China will step up protection of intellectual property to
promote innovation as it is the key to improving competitiveness, a
senior official promised yesterday.
In the 11th Five-Year Guidelines (2006-10), "we will
continue to help enterprises to develop and implement innovative
technologies," Tian Lipu, commissioner of the State Intellectual
Property Office, said during an online interview.
Tian said his office received 476,264 domestic and foreign
patent applications last year, up 34.6 per cent from 2004. Most of
the domestic applicants were enterprises, especially private
businesses.
The country's intellectual property legal regime, a law
enforcement framework and an effective protection mechanism reflect
the government's unremitting efforts in IPR protection, Tian
said.
However, he admitted Chinese businesses do not have enough core
IPR technology.
Significant progress has been achieved in attracting overseas
investment in the past decades contributing greatly to China's
economic development, he said.
He, however, added that "this kind of development is based on
cheap labour, consumption of resources and pollution of the
environment; and will not last long."
"Therefore, sustainable development is the only choice for the
country to shift from 'Made in China' to 'Invented in China,' so as
to get rid of the tag, 'the world's factory'," Tian said.
(China Daily February 16, 2006)