SIPO is conducting a survey to coincide with the 10^th anniversary of the Outline of the National Intellectual Property Strategy” , which was issued in June 2008.   The online survey is available here.

When the first National IP Strategy was being drafted, I had the pleasure of discussing concerns with the former Director General of the Law and Treaties Division of SIPO, Yin Xintian (尹新天), attending two meetings/hearings on the NIPS, including one involving outside experts (February 28, 2006) and another involving diplomats, and attending a meeting with then Secretary Carlos Gutierrez and SIPO Commisioner Tian Lipu to discuss the implementation of the NIPS (see picture above, March 29, 2006).

The NIPS introduced many important IP-related reforms in China, some of which are still under development.  I  advocated for the creation of a specialized appellate IP Court at the “experts hearing,” where I recall I was the only foreigner.  I noted at that time that there was a “need to concentrate expertise in more complicated patent cases to insure they are more efficiently and effectively handled.“  Regarding substantive IP matters, I noted that “In the patent area … a robust patent linkage system also could help improve enforcement for pharmaceutical patents by providing advance notice to prospective generic manufacturers through denial of regulatory approval until relevant patents have expired, been invalidated or otherwise have been determined to not be infringed.”  The prospects for both a specialized IP court and patent linkage have indeed improved significantly in recent years.

With SIPO’s expanded role of examining trademarks and geographical indications in the government restructuring, as well as it being co-housed with antimonopoly/unfair competition (trade secret)  and food and drug agencies, the NIPS may be even more important in both articulating policies and implementing them.

Here are some prior postings on the NIPS: “Outline of the National Intellectual Property Strategy” ; “National IP Strategy Action Plan” and  “Action Plan for Further Implementation of the National IP Strategy (2014-2020)” .  Another document that might be helpful is the “State Council Decision on Intellectual Property Strategy for China as a Strong IP Country (in Chinese).”  This website of the National IP Strategy Office is http://www.nipso.gov.cn.

This survey request is being posted on behalf of  Intellectual Property Publishing House.  Commentary is by Mark A. Cohen.

Picture Source:

 http://www.sipo.gov.cn/gk/ndbg/2006/201310/t20131025_859773.html