Authorities pledge to strengthen IP protection, hasten patent, trademark applications

China's top intellectual property regulator pledged to ensure stronger intellectual property protection and accelerate reviews of patent and trademark applications this year to better contribute to the country's high-quality development and respond to the demands of innovators.

"We'll strengthen IP protection by helping amend the Trademark Law and the implementation rules of the Patent Law, with greater efforts to assist in establishing a law on geographical indications as well as a system to protect data IP rights," said Heng Fuguang, spokesman of the China National Intellectual Property Administration.

He released the plan at a news conference on Wednesday, adding that the time to review trademark registration and applications of invention patents will also be further shortened this year.

While improving review efficiency, he emphasized that the fight against malicious trademark registration and improper patent applications must continue.

Malicious registrations generally are applications that violate the principles of legitimacy and good faith, including trademark squatting — the illegal registration of someone's else's trademark to make a profit — appropriation and imitation, infringements of others' rights, misuse of public resources and massive or repeated registration in bad faith.

Heng noted that trademark squatting will be a major target this year.

He also said that the administration will provide more online services this year to help innovators and applicants manage their IP-related affairs more easily at the administration.