The Chinese government has shown strong determination to enforce the protection of intellectual property rights (IPRs) in the next few years, as IPR protection has been repeatedly underscored by top leaders this year.

The Communist Party of China has included innovation into its 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-2010) at a meeting held in October. The term was stressed again at the central economy work meeting earlier this Month.

"The IPR protection is key to innovation, and therefore crucial to building China into a nation of innovation." Tian Lipu, director of the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPC), said recently.

China's top leaders have stressed IPR protection many times this year. President Hu Jintao said China would strengthen IPR protection to contribute to the global trade growth. He said afterwards while meeting US President George W. Bush that the Chinese government would willingly beef up muscle in fighting against IPR infringement.

The problem of lacking IPRs became more and more serious as China's economy grew stronger in recent years. Statistics with the SIPC show that only 2,000-plus Chinese enterprises, or every three out of 10,000 enterprises, have proprietary IPRs.

As bad IPR protection has caused troubles among domestic and overseas enterprises, foreign ventures in China feel threatened in the field.

John Du, director of Intel China Research Center, said IPR protection was the soil for a company's innovation and IPR protection was "very important" to Intel's development in China.

Bad situation of IPR protection has, in the meantime, become an obstacle to innovation for Chinese companies.

IPR protection must precede innovation, said Ren Zhengfei, president of Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. which is well-known for research and development in China.

The real victims of bad IPR protection will be Chinese companies with innovation potentials, instead of their western counterparts, said Ren.

Western enterprises will be free from infringement as their core intellectual property rights are securely protected in their home country, he explained.

The Chinese State Council has started to draft a national strategy on intellectual property rights. The Ministry of Commerce pledged to launch a campaign against infringements of trademarks and patents as well as to establish a channel for immediate report of IPR infringements.

China has to face checks on IPR protection by the World Trade Organization for eight years since its entry into the organization.

But China's strategy-making on IPR is not only due to pressure from the outside, said analysts. That is a must in China's transforming from high energy consumption and serious pollution to intensive growth with technology at the core.

(Xinhua News Agency December 27, 2005)