The year 2002 was the first complete year of China's membership in the WTO. the SIPO enhanced coordination work related to international IP affairs, strengthened international cooperation and exchanges, and further expanded its cooperative scope.

1. Foreign Related IP Coordination Work

 Commissioner Wang Jingchuan (central), Ambassador Sha  Zukang (left), Mr. Selby, Commissioner of IP Department of   HKSAR (right)

According to the function of comprehensively coordinating foreign related IP affairs authorized by the State Council, the SIPO continued to positively coordinate the IP related domestic government agencies, organize the agencies to participate in international IP activities, and play an important role in enhancing our national competitiveness in the field of international intellectual property.

From May 21 to 25, in cooperation with the WIPO, the SIPO united the State Administration for Industry and Commerce and the National Copyright Administration to organize the Sino-African Intellectual Property Forum, the Policy Advisory Committee Meeting of the WIPO, and the Second International Forum on Creativity and Invention. Vice Premier of the State Council, Wen Jiabao, was invited to attend the opening ceremony of the Sino-African Intellectual Property Forum and delivered an opening speech. During that period, Premier Zhu Rongji met Dr. Kamil Idris, Director General of the WIPO, and his delegation. The Chinese Government and the World Intellectual Property Organization signed the Agreement of Cooperation Framework. The above-mentioned activities expanded the cooperation between Chinese and African IP circles, and further enhanced China's influence in the international intellectual property field.

From September 23 to October 1, the SIPO and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Chinese Permanent Mission based in Geneva), the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, the National Copyright Administration and other agencies, jointly organized a delegation to attend the 37th Assembly of the WIPO. Commissioner Wang Jingchuan, announced that at the request of the WIPO, the Chinese Government agreed to hold the World Intellectual Property Leaders Conference from April 24 to 26, 2003, in Beijing. In addition, the Chinese delegation also delivered important speeches on the achievements of the Chinese IP system and the viewpoints of the Chinese Government on the important issues in the current international IP field to elaborate on our national principles and stands.

the SIPO paid close attention to the development in the international intellectual property field, and positively organized related agencies to participate in the reform of the international intellectual property system. In April, July and November, the SIPO respectively dispatched representatives to attend the WIPO meetings on PCT reform, on which proposals were made according to our national situation. the SIPO dispatched representatives to attend the meetings of the Patent Standing Committee of the WIPO in May and November to take part in the draft of the substantive patent law. the SIPO dispatched representatives to attend the meeting of the Inter-governmental Committee on the Protection of Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore of the WIPO in December, and the UPOV meetings in April and October. Through those activities, China further expanded its influence on the international IP arena.

2. Multi-lateral Cooperation

the SIPO further strengthened multi-lateral cooperation with international IP organizations, regional organizations and other countries to exchange on international and regional IP issues.

From March 25 to 27, Deputy Commissioner Ma Lianyuan attended the Conference on the International Patent System held by the WIPO in Geneva, and delivered a speech on the topic of Patent and Development.

From July 10 to 19, the WIPO, the Ministry of Science and Technology, and the SIPO co-organized the WIPO Asian Regional Symposium on the Importance of the IP System to High-tech Industries in Guangzhou, with the support of the Japanese Patent Office, the Science and Technology Bureau of Guangdong Province, and the IP Administration of Guangdong Province, in which Ms. Rita Hayes, Deputy Director General of the WIPO, Mr. Li Hongzhong, Vice Provincial Governor of Guangdong Province, Mr. Tian Lipu, Deputy Commissioner of the SIPO, representatives from the Ministry of Science and Technology, and about 100 experts from China and other twenty-two other Asian countries participated. During that period, the WIPO also organized a five-day the WIPO National Training Course on IP for Entrepreneurs of High-tech Enterprises in Guangdong.

In July, the SIPO and EPO co-organized the training seminar for new examiners of IP offices of China and other developing countries in the China Intellectual Property Training Center, in which twenty new examiners from Croatia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, the Philippines, Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam and more than fifty new examiners from the SIPO participated. Deputy Commissioner Ma Lianyuan and the Vice President of the EPO attended the opening ceremony and issued certificates for participants at the end.

From September 22 to 24, Commissioner Wang Jingchuan, Mr. Li Dongsheng, Deputy Commissioner of the SAIC, and Deputy Commissioner Tian Lipu, attended the World Sports Forum held by the World Sporting Goods Federation in Laussane, Switzerland. Deputy Commissioner Tian Lipu also accepted a special interview on the topic of the Challenges and Opportunities faced by the World Sporting Goods Industry after China's success on bidding for holding the Olympic Games in 2008, answered questions related to the IP protection in China raised by the sporting goods companies, and received welcome from the participants.

