Apple lost a legal grapple with a local leather company over the iPhone trademark. (Photo : Getty Images)
China has issued a set of new guidelines on intellectual property (IP) as part of the country's Five-Year Plan, the State Council announced.
The government is working to enhance the adoption and protection of IP, and is extending its coverage to emerging fields such as big data and e-commerce, GBTimes reported.
According to officials, China has registered 1 million active domestic patents, making it the third country to do so after the United States and Japan.
"The plan has set out a number of goals we are aiming to achieve in the development of IP by 2020, including an overall improvement to its protection, practical application and competiveness," Gan Shaoning, deputy director of the State Intellectual Property Office, was quoted as saying by GBTimes.
Patent ownership is projected to increase from 6.3 per 10,000 people in 2015 to 12 per 10,000 in 2020. IP royalties generated abroad are also seen to jump to $10 billion.
"Our current IP regulations are providing the basic protection of innovation, but we still face two major challenges--we need more patents on core technologies and more diversified allocation of patents," said Gong Yalin, an official at the State Intellectual Property Office.
While China has already established internationally recognized legal system for IP protection, there are still room for improvements, according to Gan.
"China is willing to enhance IPR cooperation and share our experiences of development with our counterparts across the world. At the same time, we oppose unfounded accusations and abuse of IPR to exercise trade protectionism," Gan said.
Over the last five years, China has rolled out 14 sets of laws and regulations that cover IPR. It has also investigated about 87,000 cases of patent infringement.
IP protection in China has been under scrutiny for the past couple years, with some companies being hit by the country's tougher laws against foreign brands. Apple, for example, lost a trademark case to a Chinese company in an alleged infringement on the copyright of the iPhone 6.
