The Chinese government has shown strong determination to enforce
the protection of intellectual property rights (IPRs) in the next
few years, as IPR protection has been repeatedly underscored by top
leaders this year.
The Communist Party of China has included innovation into its
11th Five-Year Plan (2006-2010) at a meeting held in October. The
term was stressed again at the central economy work meeting earlier
this Month.
"The IPR protection is key to innovation, and therefore crucial
to building China into a nation of innovation." Tian Lipu, director
of the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPC), said
recently.
China's top leaders have stressed IPR protection many times this
year. President Hu Jintao said China would strengthen IPR
protection to contribute to the global trade growth. He said
afterwards while meeting U.S. President George W. Bush that the
Chinese government would willingly beef up muscle in fighting
against IPR infringement.
The problem of lacking IPRs became more and more serious as
China's economy grew stronger in recent years. Statistics with the
SIPC show that only 2,000-plus Chinese enterprises, or every three
out of 10,000 enterprises, have proprietary IPRs.
As bad IPR protection has caused troubles among domestic and
overseas enterprises, foreign ventures in China feel threatened in
the field.
John Du, director of Intel China Research Center, said IPR
protection was the soil for a company's innovation and IPR
protection was "very important" to Intel's development in
China.
Bad situation of IPR protection has, in the meantime, become an
obstacle to innovation for Chinese companies.
IPR protection must precede innovation, said Ren Zhengfei,
president of Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. which is well-known for
research and development in China.
The real victims of bad IPR protection will be Chinese companies
with innovation potentials, instead of their western counterparts,
said Ren.
Western enterprises will be free from infringement as their core
intellectual property rights are securely protected in their home
country, he explained.
The Chinese State Council has started to draft a national
strategy on intellectual property rights. The Ministry of Commerce
pledged to launch a campaign against infringements of trademarks
and patents as well as to establish a channel for immediate report
of IPR infringements.
China has to face checks on IPR protection by the World Trade
Organization for eight years since its entry into the
organization.
But China's strategy-making on IPR is not only due to pressure
from the outside, said analysts. That is a must in China's
transforming from high energy consumption and serious pollution to
intensive growth with technology at the core.
(Xinhua News Agency December 27, 2005)