During the meeting, Shen Changyu reviewed the history of SIPO-UKIPO cooperation. Since the signing of memorandum of understanding (MoU) on cooperation in 1996, SIPO and UKIPO have conducted a wide range of effective cooperation in such areas as high-level visits, joint symposiums and exchanges between patent examiners. In December 2013, in front of the state leaders of the two countries, SIPO and UKIPO signed an agreement on the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) pilot program. This year, SIPO and UKIPO will conduct cooperation on exchanges between patent examiners, UK-China IP Symposium, and meeting between heads of the two Offices, etc. Mr. Shen said that China had been attaching great importance to intellectual property in recent years. In particular, the Third Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the CPC made it clear that the utilization and the protection of intellectual property would be strengthened, pointing the way for the work ahead. “We are ready to further consolidate cooperation with UKIPO to push forward the development of intellectual property in China and the UK.  Meanwhile, we also hope to work together with the UK to jointly promote the improvement of the international intellectual property system.” Mr. Shen said.

Sebastian Wood fully recognized the achievements of cooperation on intellectual property between SIPO and UKIPO in recent years. He said that British Prime Minister David Cameron led a delegation to visit China at the end of 2013, during which China and UK leaders witnessed the signing of a series of documents. And the visit was highly praised in Britain. China and the UK have become indispensable cooperative partners in trade and economic fields. Currently, China is committed to building an innovation-oriented country, with intellectual property as the key content of the mutual cooperation. He hoped that SIPO and UKIPO would further strengthen their cooperation, and jointly drive the development of the intellectual property in China, the UK and the world.

By the end of 2013, Britain has filed a total number of 24,565 applications for patents of invention, and been granted 10,243 patents in China, in which the patent application quantity in 2013 was 1,849, and 1,047 patents were granted. Both the application quantity and the number of patent grants ranked the 8th place among the foreign applications and patent grants in China.