In 2002, supported by the leaders of the Central Committee of CPC and the State Council, and directed by the important conceptions of the "Three Representatives", all staff of the SIPO scored new achievements in improving the legal framework of IP, strengthening patent examination, authorization and reexamination, enhancing the comprehensive IP administrative capability and patent administrative enforcement, automation, patent documentation and publication service, international exchanges and cooperation in the field of IP, training and academic exchanges on IP, raising public and social IP awareness, the construction of a strongly ethical administration, etc, through innovative progress, bold exploration, active innovation and solid work, while focusing on the national central work.

At the end of the year, the SIPO organized the National Conference for Directors from Local IP Administrations to study and act in the spirit of the Sixteenth National Congress of CPC, to draw experiences, to further free the mind and to unify understanding on pushing forward IP work to a new stage.

-- The SIPO continued improving the legal framework of IP through checking and rescinding a number of regulations and documents incompatible with the current laws, further established and improved the patent administrative enforcement regulations and mechanisms through formulating the Regulation on the Procedure of Formulating Regulations of the SIPO and Promulgating the Directive Rules on Administrative Reconsideration by the SIPO and other regulations, completed the administration work on reforming patent agencies through adhering to and implementing the related policies of the State Council.

-- The SIPO promoted the fast increase of patent applications through adopting positive measures, adhering to political guidance, and taking advantage of market mechanisms in promoting the allocation of IP information resources. In the year of 2002, the SIPO received 252,631 patent applications, an increase of 49,058 or 24.1% over the previous year. Among the total, 205,544 were domestic patent applications, reflecting an increase of 24.0%, among which domestic applications of patents for inventions were 39,806, or 32.5%.  the SIPO accelerated the examination and authorization of patents and granted a total of 132,399 patents in 2002, an increase of 15.9%. There were 2,713 requests for patent reexamination and invalidation received in 2002, and meanwhile 2,187 requests were resolved, of which requests related to patents for inventions were 38,699, an increase of 64.5% over the previous year. A total of 183 applications on layout designs of integrated circuits were received in 2002, and 130 were registered, published and authorized with certificates.

-- To enhance the comprehensive IP administrative capability. Five model zones of intellectual property systems were established in the country, among which the formulation of the working plan of the Zhongguancun Model Zone of the IP System was underway, while the working plans of the remaining four model zones had been formulated together with the local governments. On the basis of promoting the model project of industrialization of patented technologies, the SIPO launched the national pilot work on the national patent industrialization project. the SIPO continued the patent pilot work in zones, cities, enterprises and institutes, which played a model role through experiences drawn from the patent pilot work meeting of enterprises and institutes and the patent pilot work meeting of cities held in Shenzhen and Wuhan respectively. The patent administration in foreign trade was enhanced through promulgating new regulations and policies and standardizing market order. To cater to the fast increase of patent application filings, the SIPO established five new patent branches in the country. The organization and implementation work of the strategic patent promotion project has been initiated, which effectively promoted the patent strategic research work through signing cooperation agreements with related departments and local governments and signing commission research contracts related to many fields. According to the national industrial developing policies, the SIPO cooperated with the China Academy of Science to carry out strategic patent research on the production and utilization of hydrogenous energy and cooperated with the State Development Planning Commission to carry out the intellectual property evaluation on the ground-based transmission system of digital TV, which provided a decision-making basis for formulating the national digital TV system with independently owned IPRs.

-- To continue enhancing patent administrative enforcement. the SIPO circulated a Notice on Enhancing Cracking Down on Counterfeits in Line with the Requirements of the TRIPS Agreement of the WTO and required IP administrations to improve enforcement efficiency and cooperated with related agencies to carry out special enforcement activities to effectively crack down illegal activities violating IP laws and to safeguard legitimate interests of owners of IPRs.

-- The improved automation system well guaranteed the development of the SIPO. The Chinese Patent Management System (CPMS III), a system upgrade, entered the joint testing phase and will be fully operative in the first half of 2003. The construction of search systems and databases went on as planned, and part of which had been completed while part is under review for acceptance. The automation work in the new Examination Building went on as scheduled. The EPOQUE JAVA Search System was upgraded within the year. The compilation of the Standard Terminology and Abbreviation on Intellectual Property Documentation and Information and other standardization work have made great achievements. New achievements were also scored in using modern information technology and patent information, improving patent administration and service quality, and providing better service to the public through improved patent examination.

-- The Patent Documentation Service Department took full advantage of the intellectual property information data base and provided good service for the Office and Society, such as organizing a broad variety of free training courses for the public, continuing to provide free patent search CD-ROMs of some international organizations and countries to local IP administrations and enterprises, and helping enterprises carry out training activities on patent documentation. In addition to the publication of three kinds of patents, 174 types of IP books were published in 2002, constituting a publication system of nine series of major IP books and evoking good social repercussions and benefits.

-- To strengthen the cooperation in the IP field and promote the world scientific and technological progress and economic development. In cooperation with the WIPO, the SIPO successfully organized the Sino-African Intellectual Property Forum, the Second International Forum on Creativity and Invention and other international activities, and signed the Framework Agreement of Cooperation between the SIPO and the WIPO. the SIPO also positively organized related agencies to get involved in the reform and amendment of the international IP system and rules to further promote the international cooperation and exchanges of China in the IP field. the SIPO continued developing the political dialogue mechanism between the offices responsible for patent administration of China, Japan and Korea and explored cooperation with a variety of East Asia countries. Meanwhile, the SIPO was making careful preparations for organizing the World Summit on Intellectual Property and the Knowledge Economy to be held in Beijing in 2003.

-- In an effort to maintain studying, adhering to and acting in the guidelines and policies of CPC and the State Council, the SIPO strengthened the direction of local publicity and training work, paid attention to combining the central and local resources and advantages together, and greatly raised the IP awareness of the whole of society. The publicity work was closely connected with the new domestic and foreign developing situations in the IP field and coordinated with the international and domestic activities in the IP field to create an atmosphere of strong social sensitivity toward respect for IPRs, and thus generally raised IP awareness of the public. the SIPO paid more attention to carrying out IP training activities according to different participants and levels so as to reach better results. A total of 29 IP training courses in all kinds of areas were organized for the public in 2002. To guarantee the continuity and standards of the training work, the 2002-2005 Training Plan of the SIPO was formulated. Three-hundred, twenty-six new examiners were trained on patent examination, and some civil servants of the SIPO were trained on legal administration.

-- To continue education on maintaining an ethical administration and to strengthen its construction.

The successful convening of the Sixteenth National Congress of the CPC marked the entry of China had entered into a new era of comprehensive construction of a society having a higher standard of living, pointing in the direction of social development, opening up the road to a greater society, and making unremitting efforts towards these ends.

In 2003, closely united under the leadership of Mr. Hu Jintao, General Secretary of the CPC, adhering to the Deng Xiaoping Theory, and directed by the important conceptions of the "Three Representatives," said that all staff of the SIPO must continue to maintain a vigorous, pioneering and upright spirit, unify understandings, inspire enthusiasm, take positive measures, further study and act in the spirit of the Sixteenth Congress of the CPC by freeing the mind, holding to the truth, keeping pace with the times, advancing and innovating in a pioneering spirit, uniting in a concerted effort and working in a responsible manner, and devoting unremitting effort to pushing forward IP work to a new stage.

Wang Jingchuan