White Paper on the Intellectual Property Rights Protection in China in 2001

2001 was the first year of the new millennium. This year witnessed the international and domestic development, and the intellectual property was playing an increasingly important role in the national economy, science and technology and the society.

In the year, we also observed the continuous growth of the patent and trademark applications, improved protection for copyright, enhanced border protection by the Customs offices, the smooth development of the protection of plant varieties, the protection for the layout design of integrated circuit.  Also in the year, the international exchange and cooperation in the field of intellectual property was further widened and enhanced.

I. Chinese government further stressed the importance of intellectual property

In the year, the State leaders had made several important statements in terms of the intellectual property. Premier Zhu Rongji pointed at the 10th Meeting of the National Leading Group for Science and Education that the implementation of the TRIPS agreement made it essential to actively implement the patent strategy, speed up the examination and approval of the patent applications, and increase our competitiveness in science, technology and economy by improving the qualities and quantities of the domestic patent applications for inventions. It is imminent to strengthen the management of the intellectual property and study and formulate the detailed policies and working methods with view to increase the competitiveness of the national intellectual property.

Vice Premier Wen Jiabao delivered an important speech on the first World Intellectual Property Day. He pointed that the 21st century is the era of information society in which the science and technology would greatly promote the development of social productivity. It required that the intellectual property system should be further improved and the international cooperation and exchange should be strengthened for the enhancement of the protection of the intellectual property to meet the requirement of the reform and open-up policy and the socialist modernized country as well as the national rejuvenation. We would be willing to work together with the rest of the world to create a favorable and reasonable environment for the establishment of the intellectual property system to promote science and technology and economic development, and at the same time, to respect the knowledge and science and protect the intellectual property.

In April, State Intellectual Property Office (hereinafter SIPO) cooperated with the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (hereinafter SAIC), National Copyright Administration of China (NCAC) to organize series of activities and events for the World Intellectual Property Day entitled "Today Creates the Future". All across the country, there were activities for the dissemination of intellectual property to create an environment for the respect of the knowledge and protection of the intellectual property for a common beautiful future.

On October 27, 2001, the Standing Committee of the 9th National People's Congress approved the "Decision on the Revision of the Trademark Law" and made major revisions to make it comply with the TRIPS agreement.

Before the approval of the Revision of the Trademark Law by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, the trademark office of SAIC had worked on the revision of the Implementing Rules of the Trademark Law. Upon approval, the trademark office sped up the revision of the Rules and collected opinions and comments. The draft was then sent to the local administrations for industry and commerce for further comments, which was submitted to the State Council after discussions at the meeting within the SAIC.

On October 27, 2001, the Standing Committee of the 9th National People's Congress approved the "Decision on the Revision of the Copyright Law", which marked the end of 3-year work on the copyright revision. After the revision, the original 56 articles were added to 60 articles. 53 articles were revised, and the revision covered the subject matter, objects, scope of rights, restrictions, neighboring rights, legal liabilities and collective management.

To meet the needs of the development of the integrated circuit industry and further improve the protection of the intellectual property and meet the requirement of the TRIPS agreement, the State Council started the preparations for Regulations for the Protection of the Lay-out Design of Integrated Circuit in the year 2000. On March 28, 2001, the 36th Standing Committee of the State Council approved the Regulations for the Protection of the Lay-out Design of Integrated Circuit, which provided for the subject matter for protection, requirement for the exclusive right, the term and the scope, restrictions of the rights, and the protection methods.

II. Significant Achievement in the area of patent

In 2001, SIPO received a total of 203,573 patent applications including inventions, utility models and industrial designs, an increase of 32,891 over the previous year (170,682). The increasing rate was 19.3%.  1,654 international applications were filed and 1,574 international searching copies were received, of which 1,467 reports were completed. 682 requests were filed for the international preliminary examination, of which 333 were completed. 19,027 patent applications for inventions and 4 applications for utility models entered into the national phase of China.

