New portal provides direct link between research and rights

A patent service portal tailor-made to colleges and universities officially went online on Wednesday, after a trial period of about six months.

The service platform, featuring cloud-computing technologies, was developed by the China Patent Information Center, an affiliate of the State Intellectual Property Office.

It is designed to offer one-stop services ranging from the management of patents, IP service providers and inventers to inquiries, reminders and searches, said Zhang Dongliang, director of the center.

"After research initiated in March 2016 and covering 17 higher learning institutions in various cities including Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin, we found that 92 percent of respondents are concerned with patent management covering the entire process," Zhang said.

Their patent management needs involve the real-time tracking of filings' legal status throughout the entire process, from application until the patent is either granted or invalidated, he added.

Since the center originally launched the online patent management system trial last September, nearly 40 schools have signed up to use it.

As a major force of innovation in China, universities and colleges have long been a patent powerhouse, reporting an estimated 20 percent rise in average annual patent filings from 2011 to 2015, according to the Ministry of Education.

The online system can help universities and colleges to improve their patent management, facilitating an increase in innovation quality and efficiency, Zhang said.

The launch was part of an open house event at SIPO on the same day, which attracted nearly 400 IP service providers, innovative businesses' representatives and primary school students.

SIPO Commissioner Shen Changyu said during the event that China has yet to create more patents concerning core technologies, well-known brands and internationally influential copyrighted works, despite topping global rankings for patent and trademark filings for years.

He cited annual chip exports as an example, which were worth more than $200 billion and accounted for approximately 80 percent of China-made related products.

The shortage of high-quality IP requires increased efforts in IP creation, protection and use to promote the country's shift from being a frequent filer to a strong IP powerhouse, the commissioner said.

(China Daily 04/28/2017 page17)