From November 4 to 8, the SIPO and the WIPO co-organized the WIPO PCT National Roving Seminar in Beijing and Shanghai, in which Mr. Wang Zhengfa, Director of the Developing Country PCT Bureau (PCT) of the WIPO, Mr. Busso Bartels, Senior Advisor to Director General of the WIPO, and Mr. Rene Attasio, Director of the Electronic Invention Examination Department of the EPO, spoke about the latest developments of the PCT to more than 200 Chinese patent examiners, patent agents and patent managers.

From November 23 to 25, Commissioner Wang Jingchuan led a delegation to attend the Second Policy Dialogue Meeting between China, Japan and the Republic of Korea, and to discuss on the cooperation between the three sides in the IP field and the cooperation with East Asia. During the meeting, these three countries reached agreement on establishing the automation expert group and general cooperating with East Asia in the development of human resources, and agreed to further strengthen IP cooperation with countries of East Asia.

  On 18 September, Commissioner Wang Jingchua and  President Ingo Kober signed the 2003 Technical Cooperation Summary between the SIPO and EPO.

3. Bilateral Cooperation

     Meeting between the SIPO and Malaysia Delegation

     Deputy Commissioner Tian Lipu was shaking hands with  President of Mexican Intellectual Property Institute after  signing the Bilateral Cooperation Program.

Commissioner Wang Jingchuan and Deputy Commissioner  Ron Marchant of the UK Patent Office signed and ex  changed  the Cooperation Program.

    Deputy Commissioner Wu Boming signed the Cooperation  Program with Deputy Commissioner of Austrian Patent  Office.

On the basis of maintaining established cooperation, the SIPO expanded bilateral cooperation with more countries in a further expanded scope.
In March, the SIPO and the Russian Patent and Trademark Office signed the Agreement on Exchanging Patent Documentation between the two offices.

On April 9, Commissioner Wang Jingchuan led a delegation to attend the Eighth Commissioner Meeting between the SIPO and KIPO, and signed the Cooperation Minutes of the Meeting.

On June 24, Deputy Commissioner Ma Lianyuan met Mr. Kim Il Hyok, Commissioner of the Invention Bureau of the Democratic Republic of Korea, and introduced the latest development of the SIPO to him.

From June 29 to July 10, Commissioner Wang Jingchuan led a delegation to visit the United States, and during that period, signed a cooperation agreement with the John Marshall Law School, thus establishing a long-term cooperation relationship between the SIPO and the JMLS.

In June, a group of four experts from the SIPO on utility model examination visited Japanese Patent Office and exchanged viewpoints on utility model examination.

In July, Deputy Commissioner Wu Boming headed a delegation of six persons to visit the Bulgarian Patent Office and the Greek Industrial Property Office, and during that period, attended the bilateral working group meeting between the SIPO and the BPO, and signed the 2002-2003 Cooperation Plan between the SIPO and the BPO.

In early July, the Commissioner of the French Industrial Property Office visited the SIPO and attended the 17th Meeting of the Sino-French Patent Mixed Working Group.

In August, the Deputy commissioner of the Ukraine IP Office visited the SIPO and discussed on the IP Cooperation Agreement between China and Ukraine.

On August 21, Commissioner Wang Jingchuan met the Minister of the Domestic Trade Ministry of Malaysia and his delegation at the office of the SIPO, and introduced his guests to the state of IP protection after China's accession to the WTO and to measures being taken how to encourage innovation.

From August 31 to September 14, Deputy Commissioner Tian Lipu led a delegation to Mexico and Cuba, which was the first time that the SIPO ever dispatched a formal delegation to visit these countries. During the visits, respective cooperation minutes were signed with Commissioners of the Industrial Property Institute of Mexico and the Industrial Property Office of Cuba, and thus cooperative relationships between the SIPO and the two offices were established.

In September, Mr. Marchant, Deputy Commissioner of the UK Patent Office, visited the SIPO and signed the 2003 Bilateral Technical Cooperation Minutes on the 7th Meeting of the Mixed Committee.

In September, Commissioner Wang Jingchuan led a delegation to visit the European Patent Office, and during the visit, signed the 2003 Cooperation Plan between the two Offices on the 13th Meeting of the Mixed Committee.

From October 10 to 11, and from 14 to 15, the SIPO and the USPTO of the U.S. Department of Commerce for the first time cooperated to respectively organize Sino-American IP Enforcement Seminars in Chengdu and Wuhan, in which experts from China and the United States in the field of IP enforcement exchanged views with local IP enforcement staff.

