Startups failing to protect rights warned that they could lose out

Intellectual property protection in Internet innovations was a highlight of this year's China Internet Conference.

Internet businesses are of a high-level, rapidly innovate and are expected to face new challenges in regards to protection of intellectual property rights. Small and medium-sized businesses and startups are of particular concern.

The three-day conference started on July 21 in Beijing and covered a wide range of topics including convergence of the Internet and traditional industries, Internet finance, mobile Internet, Internet innovations and related problems of IP protection.

Wang Chuang, associate chief judge of the IP division in the Supreme People's Court, said the number of IP cases since May increased by half compared with the same period last year.

"The small and medium-sized companies actually face more problems as the operators are young and grass-rooted and are good at innovations but fail to protect their intellectual property rights," said Liu Fang, secretary general of Internet IP Protection Committee of China Intellectual Property Society.

Fu Tong, general counsel of Qihoo 360 Technology Co Ltd, said that these creative new businesses will soon lose competitiveness if they fail to pay enough attention to IP protection, as it is easy for other companies to copy their business models.

"But there still are solutions," she said, suggesting that the companies do not have to invest much to protect their rights.

"Some agencies offer free trademark services and there are subsidies for patent applications, so the cost can be controlled," she said. "The first step is always hard, but after that is a healthy track."

Wang said the supreme court signed an agreement with the Internet Society of China on Internet IP protection early in 2011 to deal with problems related to the Internet industry. The agreement will expire in nine months and will be followed by another five-year one.

Wang also said that there are increasingly complicated problems posing new challenges to IP protection.

Many of these issues were discussed at the conference, including broadcasting rights for sports events on the Internet.

The legal rights of sports events are not well-defined in the existing legal system, while the rapid development of the Internet aggravates the problem of piracy.

China's first alliance for IP protection of online sports programs was established at the conference. Initiated by Letv, Tencent and Sina, three prominent domestic Internet companies, the alliance aims to promote copyrighted programs. Joint efforts will be made to fight against piracy and settle disputes between each other.

Patents on business models also drew attention at the conference.

Qihoo 360 unveiled a report on IP protection of "Internet Plus", a new business model combining the Internet with traditional industries.

The report was created by experts from the company, China Intellectual Property Society, Tsinghua University and a number of patent agencies.

It suggested that new business models could be be considered as a type of patent and protected under patent laws, and customer experience and commercial success could be included in the criteria of creativity. It also called for shortened patent examination periods.

Intellectual property protection in Internet innovations was a highlight of this year's China Internet Conference.

Internet businesses are high-level and rapidly innovative, and are expected to face new challenges in regards to protection of intellectual property rights. Small and medium-sized businesses and startups are of particular concern.

The three-day conference started on July 21 in Beijing and covered a wide range of topics including convergence of the Internet and traditional industries, Internet finance, mobile Internet, Internet innovations and IP protection.

Wang Chuang, associate chief judge of the IP division in the Supreme People's Court, said the number of IP cases since May increased by half compared with the same period last year.

"The small and medium-sized companies actually face more problems as the operators are young and grass-rooted and are good at innovations but fail to protect their intellectual property rights," said Liu Fang, secretary general of the Internet IP Protection Committee of China Intellectual Property Society.

Fu Tong, general counsel of Qihoo 360 Technology Co Ltd, said that these creative new businesses will soon lose competitiveness if they fail to pay enough attention to IP protection, as it is easy for other companies to copy their business models.

"But there still are solutions," she said, suggesting that the companies do not have to invest much to protect their rights.

"Some agencies offer free trademark services and there are subsidies for patent applications, so the cost can be controlled," she said. "The first step is always hard, but after that is a healthy track."

Wang said the supreme court signed an agreement with the Internet Society of China on Internet IP protection early in 2011 to deal with problems related to the Internet industry. The agreement will expire in nine months and will be followed by another five-year one.

Wang also said that there are increasingly complicated problems posing new challenges to IP protection.

Many of these issues were discussed at the conference, including broadcasting rights for sports events on the Internet.

The legal rights of sports events are not well-defined in the existing legal system, while the rapid development of the Internet aggravates the problem of piracy.

China's first alliance for IP protection of online sports programs was established at the conference. Initiated by Letv, Tencent and Sina, three prominent domestic Internet companies, the alliance aims to promote copyrighted programs. Joint efforts will be made to fight against piracy and settle disputes between each other.

Patents on business models also drew attention at the conference.

Qihoo 360 unveiled a report on IP protection of "Internet Plus", a new business model combining the Internet with traditional industries.

The report was created by experts from the company, China Intellectual Property Society, Tsinghua University and a number of patent agencies.

It suggested that new business models could be be considered as a type of patent and protected under patent laws, and customer experience and commercial success could be included in the criteria of creativity. It also called for shortened patent examination periods.

zhuanti@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 07/29/2015 page17)