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)

今年的中国两会上，代表委员们的建议“掷地有声”：专利法实施细则公开发布后，药品创新保护更“稳”了；数据知识产权在司法适用上有了新突破，数据经营主体跃跃欲试“尝鲜”……今年的政府工作报告再提“加强知识产权保护”，代表委员们纷纷建言献策，为知识产权保护鼓与呼，有力支持全面创新，助力高质量发展。

随着社会主义市场经济的深入发展，经营主体对商标、地理标志、商业秘密等的保护需求与日俱增。“加快推进商标法全面修改”“建立国家地理标志统一法律制度”“健全商业秘密保护相关法律法规”等工作持续获得代表委员们的关注。

围绕构建响应及时、保护合理的新兴领域和特定领域知识产权规则体系，代表委员们广进良言。“率先形成合理的数据产权保护制度，就能在国际竞争中占得先机。”全国政协常委、副秘书长，民进中央副主席何志敏表示：“要在充分考虑数据安全、公共利益和个人隐私的基础上，加快数据产权制度探索，为做强做大做优我国数字经济打下坚实基础。”

生成式人工智能大模型的“井喷式”发展给版权保护和文艺创作带来前所未有的挑战。全国政协常委、中国作协副主席邱华栋建议，要尽快完善相关立法，明确人工智能领域版权保护的原则性问题，充分发挥行业政策、标准等的作用，提升保护专业化、精细化水平。

知识产权保护是一项系统工程，面对新领域新业态提出的挑战，要能做到“全链条”联动、形成“大保护”格局。民建中央聚焦新一代信息技术等新兴产业领域加强海外知识产权保护、加速确立国际竞争优势的需要，建议推动建立国内和海外服务机构“1+1”合作机制，鼓励有关企业联合设立知识产权海外维权互助基金，完善涉外知识产权保险服务生态，成立行业知识产权联盟，建立行业知识产权保护机制。

随着直播电商等新业态的普及，互联网领域知识产权违法犯罪呈现出隐蔽性高、技术专业性强、共同犯罪产业链化明显的趋势。全国人大代表、福建盼盼食品集团总裁蔡金钗建议，中国应重点加大对电子商务、网络直播平台的监管执法力度，通过技术手段加强定期筛查，督促完善平台内部的信用评价机制，从源头上杜绝扰乱市场秩序的行为。

“中国传统中医药走向世界已渐成大势，我们要把国际标准制定的话语权牢牢掌握在自己手里。”全国人大代表、博鱼·boyu体育集团董事长耿福能建议，依托粤港澳大湾区知识产权协作等机制，指导相关机构开展长期有效的知识产权海外维权援助，为中医药企业“出海”保驾护航。

在今年中国两会上，许多代表委员关注和呼吁在国家层面设立知识产权法院，深化国家知识产权案件上诉审理机制改革。全国人大代表、北京金诚同达（西安）律师事务所主任方燕认为，设立专门的知识产权上诉法院，有利于中国进一步展示国家在知识产权保护方面的坚定立场和专业能力。良好的知识产权保护环境，将为中国在国际舞台上争取更多利益和发展空间提供有力支持。