Across China: Beijing

Application pace drops

The pace of patent applications in China slowed in the first quarter amid the financial crisis, State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) Commissioner Tian Lipu said last month. The number of patent applications rose 10 percent in the first quarter, down 11 percentage points from the same period last year, Tian said during an online interview with the central government's official web portal www.gov.cn. "This shows that the financial crisis has taken its toll on patent application development, but the impact is limited and better than expected," he said.

It was not necessarily a bad thing as each financial or economic crisis usually heralds a new round of innovation, Tian said. As of the end of March, China's patent applications topped 5 million, of which 1.2 million are valid patents. "That is a huge number and on the forefront around the world," Tian said.

Olympics white paper

China has made outstanding achievements in protecting Olympic intellectual property rights (IPR), according to a white paper released on April 24 by the State Intellectual Property Office. "IPR protection for the Olympics made obvious achievements and was fully recognized by the Chairman of the International Olympic Committee Jacques Rogge and the international community at large," the paper said. According to the paper, administrations for industry and commerce launched nationwide campaigns to protect Olympic symbols.

High-profile forum

On April 25, 2009, the High-Level Forum on Intellectual Property Rights of Chinese and Foreign Enterprises was held in Beijing, with the theme of Innovative Development and Core Competitiveness of Intellectual Property. Commissioner of the State Intellectual Property Office Tian Lipu and Vice Director of State Administration for Industry and Commerce Fu Shuangjian attended the forum and delivered speeches. Tian said that independent IPRs can help enterprises cope with financial crisis and serve their long-term development.

Publicity Week

On April 20, the 2009 IPR Publicity Week was unveiled nationwide. The State Intellectual Property Office held a series of publicity and consultation activities at the launching ceremony of the publicity week in Beijing. Yang Tiejun, member of the Organizing Committee, director of the Office of the Organizing Committee and SIPO Deputy Commissioner, attended the activity. SIPO has organized Open Day during the week, launched activities such as the National Tour Lectures of IP and the Survey on the IP Quality of the Chinese People and jointly held the Press Conference of China's IPR Protection and the High-Level Forum on IPR Protection with related departments in some provinces and cities.

(China Daily 05/04/2009 page11)