SIPO Commissioner Tian Lipu (left) shakes hands with counterparts from Japan and South Korea in early December after signing an intellectual property protection agreement in Nara, Japan. [Photo / Provided to China Daily]
'Truth and facts rarely seen in Western media'Commissioner of the State Intellectual Property Office
Recent foreign media coverage of China's intellectual property is full of negative information. This gives me the impression that if you want to get attention in Western countries, just blame China - and if you want to attract even more attention, accuse its intellectual property protection.
On September 23, Japan's Sankei Shinbun newspaper reported that the US Congress held a hearing to protest China's "fake products".
On October 4, Reuters reported that US Under Secretary of State Robert Hormats called on the European Union to join the US and force China to change its policies on intellectual property and foreign investment.
China Trap, a recent bestseller in Germany, warns European enterprises not to fall into a huge "China trap" when investing in the nation.
In addition, some politicians, enterprises and social organizations are also wagging their fingers at what China has done to protect the intellectual property.
These reports cause me confusion and unease, so I would like to pass along truths and facts that are rarely seen in Western media to help readers have a comprehensive picture about China's intellectual property protection.
I am Commissioner of the State Intellectual Property Office of the People's Republic of China (SIPO) and have been working in the intellectual property area for more than 30 years.
Curiosity and haste
I can still recall how I entered the area by chance at the end of the 1970s. I attribute my decision at that time to the curiosity of a graduate student for unknown things and the haste of a young man.
It seems a little unbelievable today - because I knew nothing about intellectual property.
However, I feel very lucky to have entered the area, which was totally new to China then, and have since worked in the field.
At that time - save a few score of people - the Chinese population of 800 million had zero knowledge about intellectual property, myself included.
Further, people were not used to linking knowledge to property. On the contrary, people at that time generally believed that knowledge should be spread and used freely and for free - knowledge should be shared by the entire society and even the world, and charging was considered as something unimaginable.
For this reason, though the term "intellectual property" was translated into Chinese in the 1970s, it was not included in the Xinhua Dictionary - the nation's most common language reference resource used by hundreds of millions of Chinese students - until 2000.
Driven by reform and opening up, the Chinese government decided to implement a modern intellectual property system, but the legislative process was very prolonged. The debate was heated.
10 years for first law
From the decision for legislation to the promulgation of the Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China in 1990, it took more than 10 years to make a few core intellectual property laws. It is precisely those laws that have now promoted the unprecedented application of the time-honored international rules of intellectual property in China, where not long before they were completely alien.
SIPO has accepted more than 5 million applications for three kinds of patents in the past 25 years.
In the past decade, invention patent applications from China and 147 countries worldwide have grown 22.3 percent each year on average, more than five times the global average in the same period.
From this January to September, invention patent applications reached 260,128, rising 21.2 percent year-on-year, while international filings through the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) totaled 9,111, growing 66.8 percent over a year ago.
1 million trademarks
China accepted a total of 684,000 applications for trademark registration in the first eight months of this year, an increase of 31 percent over a year earlier. The full-year number is expected to exceed 1 million for the first time.
During the same period, 9,867 applications designated to Chinese territory were filed under the Madrid international trademark registration system, while Chinese enterprises filed 1,090 applications for international registration under the system, growing 46 percent year-on-year.
China has also accelerated copyright legislation and amendment work.
China has not only strengthened the copyright protection on the Internet and digital environment to meet the needs of the time, but also launched national campaigns to crack down on Internet infringement and piracy. These efforts have clearly improved the market environment in copyright protection.
The implementation of the intellectual property system has stimulated Chinese people's creativity, and strengthening of the innovative capacity has in turn promoted China's economic development.
In 2009, China's total R&D spending ranked among the top five in the world. The investment totaled 1.62 percent of the country's GDP.
Nearly 30 percent of the country's total exports were high-tech products, while the production scale of copyrighted creative cultural work surpassed 2 trillion yuan ($301.6 billion), up 15.5 percent over the previous year.
Ancient inventions
As is known to all, the Chinese nation is one that admires innovation and has given birth to inventions since ancient times.
The four inventions in ancient China - papermaking, gunpowder, the compass and typography - have made huge contributions to the development and progress of world civilization.
Chinese civilization, lagged behind since the Industrial Revolution, had not changed much until the end of the 1940s and in particular until its reform and opening up.
The creativity of the Chinese people has been inspired by the intellectual property system again. Particularly, in the 21st century, intellectual property has gradually become an important component of China's scientific and technological progress, cultural prosperity and economic growth.
Therefore, it is a contribution to the international community, which should be admired rather than denounced, as it promotes the intellectual property system, spreads intellectual property culture and makes 1.3 billion Chinese - more than one-fifth of the world population - aware of intellectual property.
Implementation of the intellectual property system in China has brought and continues to bring tangible benefits to Western countries and their multinational corporations.
