The 10th World Intellectual Property Day on Monday marked the start of the third year of the implementation of the EU-China Project on the protection of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR2). Launched in 2007, IPR2 has been providing technical support to improve the effectiveness of IPR enforcement in the country. With a joint funding of over 16 million euro ($21.4 million) from both sides, it has trained 1,200 people in Intellectual Property (IP) protection and organized 120 forums and workshops on this issue.

"The project is an extension of the political dialogue between China and EU on IP cooperation," says Carlo Pandolfi, head of the IPR2 technical assistance team.

"China has achieved many milestones in building a strong framework for IP protection," Pandolfi says, citing the third revision of China's Patent Law in 2008.

"The exchanges on IPR laws between China and EU are not just one way. We are also learning to improve our own," says Marc Holtorf, veteran German lawyer on IP matters.

(Source: China Daily)