China and the European Union (EU) discussed their cooperation in intellectual property rights (IPR) protection at a jointly-organized symposium in Beijing Thursday.

The two-day symposium, "Partnership in Protection of Intellectual Property: China and Europe, Past, Present and Future," is actually a summary of the EU-China IPR Cooperation Program, which has been in place for five years and cost 45 million euros.

At the opening ceremony of the symposium, Wang Jingchuan, commissioner of the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO), said the program, which is planned to end in 2004, is a fine example of IPR cooperation between China and the rest of the world.

The program helped China to better its IPR legal system and trained many Chinese experts in the field, Wang noted.

"The program is all about cooperating, in a spirit of partnership, for the economic benefit of the citizens of China and Europe," said Ingo Kober, president of the European Patent Office (EPO), which supervises the program from the EU.

"It has also triggered an institutional dialogue which itself plays a valuable supporting role by giving further economic impetus to both regions," Kober said, citing that the next step for the EPO will be closer partnership between the EU and China.

More than 200 Chinese and European participants are scheduled to discuss China's entry into the World Trade Organization and its impact on IPR protection, patent mechanism, copyright protection, brand name protection, IPR legal enforcement, genetic resources protection, knowledge heritage and folklore culture and art protection.

(Xinhua News Agency October 23, 2003)