To protect the wisdom gain of humankind according to law

As the 7th World Intellectual Property Day falls on Thursday or April 26, the good news has heartened or inspired people around China: With regard to its rate of application for patents, the average annual rate of increment over the last six years is up to 30.7 percent, the highest among major countries worldwide. The total amount of China's registered trade mark patents ranks the first around the globe over the past five consecutive years, and this itself constitutes a tremendous achievement for the country in the field of intellectual property (IP) rights protection.

It has been ascribed to a consistent, unswerving policy of the Chinese government to protect the wisdom gain of the humankind.

In nearly three decades since the implementation of its reform and opening to the outside world incepted in the late 1970s, China has covered the whole course of the IP rights development that had taken the developed nations almost a century to complete, set up a relatively comprehensive legal protection system for IP rights, forged a two-way mode (administrative and judicial) of coordinated operation to comply with its specific national conditions, and scored conspicuous successes in this regard.

In the present era of the knowledge-based economy, which hinges on the production, distribution and consumption of knowledge and information, the knowledge itself is wealth, and IP has become the most crucial right to property in the era, And the IP rights system indicates the fundamental system to stimulate innovation, and the IP rights protection has played an increasing protruding role in the economical, cultural, scientific and technological development.

Hense, the Chinese government has scored a noticeable and obvious efficiency in spurring the work of this field, thanks to its in-depth understanding of the vital IP protection role in a drive to build a new-type innovation-type nation.

In the past year, the law-enforcement and judicial departments at all levels in China coordinated with one another and local governments made unified, organized moves to investigate and try a batch of major cases. Courts at various levels accepted and heard 3,196 cases, administrative organs at various levels looked into and handled 1,270 trade mark-related disputes, and a total of 50,534 such cases were tried and dealt with. And 110 million pirated audio and video products were turned over, and public security organs confiscated 14 disc production lines. All these achievements have eloquently implied that the Chinese government is resolute and serious with its IP right protection and steadfast in a crackdown on IP-related crimes without a slight laxity.

To mete out stern, hard blows at IP right infringement represents not only a respect to the wisdom gain of other nations but an urgent need or requirement from China's scientific, technological and economic development. The Chinese nation is a nation with a great creative spirit. Ancient China's four great inventions, namely, the compass, gunpowder, papermaking and printing once contributed tremendously to the progress and development of the humankind. As a mater of fact, China has brought forth some inventions and creations in close to 30 years of reform and opening-up and, in term of its overall standards, nevertheless, the country scored a still limited number of major inventions.

The protection of IP rights in compliance with law represents a protection for both the strong and powerful as well as for the disadvantaged. Once the protection of IP rights is done well, scientists and technicians will be spurred on to give scope to their enthusiasm and creativeness, so that scientific and technological innovations will keep boosting in an in-depth way in the country.

The protection of IP rights, however, still poses a thorny issue globally that calls for concderted efforts of all nations in taming or controlling IP rights infringement. China, as a responsible big nation, is willing and ready to step up communications and consultations, beef up international cooperation and exchanges, and explore active and viable responding measures in dealing with crimes relevant to IP rights infringement.

China has proposed instituting a "World Intellectual Rights Protection Day", which itself is an eloquent proof of high attentions the Chinese government had given to the protection of IP rights. Let us increase a sense of IP rights unremittingly in whole society and an overall capacity in the creation, management, protection and application of IP rights, so as to cherish or protect jointly and share legally the wisdom gain of the entire human race.

By People Daily Online