The year 2001 had the following features (1) there were 63,216 patent applications for inventions, an increase of 22.2%, 79,723 patent applications for utility models, an increase of 15.9%; 60,647 for industrial designs, an increase of 21%. (2) the domestic applications were mostly for utility models and industrial designs, accounting for 81.9%; the foreign applications were mostly for inventions, accounting for 87.8%. (3) More than half of patent applications for inventions were filed from abroad, continuing the rapid growth as the previous year. There was little change as to patent applications for utility models and industrial designs.

By December 31, 2001, SIPO had received a total of 1,370,010 patent applications, of which 1,138,554 were domestic applications, accounting for 83.1%, and 231,456 were foreign patent applications, accounting for 16.9%.

Since SIPO became PCT member state in 1994, a total of 3,421 international patent applications had been received by the end of December 31, 2001. 3,283 international searching copies were received, of which 2,766 were established. 1,585 requests were received for international preliminary examination, and 1,031 were made. 78, 446 international applications and 33 applications for utility models entered into the national phase of China.

By December 31 of 2001, there were 109 countries and regions which filed for patent protection in China. 72 countries and regions filed applications for inventions in China. There were 4 more countries which filed patent applications: Bahrain, Costa Rica, Algeria, Iraq. The top ten counties and regions with the most applications were Japan, United States of America, Germany, Korea, France, Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden, United Kingdom and Italy.

In 2001, SIPO granted 16,297 patens for inventions, an increase of 28.5%, 54,359 patents for utility models, a decrease of 0.7%, 43,596 patents for industrial designs, an increase of 15%.

By the end of 2001, SIPO had granted a total of 750,637 patents, and 114,252 patents were granted in 2001, an increase of 8.5% over the previous year (105,345).

In 2001, 616 requests were filed for reexamination, an increase of 11% or 61 more than the year 2000. 498 were related to patents for inventions, accounting for 80.8% of the total. 625 cases were concluded for the reexamination in the year 2001. 22.7% related to the revocation of the written decision made by the examination departments.

1,316 requests were received for invalidation, 122 more than the previous year or an increase of 10.2%, of which 75 related to patens for inventions, 605 for utility models and 636 for industrial designs. A total of 1,480 cases were closed. Of all the written opinions, 41.6% related to the invalidation of the patents, 9.7% related to partly invalidation and 48.7% related to maintenance of the patents.

The local intellectual property offices located in each province, autonomous region and municipality under the central government received 977 patent disputes, of which  888 were closed. 924 related to infringement, 23 related to disputes over the ownership, 30 related to other issues. 80 cases related to patent for inventions, 426 for utility models, 471 for industrial designs. 223 cases were settled, and 487 were handled through arbitration, 178 were withdrawn or settled by other means. 413 cases were settled as pass-off of patents by the local intellectual property administrative offices.

From 1985 to the end of 2001, the local intellectual property administrative offices had received a total of 7,600 cases of patent disputes, 6,608 were closed.

In 2001, SIPO received a total of 62 applications for integrated circuit layout design, 29 were published.

III. Achievements made for Trademark Protection

In 2001, the achievements were remarkable in the area of trademark. The trademark office received the most trademark applications, and the total was 270,417 covering the goods and services, an increase of 47,240 over the year 2000. There was a rapid growth of the domestic registrations, which were 229,775, an increase of 48,058 over the previous year, accounting for 85%; the foreign applications were 23,234, accounting for 8.6%; 17,408 were related to the extension of the territorial extension of international trademark registrations in accordance with the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks, accounting for 6.4% of the total applications. In terms of the classes, the most registrations covered 25th class (clothes), 9th class(electronics),30th class(food), 42nd class (cooking, medical treatment, cosmetology, computer programming ) and 5th class(medicines), and the number were 36,955, 22,634,16,676, 12,852, and 11,707. 14, 311 applications were received for renewal, and 5,999 were for trademark opposition. 83,580 were for changes, assignment, cancellation, and revocation. 49 were for certificate trademarks, and 3 were for collective trademarks, 126 were for special marks. In the year, the office received a total of 374,485 applications.
In the year, the trademark office reviewed 139,014 trademarks. 26,815 were related to the changes of registered trademarks, 27,692 related to the assignment, 11,430 related to the renewal, 2,462 related to the revocation and cancellation, 3,428 related to opposition, 21,467 related to the records of the trademark licensing contracts, 1,877 related to the reissue of the certificates. 23 certification marks, 3 collective marks and 126 special marks were approved. In the year, a total of 202,839 registered trademarks were approved. By 2001, there were a total of 1,452,277 valid registered trademarks.

