Beijing announced on Monday its intellectual property protection
plan for the next four years.
According to the plan, the city will aim for an average of 18
patent applications, 12 of which will be invention related, for
every 10,000 residents in Beijing by 2010. It also hopes to have
150,000 registered trademarks, including 500 renowned trademarks by
2010.
The city will train more managerial-level intellectual property
protection professionals who are proficient in international
intellectual property-related laws and regulations. Three hundred
enterprises will be awarded "model enterprise" status for their
efforts in protecting intellectual property.
"It is the first time the city has incorporated intellectual
property protection in the city's overall economic and social
development plans," said Liu Dongwei, vice director of the Beijing
Municipal Intellectual Property Protection Bureau.
The intellectual property protection plan also covers the
protection of the city's traditional literature and arts, as well
as other hereditary resources.
Beijing saw 83,978 patent applications and 39,948 patent
authorizations during the 2001 to 2005 period. Currently the number
of the city's effective registered trademarks is above 100,000,
ranking fourth of all the country's cities.
Beijing took the lead in copyright protection with 16,184
copyright registrations on literature and arts works, 23,961 on
software and 34,152 on imported books, accounting for 46.3 percent,
37.1 percent and 66.2 percent respectively of the country's
totals.
The local government has promised to inject more funds into IPR
protection to ensure the targets are reached.
Domestic enterprises which have their own intellectual property
will be eligible for more financial support. They will also be
subject to examinations when merging and conducting technology
trade with overseas enterprises to avoid losing the domestic
intellectual property overseas.
(Xinhua News Agency January 16, 2007)