Patents: Strides made in IP areas

practice in international trade,” Shen said.

It is conducive to creating an environment friendly to innovation and business and promoting a country’s development and opening-up, he added. “We have made remarkable achievements in various IP areas over the past five years.”

These achievements included strong new policies and legislation and initiatives in protection, management, international cooperation and infrastructure, which “had won acclaim in China and abroad”.

A major part of these efforts was about increasing protection.

Punitive damages of up to three times a complainant’s losses were introduced to the draft of revised Patent Law, as a beefed-up check to counterfeits and piracy. The revision is pending a green light from the State Council, China’s Cabinet, according to Shen.

Legislators are also looking at the feasibility of integrating IP into a civil code planned for full enactment in 2020.

Currently, there are 31 IP protection centers across the country.