The Trademark Review and Adjudication Board received a total of 6,214 applications for review, 698 more than the previous year, an increase of 12.65%. 4,189 were rejected. 1,077 proceeded with the opposition procedures.220 were requested for settlement of disputes. 43 reexaminations for registered trademarks were cancelled. 637 applications were revoked due to the inappropriate registration. 14 applications were assigned or changed due to the inappropriate registrations.  34 applications were re-examined. 104 applications were rejected. 35 applications were allowed to withdraw by the applicants.

All across the country, 41,163 illegal trademark cases were investigated and prosecuted, of which 22,813 cases related to the counterfeit trademarks, 18,350 were general illegal cases. 250 million illegal marks were seized and removed, and 14,004 tools, moulds and printing plates directly used for trademark infringement were taken. 2,227.74 tons of infringed products were destroyed, and the total fines were 210 million RMB.  The infringers were ordered to pay the damages of 3.3434 million RMB. 88 concerned persons in 86 cases were transferred to the judicial organs for criminal liabilities. Some large cases of trademark infringement were investigated and prosecuted including the LEONARDO (shoes), BIC(pens), P& G (toothpaste), Crocodile (clothes), Toyota (automobile components), Chaoyang (tires), as a result of which the legal rights of the trademark owners and consumers were protected. It contributed to the improvement of the market economy and maintenance of fair competition under the market economy.

In 2001, according to the arrangement by SAIC to reorganize and standardize the market economy, the local administrations for industry and commerce across the country concentrated on the management of the trademark printing against the illegal printing, buying and selling of the marks.  As a result, it had cleaned the market of trademark printing and prevented the trademark infringement and counterfeited acts from happening.  The local administrations took strong and efficient measures to investigate and review those which did not obtained the " Unit Certificate for Trademark Printing" and nevertheless engaged in the trademark printing. They also investigated those who did not seek for permission to print the trademark in the area of tobacco or medicine and the printing of infringed and counterfeited marks. The printing enterprises within the administered regions were reviewed or investigated and prosecuted for illegal acts related to the printing,buying and selling of the trademarks and printing of the infringed and counterfeited trademarks.  Changnan of Zhejiang Province and Zhongshan of Guangdong province were reviewed because of the frequent illegal printing of the trademarks. Under the arrangement and supervision of the trademark office, the local administrations for industry and commerce investigated and settled some large illegal cases of trademark printing.  As a result, great achievement had been made in these two cities. In Changnan, there were altogether 26,127 investigations made in one year and 58,582 enterprises and individual businesses were checked. 894 cases of illegal printing of the trademarks were investigated, and 307 places for illegal printing of the trademarks were destroyed. 20.69 million counterfeited marks or packaging goods and 392 printing machines were seized. 32 persons in 30 cases were transferred to the judicial organs for criminal liabilities. In the process of the management for the trademark printing, the local administrations for industry and commerce adopted the policy of investigation and education, management and support. While investigating the various illegal printing of trademarks, they provided guidance to the printing enterprises to establish trademark administration system and trademark printing account. At the same time, they enhanced the training for the printing managers, strengthened their legal knowledge and self-discipline and improved their knowledge for trademark. In Zhejiang, Jinin, shaanxi, they referred to the reform of the trademark supervision and management and enhanced the daily monitoring for the printing enterprises. The archives of the trademark printing enterprises were put under the management of the unit administrations for industry and commerce.  As a result,significant achievement was made.

