In 2003, SIPO participated in the development and reform of international rules with a more positive attitude and further developed and expanded the international cooperation`.

1. Multilateral Activities:

WIPO Summit
From August 2002 to April 2003, the Office had been preparing for the WIPO Summit that would be held in Beijing on 26 April 2003. Owing to the prevailing circumstances of SARS, the WIPO Summit was unable to be held as scheduled. However, all kinds of preparation activities proved that the Chinese Government attached great importance to the protection of intellectual property rights, publicized the intellectual property strategies and policies, drew attention of the public on the IP protection and enhanced their IP awareness to some extent, meanwhile further strengthened the coordination and cooperation among the domestic intellectual property related agencies.

Chinese Delegation Attending the Fifth Meeting of the WIPO Inter-Governmental Committee on Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore
The Fifth Meeting of the WIPO Inter-Governmental Committee on Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore was organized in Geneva from 7 to 15 July 2003. The Chinese delegation, headed by Mr. Qiao Dexi, Director General of International Cooperation Department of the SIPO, and consisted of other members from the NCAC, the Chinese Permanent Mission in Geneva and other agencies, attended the meeting and expressed the view of the Chinese Government on issues like folklore, traditional knowledge and funding indigene to attend the meeting.

Attending the WIPO Roundtable Meeting for Heads of IP Offices in Asian and Pacific Region
Deputy Commissioner Tian Lipu, attended the WIPO Roundtable Meeting for Directors of IP Offices in Asian and Pacific Region held in Colombo, Sri Lanka from 25 to 29 August, and visited the Malaysian Intellectual Property Office from 29 to 30 August. During his visit, Deputy Commissioner Tian introduced China's practice of intellectual property protection to the officials from the Asia-Pacific Region and further discussed with other IP offices on exploring cooperation, which laid a good foundation for the cooperation with other Asian and Pacific countries, especially ASEAN countries.

Chinese Delegation Attending the 39th Series of the Meetings of the WIPO
The 39th Series of the Meetings of the WIPO was held in Geneva from 22 September to 1 October. The Chinese delegation headed by Mr. Wang Jingchuan, Commissioner of the SIPO, attended the meeting. At the meeting, Mr. Wang Jingchuan, was elected as the Vice Chair of the Assembly. During the meeting, Dr. Kamil Idris, Director General of the WIPO, met Commissioner Wang and the Chinese delegation and exchanged views on some international IP issues, such as the international patent system, genetic resources, traditional knowledge and folklore.

WIPO Traditional Knowledge Visiting Delegation and High-level Round-table Meeting on Traditional Medicine and Intellectual Property Protection
On 8 November, Mr. Anthony Taubman, Director of Traditional Knowledge Division and other 2 officials paid a study visit to China on the protection of Chinese traditional medicine.

The Third Trilateral Policy Dialogue Meeting among the Commissioners of the SIPO, JPO and KIPO
The Third Trilateral Policy Dialogue Meeting among the Commissioners of the SIPO, JPO and KIPO was held in Beijing on 14 November. At the meeting, the three Commissioners reviewed the cooperation since the second meeting, highly praised the patent information exchanging mechanism and the first meeting of the Joint Expert Group for Automation (JEGA), passed the cooperative suggestions raised by the JEGA and asked the JEGA to implement them as scheduled. They also exchanged respective recent developments, new measures adopted to shorten the examination period, improve examination efficiency and quality, and views on the cooperation with the ASEAN and some common concerned international IP issues. After the meeting, the three Commissioners signed the Agreed Minutes, which paved the way for the further cooperation among the three offices.

Deputy Commissioner Tian Attending the Euro-Asia IP Heads of Offices Conference  
From 17 to 22 November, Deputy Commission Tian attended the Euro-Asia IP Heads of Offices Conference co-organized by the European Patent Office and the Singapore Intellectual Property Office and paid a visit to the Singapore Office. Deputy Commissioner Tian made two speeches respectively on the Chinese Future IP Policies and Strategies and the Present Situation and Future Plans of the Chinese Patent Information System at the meeting, giving a detailed elaboration on the Chinese IP system and its future developing direction. During his visit, He also met with the Director General of the Singapore IP Office, exploring the possible cooperation between the two offices, and signed a minutes of the meeting.

High-Level Roundtable on Traditional Chinese Medicine and Intellectual Property Protection.

Commissioners from SIPO,JPO and KIPO.

Deputy Commissioner  Tian Lipu delivers a speech on the latest developments of the Chinese IPR system during the Euro-Asia Heads of IP Offices Conference.

2. Bilateral Activities:

Commissioner Wang Jingchuan Visiting Austria and the UK
Commissioner Wang Jingchuan was invited to pay a working visit to Austria and the UK from 13 to 24 September. During his visit to Austria, Commissioner Wang held a deep and fruitful meeting with Dr. H.Czuba Acting President of the Austrian Patent Office. President Czuba highly praised the cooperation between the two offices in the past 12 years and expressed his wish of further strengthening the bilateral cooperation. During the visit to the UK, Commissioner Wang met with the Chief Executive of the UK Patent Office, respectively introduced their own latest development, and exchanged views on the bilateral cooperation in the future, rasing points on distinguishing cooperative levels, going deeper gradually and maintain currently scale of cooperation.

Deputy Commissioner Yang Zhengwu Visiting Germany, Italy and Denmark
From 15 to 28 September, Deputy Commissioner Yang Zhengwu led a delegation to visit Germany, Italy and Denmark. They paid a study visit to the German Patent and Trademark Office, European Patent Office, Italian Patent and Trademark Office, Italian Entrepreneurs Association in Milan, Italian Trademark and Design Agency and Danish Patent and Trademark Office on their internal organization, personnel constitution, financial mechanism, budget resources and planning system.

