China lauded for safeguarding intellectual property

Intellectual property officials and major multinational companies, on Monday, praised China's efforts to strengthen its IP protection system, saying the improvements will support sustainable innovation, particularly in key technologies, as the country pledged to further enhance its IP ecosystem.

The remarks were made at the main event of China's National IP Publicity Week in Beijing, which focused on strengthening IP protection in emerging sectors and accelerating the development of new quality productive forces.

In a written speech, Wang Binying, deputy director general of the World Intellectual Property Organization, said frontier technologies such as artificial intelligence, cloud computing, biotechnology and nanotechnology are becoming core drivers of global innovation growth.

She said China remains a key force leading this round of technological transformation, noting that the global innovation landscape is increasingly shifting toward the Asia-Pacific region and China.

"China's strengths in systematic innovation across multiple key technologies, especially its active efforts to build an IP ecosystem, are becoming a key engine driving the country's high-quality development and fostering new quality productive forces," Wang said.

According to Wang, China now has 5.32 million valid domestic invention patents, making it the first country in the world to surpass 5 million in that category.

She added that China accounts for more than 60 percent of the world's AI patents, while patents related to robotics make up about two-thirds of the global total.

Wang also highlighted China's constructive role in promoting multilateralism and global IP governance, injecting stability and momentum into the multilateral system.

Shen Changyu, head of the China National Intellectual Property Administration, said emerging sectors represented by AI, big data, quantum technology and biomedicine have become the front line of global competition.

"We must actively adapt to the needs of emerging sectors and improve the IP protection system in a timely and responsive way to create a better environment for innovation," he said.

He said one of the major tasks for the country's top IP regulator this year is to quickly formulate a work plan to improve IP protection rules in emerging sectors.

In addition, he said, the authority will accelerate revisions to regulations on the protection of integrated circuit layout designs to meet the needs of ultra-large-scale integrated circuit development and support the growth of China's chip industry.

Qian Kun, senior vice-president of the United States' chipmaker Qualcomm, said technology-driven companies need a sound patent protection system to support the commercialization of their innovations.

He said measures taken by the government are helping promote innovation and industrial development in emerging technology fields, noting that the move was included in the government work report.

Brian Fogarty, vice-president of global IP and litigation at Nike Inc, said the company's commitment to China and sustained innovation "would not be possible without a sound and robust legal environment".

"Over the past years, in a bid to create a stable and predictable business environment for foreign enterprises, the Chinese government has been making relentless efforts to improve its legal system, build smooth communication channels and listen to business needs," he said.

"We are pleased to see the ongoing revisions of the trademark law, which aim to crack down on bad-faith filings and increase the cost of violations, further strengthening the IP ecosystem," he said.