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SIPO head: Improve IP to compete

By Wang Xin
Updated: 2010-02-10 00:00

Chinese companies need to improve their capacity in creation, application, protection and management of intellectual property to sharpen their core competitiveness, Tian Lipu, director of the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO), said at an annual conference held recently in Beijing.

“To shift away from energy intensive, heavily polluting and high-risk development is not only our international responsibility in the face of climate change, but also the requirements for China’s own development,” Tian noted.

Growth of emerging industries and modernization of traditional sectors both need intellectual property support in core technologies, he added.

“Without proprietary intellectual property, the Chinese economy can only stay at the low-end of industrial chain.”

“Capacity in innovation as well as proper use of intellectual property is key to a country’s comprehensive competitiveness,” he noted.

Tian cited President Hu Jintao saying that intellectual property is the key to modern corporate competition.

Companies short of proprietary technology and brands have become the most vulnerable group amid the worldwide economic turmoil in the past 18 months.

With increasing intellectual property awareness, more companies have begun to highly value protection of their proprietary technologies.

Statistics show that companies and corporations contributed nearly 45 percent of the country’s total 976,686 domestic patent applications in 2009, up 3.7 percentage points over the previous year.

Yet self-developed intellectual property used in key industries is comparatively low and industrialization of patented technologies is still weak as research results stack up in labs, Tian noted.

SIPO plans to enhance  financing and intermediary systems to promote application and industrialization of intellectual property, the director said.

To help small and mid-sized businesses ease financing pressure, more banks have begun to accept intellectual property as collateral for loans. Tian cited Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai and Guangzhou financial markets as successful examples.

At the same time, a nationwide network of legal services is expanding access to more applicants and rights holders, assisting them with intellectual property disputes and infringements.

“Through combining the application of intellectual property and the development of emerging strategic industries, we hope to promote the sectors by providing strong support and guarantees for intellectual property,” Tian said.

According to a draft policy still under discussion, companies will be encouraged to secure intellectual property through purchase, restructuring, franchising, compensation trade and patent pools.

The central government established a special fund to aid international Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) filings in 2009 and has spent some 53 million yuan funding 1,146 applications.

With a 30 percent growth in PCT applications last year, the highest of any major country, China is increasing its influence in shaping the global business landscape.

At the same time, foreign multinationals are gearing up patent application, standardization and brand building-up, through capitalizing on their technological expertise and marketing prowess, Tian said.

In spite of an overall decline in foreign applications in China last year, emerging industries like information technology still registered  double-digit growth in patent filings by foreign companies.