The State Council promulgates the Compendium of China National Intellectual Property Strategy on June 5, 2008, vowing to construct China into a country with comparatively higher level of intellectual property right (IPR) creation, utilization, protection and administration by 2020; within the next five years, China will take measures to dramatically raise the level of IP, make IPR utilization further effective, prominently improve IPR protection, and greatly enhance public awareness about IP throughout the society.

The Compendium consists of five sections of Foreword, Guideline and Strategic Goals, Strategic Emphases, Tasks and Strategic Measures.

The Compendium points out that implementing the National Intellectual Property Strategy to energetically improve IPR creation, utilization, protection and administration can help improve China’s capacities of independent innovation and building an innovative country, benefit the complement of China’s socialist market economy system, standardization of market order and establishment of a credible society. It will also enhance the market competitiveness of Chinese enterprises and the national core competitiveness, expand China’s opening up to the outside world and realize mutual benefit and win-win situation. The strategy should be listed as one of national strategies to pragmatically strengthen IP work.

The Compendium points out that the guideline of China National Intellectual Property Strategy is to stimulate IP innovation, fully utilize IP, legally protect IPRs and scientifically administrate IP. The strategic goals by 2020 include: China will become a country with comparatively higher level of IPR creation, utilization, protection and administration, which are symbolized by further completed IP legal environment, prominently higher capacities of IPR creation, utilization, protection and management of the market entity, much stronger IP awareness in people’s minds, enough high quality and quantity of China’s independent IPRs for its effort to build China an innovative country, and much more powerful support from IP system to China’s economic development, cultural prosperity and social progress.

The Compendium clarifies the strategic emphases of China National Intellectual Property Strategy: The first is to improve IP system by completing IP law-enforcement and administration system, further accomplishing IP laws and regulations and strengthening IP’s guiding role in economic, cultural and public policies; second, measures will be taken to promote IPR creation and utilization. The measures include guiding and supporting market entities to create and utilize IPRs with fiscal, financial, investment and government-procurement policies and industry, energy and environment protection policies, and encouraging enterprises to be the entity IPR creation and utilization; third, IPR protection will be strengthened by means of enforcing judicial punishment to IPR infringement, and cutting down the costs for protecting holders’ rights to ensure that the right infringements have to pay for much for the behaviors; fourth, relevant laws and regulations to reasonably define IPR so as to maintain fair competition in market and safeguard legal rights and interests of the public will be formulated to prevent IPR abuse; fifth, efforts will be made to foster IP culture. By advocating innovation and honesty and discarding plagiarism and counterfeiting or cheating, an IP culture will be established throughout China with its main points as respecting intelligence, upholding innovation, being honest and abiding by law.

The compendium lists the tasks in areas of patent, trademark, copyright, business secret, new plant variety, intellectual property in particular areas and national defense IP into its special programs, and puts forward nine strategic measures in this regard, including elevating the capacity of IPR creation, encouraging transformation and utilization of IPRs, accelerating IP legal system construction, improving IP law-enforcement level, strengthening IP administration, developing IP intermediary services, enforcing IP personnel construction, promoting construction of IP culture and expanding international exchanges and cooperation in IP sector.