The rush establishment and rapid development of the Chinese Intellectual Property System is strongly related to the four periods of IP “hot waves” in China. Initially, during the negotiations of the Sino-US Trade Agreement and the Sino- US High Energy Physics Agreement, IP became an objectionable issue and negotiations reached an impasse.
By Lu Chen
The rush
establishment and rapid development of the Chinese Intellectual Property (IP) System is strongly
related to the four periods of IP “hot waves” in China. Initially, during the negotiations of the Sino-US Trade Agreement and the
Sino- US High Energy Physics Agreement, IP became an objectionable issue and
negotiations reached an impasse.
Image Attribute: An Electronics Manufacturing Factory at Shenzhen, China
Source: Wikimedia Commons
The US negotiators believed that IPP should be
an integral part of bilateral agreements in science, technology and trade, as
negotiators would be only allowed to sign an agreement on the condition of
adequate IPP required by the US president.
Table Attribute: The effective time of each IP treaty ratified by China.
The process of
development of IPP in China is quite tortuous. What follow in this part are the
four period of IP wave and the revolution of the IPP in China from 1973-2014.
The First
“IP Fever” (1979)
The Chinese
government had little knowledge and experience about the IP clauses in the
early days; therefore, they were very laith to sign the agreements with US.
This period has been described as the first “IP fever” because it was the start
point of China to conduct very intensive research in this special area. The current authors name this as the first “hot wave” on IP in China―the
formation wave.
1973, Premier
Minister Zhou’s visit to WIPO
In 1973, the
approval of Premier Zhou Enlai and the China Council For The Promotion Of
International Trade (CCPIT)’s Director of Legal Affairs visited WIPO. It was
the first time that the Chinese government allowed an officer to visit an
international intellectual property institution since the foundation of the
state.
1974, the first
formal activity of IPR
The first formal
activity of international intellectual property of China occurred in 1974 when
the governments of China and Australia signed an exchange of notes regard the
registration of trademark between both nations.
1979 Agreement
Intellectual
property rights (IPRs) have been acknowledged and protected in the People’s
Republic of China since 1979. The Agreement on Trade Relations Between the
United States of America and the People’s Republic of China of 1979 (“1979
Agreement”) was the starts of intellectual property protection by Western.
1980, access of
WIPO
China joined
WIPO as its 90rd member in 1980. Only one year after the acceding to WIPO, in
1981, the Director of WIPO Dr. Arpad Bogsch visited China, convened the first
patent agents course personally at the CCPIT Headquarters in Beijing.
1984, the first
patent law
In March 1984,
China’s National People’s Congress promulgated the first Chinese patent law,
which is an epoch-making event which opened a new chapter of the protection of
intellectual property rights.
Table Attribute: IP in China by numbers, 2012
1985, SIPO’s
foundation
The State Intellectual
Property Office of the People’s Republic of China (SIPO), also known as the
Chinese Patent Office, is the patent office of the People’s Republic of China
(PRC). It was founded on 1980, as the Patent Office of the People’s Republic of
China, the predecessor of SIPO. It is responsible “for patent work
and comprehensively coordination of the foreign related affairs in the field of
intellectual property”.
1989, joined the
Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks
China joined the
Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks in 19894 the
Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks, which
dates from 1891, and the Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement, which was
adopted in 1989, entered into force on December 1, 1995, and came into
operation on April 1, 1996. Common Regulations under the Agreement and Protocol
also came into force on that date.
The Second
Hot Wave (1991-1994)
1992, Signed MOU
with US
Urged by American
business executives, the USTR placed China on the “Priority Watch List” in
1989. By doing so, the United States gained leverage in negotiations with China
while it did not need to initiate a Section 301 investigation.
In response to
the Priority Watch List designation, China passed a new copyright law and
issued new implementing regulations in 1990. A separate set of computer
software regulations followed in 1991.
Hours before the
deadline for imposing sanctions, both countries averted a potential trade war
by signing the Memorandum of Understanding Between China and the United States
on the Protection of Intellectual Property (“1992 MOU”).
