Source: chinadaily.com.cn

It only took Zhongguancun eight years to transform from an "electronic street" in the 1980s to become the national high-tech industrial development zone. As China started its reform and opening up policy, the first private technology company, the first enterprise without verified business scope, and the first corporation with intangible assets accounting for 100 percent of its registered capital were all launched here.

During the first decade of the 21st century, China is eager to seize opportunities to turn "Made in China" into "Created in China”. The reason that Zhongguancun is worth noting is because it is the forerunner on this path.

But innovation is inseparable from the protection of intellectual property rights. With China hastening the path in "going global", conflicts among enterprises on intellectual property is becoming fiercer than ever before.

To this end, the Zhongguancun State Intellectual Property Model Park was established in 2003. It’s the first and the only national demonstration park for intellectual property system approved by the State Council.

By the end of 2017, a total of over 13,000 enterprises in Zhongguancun Demonstration Zone had applied for patents, with the total applications reaching over 400,000. Companies in the demonstration zone possess 80,600 effective invention patents, with six out of ten effective inventions in Beijing come from Zhongguancun.

Intellectual property rights escort enterprises

Walking into the Beijing headquarters of Lenovo Group, the patent wall that covers the entire corridor shows the company’s innovative achievements. The local PC manufacturer that operated in a small room thirty four years ago has become a large multinational company with over 300 billion yuan of annual revenues in more than sixty countries around the world.

Chen Yuanqing, intellectual property director, said that the development of Lenovo has always been accompanied by the layout of its intellectual property. In Zhongguancun, Lenovo is both a witness of the reform in intellectual property policies and a beneficiary.

In 2001, when the Lenovo intellectual property team was assembled, the protection of intellectual property rights in the Chinese market was just beginning. Chen introduced that the core goal of Lenovo at that time was to build a system and accumulate the number of patents. Until 2005, on the basis of a large increase in the number of patents, it began to adjust the strategic focus and improve qualities to ensure that its PC business could be expanded overseas.

In 2010, Lenovo once again adjusted the focus of the patent businesses, to make breakthroughs in weak links. Subsequently, Lenovo successfully completed acquisitions of the businesses of IBM X86 server and Motorola's mobile businesses in 2014.

Up to now, Lenovo has over 26,000 patents and patent applications worldwide. Chen told reporters that intellectual property is an important issue for all Chinese companies preparing to go abroad.

"The first step of Chinese enterprises' 'going global’ strategy is usually plagued by intellectual property rights. If you want to have a place in overseas market, the competition on intellectual property is critical,” Chen noted.

Today, an increasing number of Chinese companies are aware of the importance of intellectual property. Megvii, an artificial intelligence technology company in Zhongguancun, is inseparable from the escort of patents in terms of its financing and business sales.

"When our sales team talks about cooperating with the public security department, they will provide them with proof of our intellectual property rights, explaining the technologies and patents. This is highly valued by customers," Zhao Lijie, head of the Department of Intellectual Property in Megvii, said, "When we're financing, investors also frequently ask about our intellectual property rights.”

Prosperous supply and demand in Zhongguancun

"As we often make connections with related departments at all levels, I think the conditions of intellectual property rights in Zhonguancun can be summarized in one phrase, that is, prosperous supply and demand," Zheng Shaohui, vice president of Megvii Technology, remarked.

For instance, Zheng Shaohui said that, for a long time, an obstacle for Megvii in intellectual property rights protection has been the long period of patent examination. After learning this, Zhongguancun Intellectual Property Promotion Bureau selected Megvii as a practice base for the State Intellectual Property Office to practice. The face-to-face exchange and guidance with examiners play a great role in improving efficiency of patent applications.

In addition, Zhongguancun also set up patent promotion funds, to provide financial support for domestic patent licensing, international patents entering the national stage, and related services provided by IP service agencies for Zhongguancun enterprises.

In addition, Zhongguancun established the first intellectual property court and tribunal in China. The system of reporting and complaining about intellectual property rights covers its one district and 16 parks. Administrative enforcement and judicial protection have been connected to form a synergy of intellectual property protection.

Spurred by a number of policies, Zhongguancun's intellectual property innovation data continues to rise: from 2003 to 2017, the number of patent applications in Zhongguancun Demonstration Zone enterprises increased from 2,650 to 73,800, of which invention patent applications account for nearly 60 percent. The number of patent licensing has increased from 1,279 to 43,400, with an average annual growth rate of 28.6 percent.

Gratifying results have been achieved. "However, we are still far from the developed level in many fields of innovation, the layout and protection level of intellectual property cannot fully match the needs of industrial development," an official in Beijing Municipal Intellectual Property Bureau said, but he believes that Zhongguancun will surely catch up in the near future.

2019-02-18