Deputy Commissioner Tian Lipu Visiting Germany
Deputy Commissioner Tian Lipu visited Germany from 17 to 21 September. During the working meetings, all the sides retrospected the cooperative history, exchanged viewes on current hot IP issues, and made proposals for future cooperation.

Deputy Commissioner Zhang Qin Visiting Egypt and South Africa
From 8 to 23 October, Deputy Commissioner Zhang Qin led a delegation to visit Egypt and South Africa, which is the first time that the Office dispatched a formal delegation to visit Africa. During the visit, Deputy Commissioner Zhang respectively signed the Record of Discussion with the Egyptian Patent Office and the Companies and Intellectual Property Registration Office of South Africa, held discussion with the Egyptian Contact Point for Intellectual Property Protection, established the cooperative relationship between the IP competent agencies of the two countries, and paved the way for the future cooperation with IP offices in Africa.

Deputy Commissioner Xing Shengcai Visiting Hungary and Russia
Deputy Commissioner Xing Shengcai paid a working visit to Hungarian Patent Office and Russian Patent and Trademark Office from 15 to 26 October. During the visit, both sides respectively affirmed the positive role of the cooperation and agreed to further strengthening it.

The 14th Joint Committee Meeting between the EPO and the SIPO
From 21 to 22 October, Mr. Ingo Kober, President of the EPO, led a delegation to visit China and met with Commissioner Wang Jingchuan, Deputy Commissioner Tian Lipu and Deputy Commissioner Li Yuguang to attend the 14th Joint Committee Meeting between the two offices in Shanghai. At the meeting, both sides signed the 2004 Technical Cooperation Agreed Minutes between the two Offices and agreed to establish a strategic cooperative partnership.

EU-China International IP Symposium
Under the framework of the EU-China IP Cooperation Program, the EPO and the SIPO co-organized the Symposium on Partnership in the Protection of Intellectual Property, China and Europe, Past, Present and Future in Beijing from 23 to 24 October. Leaders from the SIPO, the MOFCOM, the NCAC and the SAIC, and the President of the EPO, Ambassador of Italian Embassy in China, Vice Chair of EU Commission in China, EU officials, famous foreign and domestic IP experts and more than 300 representatives from all walks of life attended the symposium. During the symposium, the SIPO and the EPO also organized a press conference regarding the IP cooperation and protection.

EU-China International IP Symposium

The Ninth Commissioners'Meeting between the KIPO and the SIPO
The Ninth Commissioners'Meeting between the KIPO and the SIPO was held in Beijing on 13 November. At the meeting, the two Commissioners respectively introduced each other's latest development, reviewed the cooperation activities since the last meeting, and exchanged views on common-concerned issues. They also agreed to further strengthening exchange and cooperation in the field of personnel and information exchange, training, joint prior-art search, electronic exchange of priority documents, intellectual property protection and enforcement and international IP issues, and signed the Agreed Minutes.

Commissioners from SIPO and KIPO.

The Tenth Commissioners'Meeting between the JPO and the SIPO
The Tenth Commissioners'Meeting between the JPO and the SIPO was held in Beijing on 15 November. At the meeting, both Commissioners repeated the importance of IP international protection, expressed the will of strengthening cooperation in the IP field so as to promote economy and trade between China and Japan. Through the dialogue, both sides increased understanding and trust. In addition, the two Commissioners discussed cooperative issues for the next year and established principles of cooperation and laid good foundation for next year'personnel exchanges, exchanges of examination practices, human resources training and update of professional knowledge.

Commissioner Wang's Visit to Mexico and Brazil
From 9 to 17 December Commissioner Wang led a delegation to visit Mexico and Brazil. During his visit, Commissioner Wang joined some state visiting activities of Premier Wen Jiabao to Mexico and signed the Bilateral Cooperative Agreement between the SIPO and IMPI. The visit realized the high-level political dialogues with IP agencies in large developing countries, promoted mutual understanding and recognition, enhanced the cooperation in the IP field including the protection of genetic resources and traditional knowledge, and paved the way for the future cooperation with Mexican IP Institute and Brazilian IP Institute.

Deputy Commissioner Li Yuguang's Visit to Spain and Germany
From 14 to 24 December Deputy Commissioner Li Yuguang led a delegation to visit Spanish Patent and Trademark Office, European Patent Office and German Patent Office, laying a solid foundation for the cooperation with them in 2004. During the visit, the delegation attended the Second Joint Committee Meeting between the SIPO and SPTO and signed the 2004 Cooperative Plan.

On December 18, Deputy Commissioner Li Yuguang visits the headquarters of the European Patent Office in Munich and talks with Vice President Mr. Desantes

3. Other Activities

Commissioner Wang and Deputy Commissioner Tian Meeting with JMLS Deans
On 9 September, Commissioner Wang Jingchuan and Deputy Commissioner Tian Lipu respectively met with Professor Robert Johnston, former Dean of the John Marshall Law School (JMLS), and Professor Dorothy Li, Vice Dean of JMLS. Commissioner Wang reviewed the past 10 years'cooperation between the SIPO and the JMLS and expressed his satisfaction. He pointed out that up to now there had been about 70 employees of the SIPO who had studied in the JMLS and most of them had become the backbones or leaders of their departments, who were playing an important role in development of the Chinese IP system.

On October 27, Dr. Eliane Karp de Toledo, First Lady of the Republic of Peru, visited SIPO. Commissioner Wang introduced China's applications and experiences in protecting traditional knowledge, especially traditional medicine. Dr. Karp thanked the Commissioner for his hospitality and indicated that Peru, as a developing country, started to pay attention to IP protection only in recent years, especially to the protection of indigenous knowledge and very willing to cooperate and communicate with China in this field.

2013-07-17