By Gu Yekai, People’s Daily
Intellectual property rights are the rights given to intellectual creations in social practice, and are an important source of social wealth. As a top filer of invention patents for 9 years in a row, China is witnessing a spike of valuable core patents. Copyrights, brands, and patents are enjoying increasing protection in the country.
The achievements made by China in intellectual property protection mirror the country’s transition from a major importer to a major creator of intellectual property.
In recent years, China has comprehensively lifted its overall protection capabilities for intellectual property. It not only advanced the amendment of its patent law, trademark law, and copyright law, but also reestablished China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA), explored to set up intellectual property courts, and started operating intellectual property protection centers.
Protecting intellectual property rights is equal to protecting innovation. This value is gaining more and more recognition from the public as a series of measures have been implemented to promote innovation. Last year, China’s social satisfaction for intellectual property protection was 15.29 points higher than that in 2012, which indicated a wide public recognition for the country’s achievements in this area.
According to the 2020 edition of the Global Innovation Index released by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), China is ranked 14th among 131 economies worldwide, becoming the only middle-income economy that has made it into the top 30.
As a fundamental method to encourage innovation, a basic guarantee for the source of innovation, and a core element for global competitiveness, intellectual property protection is playing an increasingly important role.
Gaining rich resources of intellectual property rights over years of development, China is now a genuine major holder of patents. It has been the top filer of invention patents and trademarks for years in a row, and holds massive core patents in high-speed rail, nuclear power, and 5G.
As of the end of October this year, China had nearly 2.97 million invention patents in force, and the invention patent ownership per 10,000 of population stood at 15.2.
China is now chasing quality of patents rather than just the quantity. It is noteworthy that for the time being, the country still lacks high-quality core patents, and needs to reach further in certain industries. To translate intellectual property rights into productive forces and make them drive the country’s development is an urgent problem that needs to be addressed by China, to achieve which enhanced protection over intellectual property is no doubt an important link.
Currently, China is accelerating the making of a strategic guideline on building a strong country through intellectual property in the next 15 years, as well as a five-year plan to further enhance intellectual property protection, so as to “set a price” for knowledge and empower innovation, and offer firm support for implementing a new vision of development, building a new development paradigm, and promoting high-quality development.
