Sino-U.S. intellectual property judicial adjudication symposium kicked off in Beijing

2012/05/31

The Sino-U.S. intellectual property judicial adjudication symposium was opened at Renmin University of China on May 28.

Gary Faye Locke, United States Ambassador to China, said in his speech delivered at the opening ceremony that even though divergent views regarding intellectual property protection do exist between China and the United States, both countries are willing to see an efficient enforcement system of the intellectual property protection, have the common understanding of the important role an equitable system will play and strive to stimulate innovations by enforcing laws.

Tian Lipu, Commissioner of the 
State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO), noted that the United States is the strongest nation worldwide in intellectual property creation and utilization while China has made substantial progress in implementing intellectual property strategies. In 2011, the SIPO and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) dealt with half of the world’s invention patent applications and examination workloads, fully demonstrating the importance of the cooperation between the two sides. 

Shen Yongde, Standing Vice President of the Supreme People's Court, said that China has long been putting a premium on intellectual property protection. About 30 years ago, China promulgated the first national intellectual property law, the Trademark Law of the People's Republic of China, which was later followed by a series of major laws including the Patent Law, the Copyright Law, the Anti-Unfair Competition Law, as well as a number of rules and regulations such as the Detailed Rules for the Implementation of the Patent Law, the Regulation for the Implementation of the Trademark Law and the Regulation on the Protection of the Right to Network Dissemination of Information, which together constitute China's sound legal system of intellectual property protection. In terms of law enforcement, based on the current scenario, China has established both judicial and administrative protection systems, which are going well in parallel. 

Since 2000, the Supreme People's Court has formulated about 20 judicial interpretations and launched nearly 20 judicial documents, playing a significant role in further improving IP judicial protection system, according to Shen.

Chen Jiping, Party Secretary and Standing Vice President of China Law Society, addressed that intellectual property issues have been considering as one of the most important topics in Sino-U.S. economic and trade relationship. The United States, the biggest developed country in the world, and China, the biggest developing country worldwide, have far-reaching common interests in promoting innovation and protecting intellectual property rights. It is of important practical significance to strengthen the exchanges and cooperation in IP-related laws, promote the increased awareness and understanding in IP issues and explore ways to resolve differences in this area between the two sides, which could help step up the healthy and smooth development of economic and technological cooperation relationship between the two sides and could help establish a new type of relationship of mutual respect and win-win cooperation between the two IP powerhouses. [Chinese version is available on chinanews.com]

(Source: IPR in China)