IPR reforms increase public awareness throughout China

Editor's note: The year 2008 carried great weight for publicizing and enforcing the IPR system in China.

In addition to marking the 30th anniversary of China's reforms, 2008 was also the inaugural year for the implementation of the national intellectual property (IP) strategy. The Chinese IPR system saw 828,328 patent applications and 698,000 applications for trademark registration last year.

After China launched its Compendium of the National Intellectual Property Strategy, the State Intellectual Property Office recently released the white paper on China's intellectual property protection system in 2008.

The white paper is a summary of last year's report on IPR protection in China and includes eight parts detailing various aspects of intellectual property developments.

China Business Weekly will publish the full text of the white paper in a series during the following weeks. Below is the sixth part of the text:

Customs districts nationwide conducted IPR protection publicity activities in 2008.

During IPR Protection Publicity Week in April 2008, customs districts introduced legislation and policies to help rights holders, importers, exporters and the general public better understand customs enforcement and IPR deposit procedures.

Customs districts made full use of ports and mass media outlets to educate the public on IPR policies.

Some customs districts hosted IPR protection seminars that brought IPR rights holders and others together. Ten typical IPR cases were presented to the public.

In April 2008, the Ministry of Culture hosted its 10th National Audio-Video Market Publicity campaign featuring materials on how to protect intellectual property rights, combat infringement and stop piracy.

The Ministry of Culture extensively publicized IPR legislation, achievements in audio-video market regulations and the importance of IPR protections.

These activities increased awareness among audio-video product distributors and also encouraged the public to understand the damages caused by piracy. The public was encouraged to avoid pirated products.

The Ministry of Public Security has always considered public education an important element to combating IPR crimes.

In January 2008, the Ministry of Public Security joined the National Copyright Administration of China (NCAC) at a news conference publicizing special campaigns to combat IPR infringement and Internet piracy.

In April 2008, the Ministry of Public Security worked with the Party's Ministry of Publicity and 20 central agencies, including the Ministry of Commerce, to conduct National IPR Publicity Week.

The agencies also organized the 2008 China IP Criminal Protection Forum in Shanghai.

More than 600 participants from police agencies around the country, as well as central agencies, and European and American law enforcement agencies and police liaison officers to China attended the forum.

More than 200 Chinese and foreign company representatives also attended the forum to discuss IPR policies and judicial and enforcement practices in China.

This was the sixth such forum organized by the Ministry of Public Security since 2003, and has become an important forum for public education.

In November 2008, courts around the country participated in month-long activities focusing on judicial protections. The Supreme People's Court, high courts, and intermediate and grassroots courts held news conferences to discuss IPR cases.

The courts invited deputies to congressional bodies and political advisors to hear trials and submit comments on cases. The courts enacted specific measures for implementing the Outline of the National IPR Strategy.

These activities displayed the achievements and important mission of IPR judicial protections.

The Supreme People's Court drafted the "Several Opinions on Implementing National IPR Strategy by People's Courts (Comment Soliciting Version)" and "Judicial Interpretation on the Application of Laws for Protection of Well-Known Marks in the Trial of Trademark Civil Infringement Cases (Comment Soliciting Version)".

The court selected the top 100 IPR cases that most influenced the Chinese IPR legal system in the past 30 years.

The month-long activities represented the longest, largest, most specialized and most diversified special activity with extensive and intensive impact in the IPR judicial trial area in the past 30 years.

It vividly displayed the commanding role of IPR judicial protection, promoted implementation of the National IPR Strategy and elevated the public's awareness of IPR protection in China.

Editor's note: The IPR Special is sponsored by the State Intellectual Property Office and published by China Business Weekly. To contact the Intellectual Property Office, the IPR Special hotlines are 8610-64995422 or 8610-64995826, and the e-mail address is ipr@chinadaily.com.cn.

(China Daily 07/20/2009 page9)