Shanghai makes solid progress in IP cause, says white paper

Shanghai has made significant progress in the development of intellectual property in 2018, receiving a total of 150,233 patent applications, up 14.03 percent year-on-year, according to a white paper released on Tuesday.

The White Paper on the Intellectual Property Development in Shanghai in 2018 also found that courts of all levels in the city accepted a total of 22,984 IP-related cases last year, a jump of 49.28 percent from 2017. There were also 22,384 cases that achieved settlement, up 46.11 percent.

In 2018, Shanghai police arrested 556 people suspected of IP infringement, placed 341 cases on file and solved 190 cases involving products worth more than 200 million yuan ($29 million).

During the inaugural China International Import Expo held in November 2018, the authority launched a 100-day IP-protection campaign and subsequently managed to achieve its goal of zero complaints in IP infringement, said Rui Wenbiao, director of Shanghai Intellectual Property Office.

He added that Shanghai has always attached equal importance to IP protection for companies or individuals from both home and abroad.

"The international cooperation carried out in recent years between Shanghai and the World Intellectual Property Organization in IP utilization and transfer, talent training, arbitration and mediation has achieved notable results," he said.

Tang Xiaofan contributed to this story.