IV. Improved Protection for the Copyright

In 2001, there was an increase of the cases received and closed by the local copyright administrative organs across the country. 4,416 cases were received, of which 4,306 were closed, the closing rate being 97.5%. Of all the cases, 3,607 related to the fines, 633 for the arbitration and 66 cases were transferred to the judicial organs. The top 5 regions which received and closed the most cases were Guangxi, Hunan, Jiangsu, Liaoning and Sichuan.

61.75 million pirated products were seized by the local copyright administrative organs across the country, of which 12.23 million were pirated books, 36.92 million were pirated audiovisual products, and 5.82 million were pirated electronic publications, 4.12 million were copies of pirated software, and 2.64 million were other pirated products. The top 5 regions which seized the most pirated products were Guangdong, Henan, Beijing, Fujian and Shandong.

In January of 2001, the NCAC formulated the 《Opinions on Implementation of Policies to Encourage the Development of Software and Integrated Circuit Industry by the State Council》, and took active measures to implement the 《Policies to Encourage the Development of the Software and Integrated Circuit Industry by the State Council》.

On June 28 of 2001, the NCAC, Ministry of Public Security, SAIC, and the Office of the National Working Group Against Pornographic and Illegal Acts jointly issued the《Notice to Severely Fight Against Pirated Software while Managing and Reorganizing the Market Order》, and at the same time, they issued the 《Notice on Forbidding the Sale of Pirated Software》. In accordance with the notices, the local concerned agencies worked closely together and took rapid actions against the pirated software. By the end of October, more than 2 million pirated software were seized. On August 29, the NCAC, State Commission for Development and Planning, Ministry of Finance, and Ministry of Information Technology jointly issued the 《Notice to Use the Legal Software by the Governments》in which it required that governments at all levels use the legal software.

In 2001, the NCAC strengthened the dissemination and publicity for the protection of legal software. To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the implementation of the copyright law, the NCAC carried out a series of activities. Such activities included the public interest advertisements, posters and T-shirts souvenirs.

The NCAC continued to provide guidance for copyright trade. 8,090 copyrightable publications were introduced, and 677 were exported by all the publication houses across the country, a slight increase over the previous year.  The top 5 regions for the introduction of the copyrightable publications were Beijing, Shanghai, Liaoning, Guangxi, Guangdong.  The top 5 regions for the export of the publications were Beijing, Liaoning, Zhejiang, Sichuan, and Hubei.

The copyright administrative agencies across the country continued the registration of the contracts and voluntary registration.  Across the country, 10,370 contracts were received for registration, 6,799 were for voluntary registration of the works. The voluntary registration included 4,225 artistic and photographic works and 1,339 literary works.

V. Customs Protection Maintained the Order of Import and Export

In 2001, the Customs offices across China further implemented the decision by the State Council to manage the market order and strengthened the customs protection for intellectual property. Meanwhile, the customs offices worked closely with the judicial organs and the competent authorities to prevent infringement in import and export, as a result which it safeguarded the legal interest of the intellectual property rightholders and the import and export order.

A total of 330 cases worth 134.9 million RMB were investigated and prosecuted by the customs offices across China, an increase of 17% and 120%. 297 cases related to the counterfeited trademarks, accounting for 90% of the total cases.  It cracked down the illegal acts of the counterfeited goods in import and export. The measures taken by the customs offices protected 116 domestic intellectual property rightholders, and 230 foreign rightholders.  In addition, the General Administration for Customs received a total of 830 applications for records, and 648 were approved upon review, an increase of 34%.

The General Administration of Customs cooperated with the Quality Brand Protection Committee of China Foreign Investment Enterprises Society to organize several training programs aimed at identifying products.  Such programs had achieved expected result, improved the enforcement capability and awareness for the protection of intellectual property. Over the year, there were 266 case which were investigated and prosecuted by the local customs offices on their own initiatives, accounting for 80% of the total cases. In may, Ningbo Customs office investigated and seized more than 20,000 sports shoes worth over 430,000 RMB, which infringed upon the trademarks of NIKE, LANCAST, BROOKS. In July and October, Ningbo Customs office seized 3,000 watches of OMEGA and 31,000 watches of ROLEX.

