Minister Tian Lipu, Commissioner of the State Intellectual Property Office of China spoke to a select group of patent attorneys and industrialists in a meeting held at the Dan Hotel, under the joint auspices of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the High Tech Industry Association (HTIA).
After Opening Remarks delivered by Mr. Oded Hermoni, CEO of the High Tech Industry Association, a representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and by Dr. Meir Noam, Head of the Israeli Patent Authority and Commissioner of Patents Designs and Trademarks, we were treated to a short and informative talk about IP in China delivered by Adv. Ehud Hausman, a patent attorney and Senior Partner of Reinhold Cohn.
Then Amir Gal-Or, Founder & Managing Partner of the Infinity Group/Infinity I-China spoke about investment and return on investment in China. All the above, spoke in English, despite none of them being native English speakers.
Tian Lipu, the head of the Chinese Patent Office introduced himself briefly in English, but then spoke via an interpreter, which is not a bad idea for non-English speakers.
Apart from the competence of the diminutive lady translating, which made the translation not unpleasant, I actually enjoyed hearing the deep twangy intonations of the Chinese – although I couldn’t understand a word.
Tian Lipu spoke of the fast changes being implemented in China, a country with no tradition of Intellectual Property. the commissioner pointed out that of the 1.2 Billion Chinese in 1979 when he started in the field, perhaps 12 people knew what a patent was, 4 could assess infringement and none could examine.
We learnt that the Chinese patent Law dates from the nineteen eighties and that the first Chinese term for IPR was first coined in 2000.
Commissioner Tian Lipu generously acknowledged both Israeli and Jewish long traditions of IP. We learned that Israel and China had signed a memorandum on cooperation, which indicates the mutual respect and importance held by the two patent offices and of Israeli and Chinese industries.
Commissioner Tian Lipu acknowledged a thousand year history of peaceful commerce between the Jews and the Chinese and expressed hopes that this could be built upon for the next millenium. We learned a little about the scale of things in China, and contemplated what extraordinary good money a Chinese patent is.
Most of the presentation related to the development of Chinese intellectual property system, current Chinese Patent Law and why IPR protection important to independent innovation. Commissioner Lipu took questions and answered fairly, admitting that there were still problems with enforcement and with the quantity of fake goods coming out of China, but pointed out where the system started only 25 years ago, and that there were a lot of people requiring education about IP rights. It is clear that Chinese system is leading towards an advanced pro IP regime, similar to those common in the West.
Lipu argued, and her is correct, that the Chinese cannot be fairly considered responsible for every fake good or infringing product manufactured in China, where the goods are ordered by suppliers from abroad.
We learned, that in addition to checking goods imported into China, the country was unique in checking goods exported abroad for IP infringement. The commissioner put a fair case that statistics on infringement and cost of infringing goods should be compared to the billions that China invests in royalties to Western countries, that get’s less coverage.
The chocolate eclairs where good, and, as is well-known, no calories on a thursday! The organizers and sponsors are to be congratulated for throwing together the event so quickly.
