordination between Government Agencies and IP System Users in Daejon, Korea.

On November 27, Deputy Commissioner Lin Binghui met Mr. Starein, Director of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Department of WIPO, and exchanged opinions on the IP protection situation of Chinese small and medium-sized enterprises in a friendly atmosphere.

From November 28 to 29, SIPO organized a delegation to attend the WIPO Seminar on International Protection of Geographic Indication held in Uruguay.

In addition, SIPO also dispatched representatives to attend the first and second conference of Governmental Committee on Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folk Arts and Literature, conferences of Standing Committee of Patent Law, PCT Reform Committee and Information Technology Standing Committee, special meeting of Coordination Committee, the first meeting of PCT Reform Working Group and other training seminars. In 2001, SIPO also dispatched experts to North Korea, as WIPO experts, to advise and study on its automation and PCT work.  

3. Bilateral Cooperation

In 2001, Commissioners led delegations of SIPO respectively visited German Patent and Trademark Office, Swedish Patent and Registration Office, the Intellectual Property Office of Switzerland, European Patent Office, United Kingdom Patent Office, the Intellectual Property Institute of France, the National Intellectual Property Office of Croatia, Japan Patent Office, Korean Intellectual Property Office, Singapore Intellectual Property Office, Intellectual Property Department of Thailand, Australian Intellectual Property Office, the Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand, Turkish Patent Office and WIPO and so on, to introduce the newly revised Patent Law of China and publicize the patent work achievements, and further created conditions for expanding international cooperation in the field of intellectual property. In addition, SIPO also received delegations of European Patent Office, Spanish Patent and Trademark Office, German Patent and Trademark Office, Austrian Patent Office, Japan Patent Office and so on, and continued the cooperation relationship with those offices in IP field.

In January, Commissioner of Spanish Patent and Trademark Office led a delegation to visit China, held bilateral discussion with SIPO on the cooperation in the field of patent and signed the cooperation agreement between the two offices.

In February, Commissioner Wang Jingchuan led a delegation to visit European Patent Office (in Germany) and Finland Patent and Trademark Registration Committee. During the visit, the Delegation held the 11th Conference of Mixed Committee with EPO and signed 2001 Trademark Technology Cooperation Summary. Since the establishment of cooperation relationship, both sides have developed full cooperation in preliminary examination, substantial examination, automation, training, general administration, documentation exchange and other fields.

From March 24 to 31, Deputy Commissioner Yang Zhengwu led a delegation to visit the United States regarding the collecting and processing IP information.

From April 4 to 14, a delegation of 6 people, headed by Commissioner of Austrian Patent Office visited SIPO, held the 10th meeting of Mixed Committee between the two offices, and signed the 2002 cooperation plan between the two offices.

On April 30 and on October 22, Commissioner of Japan Patent Office visited SIPO, held the 8th Commissioner meeting with SIPO on October 22 and signed the bilateral cooperation summary.

From May 29 to June 8, Deputy Commissioner Wu Boming led a delegation to visit Japan and Korea to make a study and research on the issues regarding layout Designs of integrated circuits.

From June 18 to 22, Commissioner of Hungarian Patent Office and other two officials paid a working visit to SIPO and signed the bilateral cooperation summary between the two offices during the visit.

From June 17 to July 1, Deputy Commissioner Lin Binghui led a delegation to visit Singapore, Thailand and Hong Kong and publicize the newly revised Patent Law of China, which was the first time that SIPO dispatched a formal delegation to visit those countries and region and achieved great success. During the visit, Deputy Commissioner Lin Binghui introduced the development of patent protection in China for friends from local enterprises and legal circles, held bilateral meetings with Singapore Intellectual Property Office and the Intellectual Property Department of Thailand, and signed bilateral cooperation summaries.

From June 24 to July 7, Deputy Commissioner Wu Boming led a delegation to visit Australia and New Zealand and publicize the newly revised Patent Law of China, which was the first time that SIPO dispatched a formal delegation to visit those countries and achieved great success. During the visit, the delegation, in addition to introducing the development of patent protection in China for friends from local enterprises and legal circles, held bilateral meetings with the two intellectual property offices, and signed bilateral cooperation summaries.

