Shanghai aims to continue to mark itself as intellectual property city

Shanghai will continue to deepen the implementation of its outline for building a strong intellectual property city and focus on putting the municipality at the international forefront of IP protection, providing powerful IP support for various enterprises, including foreign-funded ones, to invest and develop, said a senior official of the Shanghai Intellectual Property Administration on Thursday.

Focuses of IP protection in the city for the upcoming year will include improving IP governance capacity and continuously optimizing the city's IP protection system, said Yu Chen, deputy director of the administration, when briefing the city's IP development for the past year to consular officers from more than 20 countries in Shanghai.

"Focuses will also include strengthening IP public service and enhancing IP cooperation to support development of various businesses and the sustained release of the city's innovation vitality," said Yu during the event, which was also attended by representatives from foreign chambers of commerce, foreign investment associations, foreign-funded enterprises and universities.

The event was jointly hosted by the Shanghai Intellectual Property Administration and the Foreign Affairs Office of the Shanghai Municipal People's Government.

Figures from the administration showed that last year, valid invention patents in Shanghai stood at 241,400, up by nearly 20 percent year on year. PCT international patent filings reached 6,185, up by over 10 percent year on year. There were 50.2 high-value invention patents per 10,000 people in the city last year.

To deepen international cooperation, the city has, in the past year, organized the 20th Shanghai International Intellectual Property Forum, as well as signed an MoU to enhance exchanges and collaborations in the field of IP with the World Intellectual Property Organization, said Yu.

Also last year, led by China National Intellectual Property Administration, the delegation of Shanghai municipality attended the 64th General Assembly of WIPO. It was the first time that the city joined such an event of the organization, he said.

To further improve IP protection institution, a series of normative policy documents were issued by the Shanghai authorities last year, focusing on areas of pharmaceutical procurement, IP work of small- and medium-sized enterprises, use of geographical indications, and IP appraisal work, said Yu.