According to the introduction by the person in charge from the State Intellectual Property Office, the revision mainly involves adaptive amendments, and mainly aims to ensure the rules coincide with the Chinese Patent Law and the Implementing Regulations thereof as well as other relevant laws and regulations, and to further standardize the acts of patent administrative enforcement. The Draft increases the obligations of the SIPO in the patent administrative enforcement. According to the Draft, the SIPO shall not only guide the work of Local Intellectual Property Offices (LIPOs) but also provide LIPO with specific supports by making use of its technique and information advantages. In terms of the obligations of the SIPO and LIPOs, the Draft is incorporated with provisions on entrusted enforcement. The Draft is further incorporated with general provisions on principle of Burden of Proof. Moreover, the Draft provides provisions for normalizing adoption of seizure and sequestration, enhancing the mediating function of LIPOs, clearly specifying the cooperation between LIPOs and the Customs, and improving the procedures relating to patent administrative enforcement, and so on. The Draft also explicitly stipulates the procedure of hearing, the principle of defense without increasing punishment, and the time limits for handling patent infringement disputes and for investigating and prosecuting “passing off” cases.

According to the person responsible, ever since the implementation of the Anti-Monopoly Law, 129 anti-monopoly cases have been concluded, with 62% being horizontal merger, 14% being vertical merger, and 23% being in mixed form. Over 80% of these cases involved merger in manufacturing industry, and cases involving inspection of listed companies accounts for 80% of the total numbers, most of which concern multinational corporations.

The person also stressed that even though the promulgation of the Law was late, it developed fast relatively. In these two years, China has adopted corresponding regulations and rules at different levels. However, it is a time-consuming and step-by-step progress to perfect the Law. And the Law also needs adjustment from time to time with the development of the economy, the chance of enterprise characteristics, the pattern of merging, and the involvement of monopoly activities, so as to establish a healthy and complete anti-monopoly law system.

During the EC Foreign Ministers Meeting on foreign trade the same day, it is decided to launch a negotiation with China on protection of geographical indication products. EU hopes to reach a bilateral agreement in order to protect EC products carrying obvious geographical characteristics, such as champagne, Scottish whiskey; at the meantime, Chinese products could enjoy the same treatment in European market.

With China’s growth depending more on innovation than manufacture, the importance of intellectual property rights has gained a sustainable increase, reflected by the increase of the patent application volume filed by Chinese enterprises with EU Patent Office from 163 cases in 2000 to 1621 cases in 2009.