Intellectual Property Rights Protection, China
The modern Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) law system was born out of China’s need to develop its market economy in the early 1980s. Within the past three decades China has built up a relatively comprehensive and advanced Intellectual Property Laws and enforcement procedures.
General Legal Frame
To date, China has introduced and enacted legislation in the following areas:
1. Trade Marks: PRC Trademark Law (implemented as of 1 March 1983, last amendment in 2001);
2. Patents: PRC Patent Law (implemented as of 1 April 1985, last amendment in 2008);
3. Copyright: PRC copyright Law (implemented as of 1 June 1991, last amendment in 2010)
4. Software: Regulations on the Protection of Computer Software (implemented as of 1991);
5. Unfair Competition: Anti-unfair Competition Law (implemented as of 1993);
6. Customs: Intellectual Property Customs Protection Regulations (implemented as of 1995);
7. Integrated Circuits: Regulations on Protection of Integrated Circuit Layout Design (implemented as of 1995);
8. Plant Varieties: Regulations of Protection of New Plant Varieties (implemented as of 1997); and
9. IP Offences: Introducing Crimes of Infringing upon Intellectual Property Rights into PRC Criminal Law (implemented as of 1997).
Enforcement
The Judiciary in China increasingly plays a leading role in the enforcement of IPRs. In 2010, the number of new civil IPR cases filed at first instance reached 42,931. This was an increase of 40% on the previous year. Concluded civil IPR cases in 2010 reached 41,718. The total damages claimed in those cases exceeded USD 1.3 billion. With respect to criminal IPR cases, the number of new first instance cases in 2010 was 3,992 and the number of such cases concluded in the same period was 3,942.
Registration of IPRs
The State Intellectual Property Office (‘SIPO’) takes charge of all the patent application acceptance and examination matters. In 2010, 1.2 million new patent applications were filed with SIPO, which was an increase of 27.9% in comparison with the previous year. Among those patents filed, there were 293,000 locally filed patent applications and 12,337 PCT applications.
The Trade Marks Office, accepted 1.07 million trademark registration applications in 2010 and concluded 1.5 million applications. The examination period for trademark registration has been cut back from 36 months to only one year in 2010. In recent years China has ranked first in the world for trade mark application levels, and for trade mark registrations.
There is also a procedure available in China for the registration of copyright (similar to the American procedure). In 2010, the number of registered copyrights reached 370,000. Furthermore, there was 81,966 software copyright registrations last year (an increase of 15.5% in comparison with the previous year).
China has experienced rapid development in the past two or three years and this can be expected to continue. It is my belief that along with China's development and improvement of its IPR law system, a more healthy and friendly legal environment is (and continues to) evolve to safeguard a rapid and smooth economic development.