In the middle of November, Deputy Commissioner Wu Boming led a delegation to visit the Patent Office of Austria and the Patent and Trademark Office of Denmark, attended the 12th Meeting of the Industrial Property Mixed Working Group between China and Austria, and signed the meeting minutes.

On November 18, Commissioner Wang Jingchuan and Representative of the Ukrainian Government signed the Intellectual Property Cooperation Agreement between the Government of the People's Republic of China and the Government of the Ukraine.

From November 16 to 30, Deputy Commissioner Yang Zhengwu led a delegation to visit the Canadian IP Office and the US Patent and Trademark Office to draw experiences from their measures on personnel recruitment, administration and incentive programs.

On November 23, during the visit to Korea to attend the Second Policy Dialogue Meeting between the SIPO, the JPO and the KIPO, Commissioner Wang Jingchuan attended the 9th Joint Meeting between the SIPO and the JPO and signed the cooperation memos with the two offices.

4. Others

From January 9 to 13, Mr. Robert Gilbert Johnston, Dean of the John Marshall Law School, and two professors from that school, visited the SIPO and held a meeting with Commissioner Wang Jingchuan and Deputy Commissioner Ma Lianyuan to discuss cooperation. They also attended the graduation ceremonies of the LLM program co-organized by the China Intellectual Property Training Center and the John Marshall Law School, and issued LLM certificates to the fourteen students who studied at the John Marshall Law School.

From January 28 to February 7, according the 3E cooperation program between China and Japan, the SIPO organized a delegation composed of representatives of Tsinghua University, the Beijing High People's Court and other agencies to visit Japan on IP protection and patent marketing strategies. With the help of the Sino-Japanese Economic Association of Japan, the delegation understood the operation mechanism of the Japanese patent market, visited the Japanese Patent Office, the Tokyo High Court, and the Fair Competition Committee, and received first-hand information and developed an enhanced understanding between each other.

On February 1, the delegation of the Lower Chamber of Thailand, headed by Mr. Chuti Krairirk, Chairman of the Economic Development Committee, visited the SIPO. Commissioner Wang Jingchuan met the guests and answered their questions regarding IP.

On February 1, Mr. Alan Mckinnon, DFAT Chief Negotiator for Agricultural of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Australia, visited the SIPO.

From February 24 to March 10, the SIPO organized experts and professors responsible for IP and technology transfer from Peking University, Tsinghua University, Shanghai Communications University, Fudan University, and Xi'an Communications University, to visit the United States with a purpose of drawing experiences from US counterparts and strengthening the IP protection and technology transfer in universities in China. The mission was sponsored by the U.S. Government. During the visit, the delegation comprehensively learned about IP management and technology transfers at US universities, visited Stanford University and the University of California - Berkley, and attended the Annual Meeting of the Technology Transfer Manager Association of the US universities.

In August, the SIPO, the Beijing High People's Court and Japan Trade Promotion Association, co-organized the Sino-Japanese Seminar on Intellectual Property Policies and the Sino-Japanese Intellectual Property Judicial Seminar in Beijing, in which Chinese and Japanese IP experts exchanged their views and questions and enhanced mutual understanding.

From August to October, four examiners of the SIPO successively participated in the examination training in JPO to draw experiences from their Japanese counterparts.

From October 14 to 25, at the invitation of the IP Cooperation Program Office of the EU, Deputy Commissioner Xing Shengcai led a delegation to visit Germany, Sweden and Portugal to learn about the latest developments of the European IP system.

From October 26 to November 8, the SIPO received a US delegation composed of experts from Stanford University, Texas A & M University, the US Health Department and others, focusing on IP protection and technology transfers in universities. The delegation visited Shanghai, Xi'an and Beijing, and exchanged views with the experts responsible for technology transfers in Fudan University, Shanghai Communications University, Xi'an Communications University, Peking University and Tsinghua University.

From December 2 to 6, according to the 3E cooperation program between China and Japan, the SIPO, Tsinghua University, the Shaanxi IP administration, the Fujian IP administration, and the Japan Trade Promotion Association and a Japanese university, co-organized the Sino-Japanese Enterprise IP Management Seminar in Xi'an and Fuzhou, supported by the Ministry of Economy and the Industry of Japan. The Japanese Intellectual Property Association dispatched two senior managers to introduce the IP management experiences of Japanese enterprises to more than 200 participants at the seminars in Shaanxi and Fujian.

From December 9 to 10, the 2002 Mainland, Hong Kong and Macao SARs IP Symposium was held in Guangzhou.

2013-07-17