IPR at China's "two sessions": Strengthen IPR protection, effectively support comprehensive innovation

At this year's China's "two sessions", namely annual sessions of the National People's Congress (NPC) and the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the proposals of deputies and members were emphatic: with the public release of the Implementing Regulations of the Patent Law, the protection of pharmaceutical innovations has become more certain; there have been new breakthroughs in the judicial application of data intellectual property rights (IPRs), and data market participants are eager to try out these new developments. This year's government work report mentioned the need to "bolster intellectual property rights protection" again. Deputies and members actively offered suggestions and proposals to advocate for IPR protection, effectively supporting comprehensive innovation and aiding in high-quality development.

As the socialist market economy continues to deepen, there is an increasing demand from market participants for the protection of trademarks, geographical indications (GIs) and trade secrets. "Accelerating the comprehensive revision of the Trademark Law," "establishing a unified national legal system for GIs" and "improving the relevant laws and regulations for the protection of trade secrets" are among the issues that continue to command attention from the deputies and members.

Revolving around the construction of a timely responsive and reasonably protective IPR rule system for emerging and specific fields, deputies and members offered numerous valuable suggestions. "Being the first to establish a reasonable data property protection system can give us an advantage in international competition," stated He Zhimin, a standing committee member and deputy secretary-general of the National Committee of the CPPCC, and vice chairman of the Central Committee of the China Association for Promoting Democracy. "We need to accelerate the exploration of a data property rights system, taking into full consideration of data security, public interest and personal privacy, to lay a solid foundation for strengthening, scaling and enhancing our country's digital economy," said He Zhimin.

The explosive development of generative artificial intelligence (AI) models presents unprecedented challenges to copyright protection and literary and artistic creation. Qiu Huadong, a standing committee member of the National Committee of the CPPCC and vice chairman of the China Writers Association, suggested that relevant legislation should be quickly perfected to clarify principled issues concerning copyright protection in the field of AI. He emphasized the need to fully leverage industry policies and standards to enhance the specialization and sophistication of protection.

IPR protection is a systematic project. In the face of challenges posed by emerging fields and business models, it is essential to achieve a "full chain" linkage and form a "comprehensive protection" pattern. The Central Committee of the China National Democratic Construction Association, focusing on emerging industrial fields such as new-generation information technology, emphasized the need to strengthen IPR protection overseas and rapidly establish international competitive advantages. It suggested promoting the establishment of a "1+1" cooperation mechanism between domestic and overseas service institutions, encouraging relevant enterprises to jointly set up  overseas IPR protection mutual aid funds, improving the foreign IPR insurance service ecosystem, establishing industry IPR alliances and setting up industry IPR protection mechanisms.

With the popularity of new business models such as livestreaming e-commerce, IPR violations and crimes in the internet domain are showing trends of high concealment, hard technical nature, and organized crime evolving to industrial chain. Cai Jinchai, an NPC deputy and president of Fujian Panpan Foods Group, suggested that China should focus on increasing regulatory and enforcement efforts on e-commerce and livestreaming platforms. By employing technical means to strengthen regular screening and urging the improvement of internal credit evaluation mechanisms on platforms, disruptive market behaviors can be eradicated at their source.

"The trend of traditional Chinese medicine going global is becoming more pronounced, and we must firmly hold the discourse power in setting international standards," suggested Geng Funeng, an NPC deputy and chairman of Good Doctor Group. He advised invoking mechanisms such as IPR cooperation in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area to guide relevant institutions in providing long-term and effective advisory for IPR right enforcement overseas, safeguarding the international expansion of traditional Chinese medicine enterprises.

At this year's China's "two sessions", many deputies and members focused on and called for the establishment of an IPR court at the national level, and the deepening national reform of the appellate review mechanism for IPR cases. Fang Yan, an NPC deputy and director of Beijing Jincheng Tongda & Neal (Xi'an) Law Firm, believed that establishing a specialized IPR appellate court would be conducive to further demonstrating China's firm stance and professional capability in IPR protection. A favorable IPR protection environment will provide strong support for China to secure more interests and development opportunities on the international stage.(by Wang Yu/Li Yangfang)

今年的中國兩會上，代表委員們的建議“擲地有聲”：專利法實施細則公開發布后，藥品創新保護更“穩”了；數據知識產權在司法適用上有了新突破，數據經營主體躍躍欲試“嘗鮮”……今年的政府工作報告再提“加強知識產權保護”，代表委員們紛紛建言獻策，為知識產權保護鼓與呼，有力支持全面創新，助力高質量發展。

隨著社會主義市場經濟的深入發展，經營主體對商標、地理標志、商業秘密等的保護需求與日俱增。“加快推進商標法全面修改”“建立國家地理標志統一法律制度”“健全商業秘密保護相關法律法規”等工作持續獲得代表委員們的關注。

圍繞構建響應及時、保護合理的新興領域和特定領域知識產權規則體系，代表委員們廣進良言。“率先形成合理的數據產權保護制度，就能在國際競爭中占得先機。”全國政協常委、副秘書長，民進中央副主席何志敏表示：“要在充分考慮數據安全、公共利益和個人隱私的基礎上，加快數據產權制度探索，為做強做大做優我國數字經濟打下堅實基礎。”

生成式人工智能大模型的“井噴式”發展給版權保護和文藝創作帶來前所未有的挑戰。全國政協常委、中國作協副主席邱華棟建議，要盡快完善相關立法，明確人工智能領域版權保護的原則性問題，充分發揮行業政策、標準等的作用，提升保護專業化、精細化水平。

知識產權保護是一項系統工程，面對新領域新業態提出的挑戰，要能做到“全鏈條”聯動、形成“大保護”格局。民建中央聚焦新一代信息技術等新興產業領域加強海外知識產權保護、加速確立國際競爭優勢的需要，建議推動建立國內和海外服務機構“1+1”合作機制，鼓勵有關企業聯合設立知識產權海外維權互助基金，完善涉外知識產權保險服務生態，成立行業知識產權聯盟，建立行業知識產權保護機制。

隨著直播電商等新業態的普及，互聯網領域知識產權違法犯罪呈現出隱蔽性高、技術專業性強、共同犯罪產業鏈化明顯的趨勢。全國人大代表、福建盼盼食品集團總裁蔡金釵建議，中國應重點加大對電子商務、網絡直播平臺的監管執法力度，通過技術手段加強定期篩查，督促完善平臺內部的信用評價機制，從源頭上杜絕擾亂市場秩序的行為。

“中國傳統中醫藥走向世界已漸成大勢，我們要把國際標準制定的話語權牢牢掌握在自己手里。”全國人大代表、好醫生集團董事長耿福能建議，依托粵港澳大灣區知識產權協作等機制，指導相關機構開展長期有效的知識產權海外維權援助，為中醫藥企業“出海”保駕護航。

在今年中國兩會上，許多代表委員關注和呼吁在國家層面設立知識產權法院，深化國家知識產權案件上訴審理機制改革。全國人大代表、北京金誠同達（西安）律師事務所主任方燕認為，設立專門的知識產權上訴法院，有利于中國進一步展示國家在知識產權保護方面的堅定立場和專業能力。良好的知識產權保護環境，將為中國在國際舞臺上爭取更多利益和發展空間提供有力支持。