Source:China IP News
To further enhance intellectual property (IP) efforts in 2024 and accelerate the high-quality development of IP, the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) recently issued the Annual Guidelines for Promoting the High-Quality Development of Intellectual Property (2024), setting forth tasks aimed at achieving high-quality IP development. The 2024 Guidelines emphasize the importance of improving the quality and efficiency across the entire IP chain, particularly through the commercialization and utilization of IP.
Advancing special action, accelerating efforts to enhance benefit of commercialization
In October 2023, the General Office of the State Council issued the Special Action Plan for Patent Commercialization and Utilization (2023-2025) to boost the industrialization of patents.
The Guidelines emphasize the need to focus on enhancing patent quality and promoting patent industrialization. They advocate for the use of patent commercialization and utilization as critical metrics in the evaluation of project reviews, organizational assessments, enterprise recognition, talent evaluation, and professional title appraisals. The Guidelines also call for ongoing and stringent regulation of abnormal patent applications and malicious trademark registrations. They highlight the importance of strengthening the quality assurance and service guidance in patent examination and licensing processes, and underscore the need for stringent quality control right from the source. In patent assessments, priority should be given to patent quality and the orientation towards patent commercialization and utilization, guiding various innovation entities to improve the quality and efficiency of their patents.
The Guidelines emphasize comprehensive efforts to enhance the policies that promote the use of IP. They advocate for the full implementation of the special action for patent commercialization and utilization, detailing a work plan for 2024, and identifying advanced practices and exemplary cases of patent commercialization and utilization. The Guidelines also stress the importance of implementing the Work Plan for Revitalizing the Existing Patents of Universities and Research Institutions. These include vigorously promoting the industrialization of patents and facilitating precise matching and accelerated commercialization of high-value patents between universities, research institutions, and enterprises. Additionally, the Guidelines outline a strategy to boost the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) through patent industrialization, aiming to accelerate the agglomeration of knowledge, technologies, capital, talents, and other resources towards SMEs, and to establish model enterprises for patent industrialization. There is a focus on implementing a project to strengthen industrial chains and improve efficiency through IP, enhancing the mechanisms for coordinated IP development across key industrial chains, and supporting the exploration, construction, and operation of patent pools in crucial industries. The Guidelines also call for intensifying service support for the development of key and core technologies, improving patent navigation services, and boosting science and technology self-reliance and self-strengthening at higher levels. They encourage the fostering and promotion of patent-intensive products and assist in the development of patent-intensive industries.
The Guidelines specify efforts to explore and establish comprehensive pilot zones for IP finance ecology, aimed at better leveraging the role of IP finance in supporting technological innovation and the development of the real economy. They call for the full implementation of the patent licensing system and encourage the exploration of patent open-sourcing. Additionally, the Guidelines plan to initiate the implementation of a declaration system for patents generated from funded research projects. They also emphasize the thorough implementation of actions to enhance trademark and brand value, as well as actions aimed at revitalizing rural areas through geographical indications. These efforts are intended to improve supply quality and promote the expansion of domestic demand.
Improving work systems and creating a first-class business environment
In terms of IP protection, the Guidelines require further efforts to develop and release the Implementation Plan for the Project of Building an Intellectual Property Protection System. They call for the deepening of the construction of national IP protection demonstration zones, the establishment of several IP protection centers and first-track IPR enforcement centers, the improvement of the guidance network for responding to overseas IP disputes, and the further optimization of the IP protection system to maintain high levels of IP protection satisfaction.
Regarding IP administration, the Guidelines propose a comprehensive enhancement of the effectiveness of IP administration, with institutional reform serving as the new foundation. Specific measures should be taken to advance the development of provinces strong in IP, tailoring cooperative projects to local resource endowments and actual needs, and creating examples for the high-quality development of IP. Additionally, the Guidelines suggest steadily advancing the reform of the division of financial powers and expenditure responsibilities between the central and local governments concerning IP, aiming to improve the system and mechanism that maximizes the initiative of both central and local authorities.
The Guidelines further propose efforts to thoroughly implement the IP public service project and expand the scale of prefecture-level comprehensive IP public service agencies and key national IP service outlets. They also aim to establish the National Intellectual Property Protection Information Platform, build approximately ten national IP service industry clusters, and work squarely on IP for the World Bank's global business enabling environment assessment to facilitate the construction of a first-class business environment.
Additionally, the Guidelines specify efforts to improve the statistical monitoring system for the high-quality development of IP. They emphasize analyzing data to create a favorable environment conducive to the high-quality development of IP.
Notably, the task list for promoting the high-quality development of IP in 2024 was released concurrently, setting 23 key tasks across seven aspects. This further details the work measures, clarifies the division of responsibilities, and creates work synergies to accelerate the high-quality development of IP.
