China to strengthen IPR support in new fields, business forms

BEIJING -- China will inject more efforts in the intellectual property rights (IPR) sector to better serve the growth of new fields and new business forms during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), said the IPR authorities.

The National Intellectual Property Administration (NIPA) will carry out in-depth study and practice in the Internet, big data, artificial intelligence (AI) and other new fields and new business forms.

China will put diverse efforts on patent examination, data IPR protection, Internet-related IPR protection and IPR international cooperation in the 14th Five-Year Plan period.

The NIPA will give full play to the bidirectional promotion function of patent examination in promoting innovation and application. It will improve the examination rules in the emerging fields to boost breakthroughs in core technologies and their industrial application.

It will promote the implementation of the data IPR protection project, push forward the legislative research and establish rules in the sector, targeting to effectively protect and use data to ensure personal privacy and national security.

The Chinese IPR authorities will also strengthen the IPR protection in the Internet field and facilitate the sector's online and offline integrated development to meet the new challenges from the information era.

According to the NIPA, China will also promote international IPR cooperation in new fields and business forms, as well as international rulemaking in big data, AI and other emerging new fields.

"In recent years, new technologies and new business forms in the fields of Internet, big data, AI and other emerging sectors are reorganizing the essential global production factors and reshaping the global economic structure. They are changing the global competition pattern," said Shen Changyu, head of the NIPA.

In 2020, China saw the industrial scale of its digital economy reach 39.2 trillion yuan (6.12 trillion U.S. dollars), accounting for around 38.6 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP).

The COVID-19 pandemic has also accelerated the development of the digital economy. Online shopping, online education, telecommuting and smart health care, as well as other new technologies and business forms, have been deeply integrated into people's daily work and life, injecting impetus and vitality into high-quality economic development.

"New technologies and business forms propose new requirements for IPR protection works in digital fields. Therefore, we must tailor regulations and IPR protection measures to ensure sustainable and effective data application," Shen said.

China recently released a plan on IPR protection and application works for the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), proposing new targets involving the protection, application, services and international cooperation of the country's IPR sector.

According to the plan, China has set multiple targets in key indicators of its IPR works. Some of these targets are -- the number of high-value invention patents per 10,000 people will reach 12, the number of patents issued overseas will reach 90,000, the added value of patent-intensive industries and copyright industries will account for 13 percent and 7.5 percent of GDP, respectively, among others.