The Shandong provincial government has made the protection of intellectual property rights (IPR) one of its central economic priorities. Its move follows the 2005 publication of the central government's Outline for Intellectual Property Rights Strategies and is intended to establish the coastal province as an IPR powerhouse in addition to its current status as one of China's most prosperous regions.

As part of the strategy, the province's IPR initiatives have been fast-tracked, whilst the relevant regulations have been both streamlined and strengthened and a substantial incentive package has been implanted to ensure companies maximize their potential in this sector.

In recent years, according to Li Aimin, director of Shandong's IPR bureau, the province has also sought to strengthen its IPR management institutions. Since the publication of the National IPR Strategy, local implementation policies have been prioritized. Six cities in the province, including Yantai and Jinan, have adopted IPR strategies.

Today all of the 17 cities in the province have IPR management institutions. Of its 140 county-level cities, 118 have set up IPR management institutions. The province now has more than 600 employees working in the IPR management sector. In terms of its support sector, there are 23 patent agencies in the province. A total of 439 professionals are now qualified as patent agents.

Since 2000, the number of patent applications has maintained a consistent growth of nearly 30 percent. In 2000, the number of applications was 10,000. It soared to 20,000 in 2005 and 30,000 in 2006. Last year, the total number of application reached 60,247 with 26,688 receiving full authorization, ranking it fourth overall in China. By the end of 2007, the province had applied for 638 foreign patents and 413 PCT applications.

The national patent award is the highest award in the patent sector in China. In recent years, Shandong won eight golden prizes. In total, the province won four golden prizes and five excellence awards in 2007.

By the end of June 2009, Shandong had won a number of awards in the IPR sector, including acknowledgement as a model city for IPR work, seven pilot city citations for IPR protection, and three pilot technological park awards for IPR excellence. Additionally, six companies and government institutions were selected as pilot entities for their IPR protection schemes.

This year, the IPR protection work in six counties and two county-level cities was endorsed by the central government.

In April 2009, a fourth circuit hearing court was set up by the State Intellectual Property Right Administrations in the province and six IPR legal aid centers opened for business.

The 12330 hotline for IPR violation complaints was also launched in several cities. The province and a number of key cities also formed a patent law enforcement team. The 17 IPR management institutions in the cities across the province are now also qualified to handle patent disputes. The province now has 534 professionals qualified for patent law enforcement.

Shandong also accelerated the construction of its IPR service platform. It has set up six national and provincial level IPR information centers. These include four national IPR information centers for marine biology, food and beverages, digital-control machinery and agricultural technology equipment, as well as two provincial IPR information centers for automobile manufacturing and iron and steel production.

For nine consecutive years, the China (Shandong) IRP High and New Technology Product Fair, jointly sponsored by the National Intellectual Property Rights Administration and the Chinese Academy of Engineering, has been held in Jining, a city in the west of Shandong.

(Source: China Daily)