Shanghai Makes Great Strides in Protecting IPRs: Top Official

Shanghai has made significant progress in the protection of intellectual property rights (IPRs), and is a national leader in setting up an efficient, integrated IPR administration system, Zhu Qigao, director of the Shanghai Intellectual Property Administration, said at a briefing on Tuesday.

Numbers speak volumes for the city's progress.

Since 2020, the number of high-value invention patents per 10,000 people in Shanghai has grown from 29.6 to 65, and international patent applications under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) have risen from 3,558 to 7,446.

More substantial recognition is evidenced in the endorsement of the city's IPR work in the national and international context.

For instance, the city has been cited for two years in a row in the State Council, China's Cabinet, inspection, and has been rated "Excellent" in the national IPR protection assessment for five consecutive years. In the WIPO Global Innovation Index ranking of the Top 100 Global Tech Clusters, the Shanghai-Suzhou cluster ranks among the top.

Much of the progress emanates from improved institutional regime that encourages innovation, as IPR provisions have been incorporated into local regulations, including rules governing the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta region, on boosting the artificial intelligence industry, and regarding the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone.

These policies and measures help improve the city's business environment, especially for IPRs, by beefing up the protection of trade secrets, and in the commercial use of technological achievements in universities, research institutes, and medical facilities.

Given the AI momentum, related IPR protection has been added to patent pre-examination services.

The development of IPR protection for the three pillar industries – integrated circuits, biomedicine, and AI – has also been stepped up.

As the pilot program for IPR registration of data products develops, 1,280 applications have been accepted and 836 certificates issued, worth nearly 20 billion yuan (US$3 billion) in economic value for registered products.

In settling IPR-related disputes, overseas companies are accorded the same kind of treatment as domestic firms. A total of 379 overseas IPR dispute cases, under the direction of related IPR service stations, have been settled so far.

Courts citywide, in handling near 46,000 IPR cases, awarded punitive damages totaling 170 million yuan last year.

The public security organs tackled more than 550 criminal IPR cases, which led to the arrest of 2,100 suspects, involving 1.3 billion yuan.