Tian Lipu talked to domestic and foreign media

 

On the afternoon of October 18, Tian Lipu, Delegate of the 17th CPC National Congress, who is also Secretary of CPC Leadership Group and Commissioner of the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO), met the press at the information center of 17th CPC National Congress. He introduced the development and the latest progress of China's IP undertaking and answered questions from media. Nearly 50 domestic and overseas media such as Xinhua News Agency, Hong Kong Wen Wei Po, Reuters and Lianhe Zaobao of Singapore attended the meeting.

 

With full and accurate figures, Tian introduced the achievements China had made in IP sector after the 16th CPC National Congress, stressing on Chinese Government's persistent stand and attitude of attaching great importance to and strengthening IP protection. He stressed specially that the fundamental reason for China to strengthen IP protection and carry out IP strategy is the internal demands for the development of China itself. At the meeting, domestic and foreign journalists were active in asking various questions, with topics from Olympic IP protection to IP creation and protection and from improving IP consciousness of the whole society to IP talent training.

 

 

Tian answered questions of journalists

 

On the question of Olympic IP protection, Tian indicated that China's IP sector can provide a sound environment for holding the Olympic Games. He noted that soon after Beijing won the bidding for 2008 Olympic Games, the State Council issued Regulations on the Protection of Olympic Symbols. Meanwhile, related departments under the State Council promulgated corresponding administrative rules and regulations. For instance, the SIPO specially issued the regulations for the design of products related to Olympic Games; the General Administration of Customs of China and the State Administration for Industry and Commerce also issued their respective regulations, with the total number of such regulations exceeding 10. "We are confident to provide sound environment for holding the Olympic Games," he noted.

 

While answering questions, Tian revealed that in 2006, China became the world third largest patent handling country after Japan and the United States. In 2006, the growth of applications for patent of invention in China tripled that of foreign countries. During that period of time, China totally handled 122,318 applications, up 30.8 percent year on year, while foreign countries handled 88,172 applications, up 10.4 percent year on year.

 

China has made great progress in IP undertaking. During the five years from 2002 to 2006, China totally handled 1.964 million patent applications of utility model, invention and design with an annual growth of 22.7 percent, marking the fastest development period of IP undertaking after China established IP system.

 

However, he pointed out that despite of these achievements, problems still exist in China's IP sector, such as low patent quality, imbalanced regional development, weak IP consciousness and problems in IP protection and law enforcement. Meanwhile, the management capacity and service system cannot meet the social demand. Tian noted that Chinese people did not have the idea of intellectual property in their minds for thousands of years and the term "intellectual property" was only included in authoritative Chinese dictionary in 2000. China established IP protection system in 1985 and it is impossible to expect China to resolve all these problems within only 20-plus years. Tian said frankly that China needs to make efforts for several generations to thoroughly improve its people's IP consciousness.

2007-10-22

2007-10-22