The Third
Hot Wave―The Improvement Wave
The third hot
wave of IP occurred in 1995 when China became the signatory countries to the
TRIPS agreement―“the improvement wave”. The third wave reflected a very
different picture of IP in China. In the first two waves, China was mainly
influenced by the US under its one-sided threats and the treaties and
conventions of WIPO. Nevertheless, in the third wave, one-sided threats have
been confined under the WTO agreement. TRIPS became the most important
measurement on international trade and IP.
1995, agreement
between China and United States
The 1995
National Trade Estimate Report estimated that U.S. industries suffered almost
$850 million in losses due to copyright theft alone. On June 30 1994, the USTR
again designated China a Priority Foreign Country and immediately initiated a
Special 301 investigation. According to the Xinhua News Agency, China’s
international news service, China needed to take such retaliatory measures “to
protect its sovereignty and national dignity.” Ending up with
the signing of “1995 Agreement”.
2.4. The Forth
Hot Wave―The Enforcement Wave
The fourth
wave―the enforcement wave, appeared in 2001 when China access into the WTO
after 15 years of consultations. The principal character of this period has
been the enhancement of legal enforcement.
2001, access of
WTO, TRIPs
In order to gain
the access to WTO, China enhanced the protection of IPRs by designing a number
of strategies in 1996 APEC Individual Action Plan, including improve the
enforcement of administration, enhance the public awareness of IPRs protection
and strengthen judicial tools.
Finally, China
has gained the entry into the WTO in 2001, complying with the minimum standards
of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights
(TRIPs). The TRIPs requires a number of countries to strengthen their patent
and other intellectual property rights (IPR) systems. Even though policy makers
have committed to significant reforms, the implementation of this agreement
remains contentious.
Image Attribute: Protecting IP in China
2004, SIPO’s
progress
In 2004, China
has become the fourth largest patent office in number of patent filings in the
world, the top three countries are, by rank, Japan, the United States, and
South Korea.
2014, the
Beijing WIPO office
To improve
cooperation on protection of intellectual property rights (IPR), the WIPO
Director-General Francis Gurry came to Beijing in July for opening a WIPO
office, one of only four globally. Gurry spoke highly of China’s
support for WIPO, the high importance China attached to innovation and IPR
protection and the remarkable achievements it made.
2014, the new
strategy
The Promotion
Plan for the Implementation of the National Intellectual Property Strategy in
2014 was published on May 5th. This plan is promulgated to implement
the requirements of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China
(CPC) and the 3rd Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, carry out
the requirements of the national television and telephone conference on
implementing intellectual property strategy, promote the deep and efficient
implementation of the national intellectual property strategy, identify the
primary goals and measures for the implementation of the strategy in 2014.
Table Attribute: Countries filing the most patent applications, 2013 ,WIPO
Conclusion:
China’s drive to
modernization through improving intellectual property protection has been
pushed forward by constant efforts to improve formal intellectual property laws
and institutions for acquiring, maintaining, and enforcing intellectual
property rights. Chinese policymakers and government officials have worked
diligently for thirty years in a consistent, unwavering drive to create and
improve the country’s public intellectual property institutions. It’s for sure
that both the management and enforcement of IPP in China will make a progress
over time.
About The Author:
Lu Chen, School
of Management, Jinan University, Guangzhou, China
Publication
Details
IBusiness, Vol.07
No.01(2015), Article ID:54687,8 pages 10.4236/ib.2015.71008
The Evolution of Intellectual Property Protection in China.
© 2015 by author
and Scientific Research Publishing Inc.This work is licensed under the Creative
Commons Attribution International License (CC
BY).http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Cite This
Article:
This article is
an extract from a technical paper | LuChen， (2015) The
Evolution of Intellectual Property Protection in China。 iBusiness，07，65-73.
doi: 10.4236/ib.2015.71008 / Download The Paper - LINK
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