China to boost IPR protection

The Chinese government on Wednesday vowed to boost intellectual property rights (IPR) protection in upgrading the country's economy.

IPR protection is key for a country's development and competition and China will work to forge a better legal, market and cultural environment for IPR protection, said a statement issued after an executive meeting of the State Council presided over by Premier Li Keqiang.

More efforts will be made to boost IPR protection and encourage innovation, and authorities should crack down on IPR violations, it said.

Practice and innovation in patents, copyright and trademarks should be encouraged. The IPR application and maintenance costs for medium and small enterprises should be lowered, it said.

A mechanism should be set up to evaluate IPR in the country's science and technology planning and to guard against IPR risks in key industrial planning and investment activities, it said.

More financial policies should be made to help turn science and technology into production, it said.

Meanwhile, the government also vowed to streamline administration and cut certain government approvals, which usually precede business license procedures.

A better IPR mechanism can help encourage innovation across society, said Liu Haibo, a researcher with the Institute of Policy and Management under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

China has seen rising patent applications, but its overall IPR quality is not strong enough and lacks competitive edge, said Shen Changyu, head of the State Intellectual Property Office.

China had the most invention patent applications in the world at the end of 2013 for the third year running, and its trademark applications also ranked the first globally at the end of 2013 for the 12th year in a row.

However, among China's high and new technology exports in 2013, 73 percent were produced by foreign-funded enterprises and 65.3 percent were processing trade.