From July 2 to 16, Deputy Commissioner Tian Lipu led a delegation to visit the United Kingdom, France and Croatia. During the visit, the delegation respectively signed 2002 Cooperation Execution Plan with the UK Patent Office, the meeting summary of the 16th Sino-French Patent Mixed Working Group, and the Cooperation Agreement on the Use of Examination Results between the National Intellectual Property Office of Croatia and SIPO.

From September 16 to 29, Commissioner Wang Jingchuan led a delegation to visit the Swedish Patent Office, German Patent and Trademark Office and the Intellectual Property Office of Switzerland. During the study visit, the delegation had thorough and wide exchanges with the IP competent authorities of the three countries. During the visit in Sweden, Commissioner Wang Jingchuan held deep discussion with Commissioner Gun Hellsvick on cooperation between the two offices and signed the bilateral cooperation summary, which paved ways for starting the cooperation of the second phase as soon as possible. During the visit to German Patent and Trademark Office, Commissioner Wang and Commissioner Schade achieved mutual agreement on further promoting the development of the cooperation between the two offices. In Switzerland, the delegation visited the Intellectual Property Office of Switzerland and exchanged opinions on the development of IP system and the IP service to the public and so on. During the visit to the three offices, Commissioner Wang also introduced the latest development of China's IP system to the three offices and publicizes the guideline for China's IP work and the achievements scored.

From October 15 to 26, Deputy Commissioner Ma Lianyuan led a delegation to visit the European Patent Office (Germany), the UK and Italy to disseminate and publicize the newly revised Patent Law of China, held seminars on the latest development of Chinese Patent Law and China's patent system in the three countries respectively, which received warm welcome from the participants in the three countries.

From November 27 to 29, President of the EPO led a delegation to visit SIPO, attended the 12th Conference of Mixed Committee of the two offices, and signed the 2002 Bilateral Technology Cooperation Summary between the two offices.

From December 9 to 15, Commissioner Schade of the German Patent and Trademark Office visited China and held discussion with SIPO on the bilateral cooperation plan during the visit in Beijing. Commissioner Schade also made an introduction on the latest development of German patent system and international patent system at a seminar mainly participated by agents in Beijing.

In December, Deputy Commissioner Yang Zhengwu led a delegation to pay a study visit to Switzerland and Turkish patent offices on general patent planning.

4. Others

To further meet the need of the development of the situation, in August, after study, examination and evaluation, SIPO selected 13 business backbones to study IP laws respectively in the Law School of Washington University in Seattle, the John Marshall Law School in Chicago and Franklin Pierce Law Center in the United States.

In October, Deputy Commissioner Lin Binghui led a delegation constituted of the members of the China IP Society to visit Taiwan and attended the Mainland and Taiwan IP Academic Exchanging Seminar, on which the delegation made a wide exchange with the IP circles in Taiwan and introduced the latest development of the IP legal system in Mainland.

In November, Commissioner Wang Jingchuan, invited by HKSAR Government, visited Hong Kong IP Department, Customs, the Administration for Industry and Commerce, Law and Policy Department, Independent Agency Against Corruption, Legislation Committee and other governmental agencies, and Hong Kong Productivity Promotion Bureau, Hong Kong Trade Development Bureau, Hong Kong Science and Technology University and other units. Through the visit, Commissioner Wang got known to and fully understood the operation of the political system and economic developing situation in the four years after Hong Kong's return to the motherland, meanwhile he also introduced the IP protection situation in Mainland to Hong Kong and enhanced mutual exchange and understanding.

From November 27 to 29, in order to further adapt to the challenges brought by the accession to WTO to local IP protection, SIPO cooperated with Japan External Trade Organization, Keio University, and Japan Patent Office to organize seminars on IP management in enterprises in Hangzhou and Kunming, on which about 250 participants listened to the report on IP management and developing strategies in enterprises by Japanese expert. 

2013-07-17