China's lawmakers have been working hard to introduce new laws and policies to protect recently developed technologies, a senior official said yesterday.
China has set up a good system for the protection of intellectual property rights over the past two decades, said Jiang Ying, commissioner of the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO), at an Asian Regional Seminar on Intellectual Property Protection of New Technologies, which opened in Beijing yesterday.
Last year, in its Decision on the Acceleration of Technological Innovation and Development and the Industrialization of Advanced Technologies, the central government focused on the management and protection of intellectual property rights.
The Patent Law of China, which was amended this year and will come into effect on July 1 next year, also highlights the importance of protecting new technology patents, said Jiang.
Jiang said that the SIPO will work to protect the current favourable climate and further advance the measures protecting intellectual property rights.
The seminar, sponsored by the SIPO and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), attracted 200 representatives from Asia and WIPO member states.
During the three-day seminar, the participants will discuss such topics as the protection of intellectual property rights in computer software and biological technology, of digital technology and electronic copyright and of trade mark and domain name in the field of electronic commerce.
China has made great progress in the protection of intellectual property rights, said WIPO Director-General Kamil Idris.
"In less than 20 years, China has built a modern and well-functioning system of intellectual property rights," said Idris.
He said that China has been very actively taking part in international co-operation in the field of intellectual property rights.
Since 1979, the WIPO and China's relevant governmental departments have organized more than 50 international seminars or conferences.
Zhang Qingkui, an official with the SIPO Patent Office, said that with the rapid development of new technologies such as biological technology, China will update its policies and practices of patent protection for these technologies.
Sources from the seminar said that the WIPO has designated each April 26 as the World Day of Intellectual Property Rights to further increase global awareness of the need to protect intellectual property rights.
(China Daily 10/11/2000)
