The deputy minister of the Ministry of Commerce, Wang Shouwen, announced on a customary briefing held by the State Council Information Office on the 25th that the Ministry of Commerce had already drafted an intellectual property protection document targeting foreign investment enterprises with other member institutions of the Office of Cracking Down Counterfeit. The document is expected to be published soon.
Recently, the State Council published the Notice on the Several Measures for Promoting Growth in Foreign Investment, which would be referred as No.39 Document hereinafter. The Document proposed 22 specific measures in 5 aspects, which includes refining the protection of foreign businesses’ intellectual properties.
Wang Shouwen said that, as the leader group office of the State Council’s nationwide crackdown on IPR infringements and the production and sale of counterfeit and shoddy commodities, the Ministry of Commerce had drafted an intellectual property protection document targeting foreign investment enterprises with other group member institutions. It focused on intensifying the crackdown on preemptive registration of trademarks, online copyright infringement and piracy, and theft of trade secrets.
Wang stated that, the introduction of No. 39 Document would further reinforce the regulations of administrative reinforcement, severely crack down criminal offences, and increase the magnitude of legal protection, in order to provide better guarantee for the innovative development and fair completion of Chinese and foreign investment enterprises.
Our government has always paid great attention to the protection of IPR and has obtained significant achievements. In 2001, China’s total IPR use fee paid externally was $1.94 billion, and this expense reached $24 billion last year, with a yearly growth of 18%. In the first half of this year, this expense reached $143 billion, which increased by 23% compared to last year. “Our country’s protection of IPR has brought enormous benefits for intellectual property right owners within China and from abroad”, said Wang Shouwen.
