IPR Protection: White paper says China is fulfilling commitments to WTO

World
Europe

01:58

It's now been 17 years since China joined the World Trade Organization. Last week, the Chinese government released a white paper on China's membership of the WTO, including its commitments to protecting intellectual property rights. Timothy Ulrich has more.

Since it joined the WTO in 2001, China has greatly increased the protection of intellectual property rights.

BENJAMIN BAI VICE PRESIDENT, ANT FINANCIAL SERVICES GROUP "Back in 1997 there was barely any intellectual property rights in China. But now, China has taken the leading position in the number of patent filings."

The white paper says strengthening IPR protection serves China's own development needs and helps cultivate a business environment that is law-based, internationalized and business-friendly.

China says it has formulated and improved its laws and regulations to protect IP rights, building an IPR legal system that conforms to WTO rules and suits China's national conditions.

To strengthen enforcement of IPR protection, China has set up 3 IPR courts in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou and special judicial organs at 15 intermediate courts.

Last year, Chinese authorities received more than 1.3 million invention patent applications, ranking the first in the world for the seventh consecutive year. Nearly 10 percent of the applicants were foreign entities and individuals.

US chipmaker Qualcomm was the No.1 overseas owner of Chinese patents in 2017. It says a decade of IPR protection improvement has helped propel its growing investment in China.

Intellectual property royalties paid by China to foreign rights holders have grown by an average of 17 percent per year since 2001, reaching 28.6 billion U.S. dollars in 2017.