State Council highlights need to boost IPR protection

The State Council, China's Cabinet, highlighted the need to build up China's intellectual property rights competitiveness during two sessions last week centering on better protecting and applying IPR.

Premier Li Qiang presided over a themed study session of the cabinet on Oct 31 focusing on the implementation of the strategy to build the nation into a leader in IPR.

The State Council executive meeting on Friday also reviewed an amendment to the rules on the implementation of the Patent Law as part of broader steps to enhance IPR protection.

During the study session on Oct 31, Li underscored the significance of the strategy in strengthening China's core competitiveness and advancing its high-level opening-up.

To support comprehensive innovation, the nation must accelerate the establishment of legal, management, and policy systems and create rules compatible with new technologies to lay a solid foundation for opening up new paths in industrial development, Li said.

Chu Xiang, deputy dean of the Institute of Intellectual Property Rights at the East China University of Political Science and Law in Shanghai, said the fact that the State Council has twice highlighted IPR protection in its meetings is proof of its essential role in the nation's high-quality development efforts.

"It also showed a sound legal and policy framework serves as the institutional guarantee for catalyzing the development of industries and bolstering innovation," he said.

During the study session, the premier urged steps to accelerate the commercial application of IPR with the use of marketing methods, saying that targeted actions must be taken to facilitate the development of industries in which IP plays a strong role, and improve the efficiency of IP transformation and application.

Li laid out requirements to improve mechanisms in IPR examination and authorization, administrative enforcement, judicial protection, arbitration and mediation, and industry self-discipline to bolster IPR protection across the board.

He also said it was important to put in place a punitive compensation mechanism for IP infringement, improve and enhance interdepartmental and cross-regional law enforcement coordination and response mechanisms to make IPR protection more professional, modern and intelligent.

The premier also called on authorities to improve the use of big data and artificial intelligence, optimize the IPR public services system and proactively accelerate international exchanges and cooperation in this regard.

Chu said the use of big data and artificial intelligence will present key opportunities for stronger IPR protection efforts, as it will help predict and identify infringement actions and enable IPR holders to come up with an effective chain of evidence more quickly.

"However, it is also important to prioritize the protection of data privacy and ensure all protection efforts are in compliance with laws and regulations," he said.