China calls for international cooperation in IP protection

China on Thursday called for international cooperation in a proactive and constructive manner in creating a favorable global environment for intellectual property (IP) protection. The remark was made by Tian Lipu, Commissioner of China's State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) while attending the Britain-China IP Symposium, the first in its kind held between the two countries. The two side made frank, open, practical and professional exchanges at the meeting. Tian said in an interview with Xinhua that the symposium has provided a platform for the two countries to promote mutual understanding. He called for further cooperation between the two countries in intellectual property protection. Noting that some of the media coverage on China in this field was marred by distortion, Tian said that China, as a country with a short history of IP enforcement, has done a lot of work in the field. If the IP protection has been so inadequate in the country, "I could hardly imagine that any foreign companies would be willing to file their patent applications and make investment and technology transfer in China," said the official. In fact, the implementation of IP system has brought tangible profits to companies of different countries. They not only profit from royalty fees for patent, trademark and copyright, but also obtain enormous additional profits from branding and technology added value by producing in China and exporting back to their home countries. Tian admitted that China still has a long way to go in terms of IP protection. The IP system still needs to be further improved, as public awareness is still not satisfying and intellectual property infringement and abuse remains a serious issue in some regions and sectors as well as for some products. The Chinese government has never shunned the problems, and will continue the efforts in cooperating with other countries to provide quality and efficient services and protection to innovators and rights holders around the world. China has made unremitting efforts to solve the problems and has achieved much progress. In October 2010, it initiated a special rectification operation against intellectual property right infringement and counterfeiting, and achieved notable results. The country has announced the establishment of a long-term mechanism for IP protection. In the past decade, annual applications for invention patent filed by China and other 147 countries have grown 22 percent on average, five times the global average. From January to October this year, SIPO received 395,000 applications for invention patent, rising 33 percent year on year, and granted 140,000 invention patents, up 23.8 percent year on year. China received 1.07 million trademark applications in 2010, an annualized rise of 29.1 percent. The number of applications designating China for territorial extension and under the Madrid system was 30,889. At the same time, Chinese applicants filed 1,090 applications under the Madrid System, a rise of 46 percent year on year.