On March 30th, the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China issued the “China Intellectual Property Friendship Award”. Zhejiang Province won the prize for its outstanding performance in the transparency of intellectual property work, that is, the openness of policy making and case handling information, and the fairness of law enforcement and case handling.
It is understood that the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China is the spokesperson for EU enterprises in China, and currently has seven branches and more than 1,800 members in China. The selection of IPR-friendly provinces in China is an activity jointly organized by the European Chamber of Commerce in China at the end of 2015, entrusted by the EU Mission in China and the China-EU IPR cooperation project “IPKey”. It is also one of a series of activities at the initiative of the Ministry of Commerce of China and the European Commission on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the EU-China IP Dialogue.
The purpose of this selection activity is to encourage governments at all levels in China to create a better legal environment for intellectual property rights and provide strong support for EU enterprises in China to protect intellectual property rights.
The selection is based on the proposals of the member enterprises of the European Chamber of Commerce, and the real cases of judicial or administrative protection of intellectual property rights they encountered in their actual operations are presented to the jury. The jury selected the proposal according to the following five criteria, namely, the transparency, efficiency, cooperation mechanism, deterrence and fairness demonstrated by the judicial or administrative organs involved in the case.
The selection of the “Intellectual Property Friendship Award” strictly abides by the principle of fairness and justice. The expert review team is composed of officials of the European Union Mission and members of the Intellectual Property Working Group of the Chamber of Commerce. According to the above five evaluation criteria, all provinces (municipalities directly under the Central Government and autonomous regions) in China are selected, and finally the winner is the one with the highest score in each category.
The European Union Chamber of Commerce in China spoke highly of Zhejiang’s achievements in combating intellectual property infringement and protecting intellectual property rights in e-commerce. They believe that the award of the “Intellectual Property Friendly Award” to Zhejiang Province is not only an affirmation of the efforts made by the members of the European Chamber of Commerce in creating an intellectual property friendly environment in Zhejiang Province, but also a gratitude to the intellectual property department of Zhejiang Province for its work.
News link: Several leaps in the development of intellectual property rights in Zhejiang during the Twelfth Five-Year Plan period.
In recent years, the Zhejiang Provincial Party Committee and the provincial government attach great importance to intellectual property work, fully implement the national intellectual property strategy, put forward the strategy of building a strong intellectual property province, and regard intellectual property work as an important starting point to enhance the soft power of the regional economy. During the “Twelfth Five-Year Plan” period, Zhejiang’s comprehensive development index of intellectual property rights ranked fourth in the country, and the comprehensive strength of patent areas jumped from twelfth to fourth, leading the country.
In 2015, the total number of patent applications in the province reached 30..70,000 pieces, and the total number of patents granted is 23..50,000 pieces, and the number of invention patent applications was 6..80,000 pieces, invention patent authorization 2.330,000 pieces, with growth rates of 17..5%、24.7%、29.8% and 74.3%, respectively, at the end of the “Eleventh Five-Year Plan” 2..54 times, 2 times.05 times, 3.75 times and 4.08 times. The number of invention patents per 10,000 people reached 12..89, which is 3.5% at the end of the 11th Five-Year Plan..71 times, more than twice the national average. The total number of valid registered trademarks, the annual registration of copyright (copyright) and the total number of geographical indication certification trademarks rank among the top in the country. The efficiency of the use of intellectual property rights has improved rapidly, ranking second in the country.
During the “Twelfth Five-Year Plan” period, our province won 131 China patent awards, which was 3.5% during the “Eleventh Five-Year Plan” period..74 times. The total amount of patent pledge financing exceeds 6 billion yuan, and the amount of patent license reaches 2.5 billion yuan. In 2015, the Provincial People’s Congress promulgated the “Zhejiang Patent Regulations”, which led our province to deepen reform in the fields of patent achievement disposal right, income right system, patent administrative law enforcement right and patent protection in emerging areas of the network. In 2015, 64,417 complaints and disputes about patent infringement in the field of e-commerce were accepted online, and nearly 3.5% of online stores or product links were closed, blocked or disconnected..90,000 have strongly supported the development of the e-commerce industry.
(Source: Zhejiang Science and Technology Department Author: Office of Patent Protection)