These corporations earn hundreds of billions of dollars from China annually by directly collecting patent, trademark and copyright fees, and have additional brand benefits and technical gains by making products in China and then selling them back in their home countries. Such gains are hundreds of billions of dollars as well.
iPod example
For example, two US researchers found that for each $299 iPod Video 30G, an Apple product, Apple takes $114 for the combined value of creativeness, brand, design and patents, some 38.1 percent of the price, while Chinese assembly enterprises get only $4, or about 1.3 percent.
Another example is DVD players. A Chinese enterprise has to pay $19.70 in patent fees to produce a DVD player - 10.2 times the maker's profit of just $1.93.
In 2007 China exported 145 million DVD players, and the multinational corporations collected amazing patent fees of nearly $2.9 billion.
They also benefit from the difference in technical level as developed countries transfer low-end manufacturing to China, which in turn frees more space and resources to develop high-tech industries in their home countries.
In addition, China implements an intellectual property system and encourages innovation, which also creates numerous business opportunities for foreign enterprises.
For example, innovation needs different kinds of precise analytical instruments and test devices, and requires advanced production equipment and technologies that can't now be produced in China.
So Chinese enterprises have to buy them from the developed countries, which creates a vast market, bringing taxes to governments of the developed countries and creating job opportunities for workers.
If China didn't maintain an intellectual property system that functioned effectively, I can't image that foreign entrepreneurs would still be willing to make investment and have technical transfers in China on such a large scale.
Frankly speaking, as a developing country where the intellectual property system has not operated very long, China still has some problems in intellectual property protection.
China's intellectual property system has room for improvement, the public awareness of intellectual property protection is still comparatively poor, intellectual property infringement is serious in some regions, domains and products, and the abuse of intellectual property rights occurs from time to time.
Problems not denied
In the face of these problems, the Chinese government has never denied them, but has instead made the unremitting efforts to resolve them, and truly made the progress.
But I must point out a fact I am very unwilling to see - some problems are exaggerated and distorted consciously or unconsciously.
This April, the respectable US Government Accountability Office submitted a report to the US Congress called Observations on Efforts to Quantify the Economic Effects of Counterfeit and Pirated Goods. Based on objective and equitable analysis, the report concludes that three forecast data on the US government's website about the loss of the US industrial community caused by counterfeit and piracy are unverified and groundless. These figures - often cited by the US media and politicians - are exaggerated and do not agree with the facts.
Earlier, a famous US software company claimed only 200 copies of its software in use in China were legitimate. This obviously is not the fact. SIPO itself bought 401 sets of the software from the company in 2010 alone.
The Chinese government gives great attention to intellectual property protection. In a visit to Microsoft Corp in 2006, President Hu Jintao said strengthening intellectual property protection was not only needed to expand China's opening-up and improve its investment environment, but also crucial to strengthen its capacity for independent innovation and realize healthy and rapid development.
On Sept 13 this year, at the Summer Davos Forum in Tianjin, Premier Wen Jiabao stressed that China has paid great attention to intellectual property protection and included it in its national strategy, and China remains willing to hold communications and dialog with all countries on intellectual property.
Premier Wen added that China offers equal treatment for independent innovation, government procurement and intellectual property protection.
Economic transition
China is now speeding up the transition of the economic development mode and strategically adjusting the industrial structure.
To achieve the sustainable development, it also serves China's own need to strengthen the creation, application, protection and management of intellectual property.
It should also be noted that the establishment and maturation of any system will be an extended process. It has taken hundreds of years for Western countries to build a modern intellectual property system.
This system has been in effect in China for only 30 years, so we will have to make an effort over a long period - but which will definitely not be hundreds of years.
For various national governments, promoting intellectual property creation and application to boost economic and social prosperity is the purpose and protection is a means.
US President Obama said on March 11 that the US is "going to aggressively protect our intellectual property".
"Our single greatest asset is the innovation and the ingenuity and creativity of the American people. It is essential to our prosperity and it will only become more so in this century, " he said.
I believe his statement is also true for China.
Global issue
Intellectual property protection is a global issue and challenge. As a developing country, China has promoted various international exchanges and cooperation in intellectual property for years.
SIPO keeps close contact with the World Intellectual Property Organization and participates in relevant discussions on a variety of key issues including the development agenda, coordination of international patent systems and intellectual property protection of genetic resources, traditional knowledge and folklore.
SIPO takes an active part in IP5 cooperation with the US Patent and Trademark Office, Japan Patent Office, European Patent Office (EPO) and Korean Intellectual Property Office.
It has maintained steady development of the strategic partnership with the EPO, and maintains close collaboration with its partners in scores of countries. Such beneficial and effective cooperation has been widely recognized by the international community.
John Morton, director of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said at a meeting held in Beijing that the intellectual property enforcement was no longer just the problem of the United States or China, but it was a global problem. I agree with him very much on this point.
An investigation conducted by Chinese customs in 2008 shows that 42 percent of China's exports that were in processing trade accused of IPR infringements were ordered from abroad, mostly the developed countries.
To create a sound international environment for intellectual property protection requires various countries take an active and constructive attitude for cooperation rather than denunciations and complaints.