Local customs offices made full use of the technical means such as information and risk analysis to improve the capability of investigating the infringed goods. In March of 2001, Xiamen customs office used the H986 system and investigated infringed sporting shoes and cans worth 300,000RMB. In July, Tianjin customs office found the 3,340 pairs of counterfeited OAKLEY sunglasses, which were hidden in the old furniture. By the end of 2001, Huanggang Branch office and Wenjin Branch Office of Shenzhen Customs office investigated and seized watches with infringed international brands such as SEIKO. Of the 160 cases related to the textile clothes and shoes, most were infringed goods of the international well-known marks such as NIKE, ADIDAS and GALAXY. In March of 2001, Xiamen Customs office investigated and seized 32,800 exported clothes valued 700,000 RMB.

Local customs offices took strong measures to crack down the smuggled and pirated discs. In 2001, 50 million smuggled and pirated discs were investigated. In March, Jiangmen customs office investigated and seized 323,300 smuggled and imported pirated discs. In September, Guangzhou Customs office smashed 120,000 pirated VCDs. In October, Wenjin Customs office seized more smuggled and imported pirated discs valued 5.86 million RMB.

While protecting the trademarks, the local customs offices took active measures to protect the patent rightholders.  In June of 2001, Gongbei customs office seized 2，600 waterdrop lights worth 400,000 RMB which infringed the patent. Ningbo customs office seized 13，420 sets of cutting saws contained in 10 boxes worth 2.6 million RMB.

In August of 2001, the customs offices of Hongkong Special Administrative Region and Guangdong Province worked together to initiate the 19th joint action for the protection for intellectual property in Huanggang, Wenjindu, Shatoujiao, Luohu, as a result of which it cracked down smuggling and infringement of the intellectual property.

In addition, to meet the requirement of the 《Regulations of Customs Protection for Intellectual Property》, local customs offices took measures such as reduction or deference of the securities from the intellectual property righholders with an aim to investigate and prosecute the import and export of infringed goods of trademarks and reduce the economic burdens of the trademark owners.  Such measures had secured the legal rights of the righholders and achieved better results.

VI.  Intellectual Property Protection in Audio-visual Market

In 2001, the audiovisual market in China concentrated on the reduction of the total amount, readjustment of the structure, reorganization and development to manage the the audiovisual market. It efficiently held back the smuggling and pirated audiovisual products and promoted the manufacture and distribution of the legal products。 As a result, there was an increase of 10% of the distribution of the legal audiovisual products.

In accordance with the requirement of closing the centralized businesses for audio visual products by the State Council and Ministry of Culture, the local governments worked closely with the public security and local administrations for industry and commerce and the local administrations for audio visual markets overcome all the difficulties and closed 216 centralized businesses of illegal audio visual products. Since 1999, 277 illegal centralized businesses and distribution places were closed and 8，600 business units were cancelled the license certificates or closed or moved out.

In February, April and October of 2001, the Ministry of Culture issued the list for investigation and strengthened the cracking of the smuggling and piracy for purpose of the management of the audiovisual market. To accord with the 《Proposal of Management of the Audio Visual Market》 by the Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Public Security, SAIC and General Administration for Press and Publication, the Ministry of Culture started one-month campaign against the distribution of illegal political audio visual products, seized the contraband audio visual products and smuggling and pirated products related to violence, obscenity and evil. On December 2, more than 200 cities across the country damaged 18.3 million pieces of illegal audiovisual products, and 100 million were damaged in one year.

The audiovisual business units were required to be reexamined and re-registered, and the structure were readjusted so as to improve the competitiveness of the national audiovisual market. In Hubei province, while strengthening the management, the qualification for the audiovisual businesses were established and the total amount of the stores for retail and rent were reduced 30%. In Hebei province, great achievement was made in reduction of the total amount and readjustment of the structure after half-year management for the audiovisual market. The amount was reduced to less than 3，000 audiovisual businesses from 10,000.

In March 2001, the Ministry of Culture issued the 《Notice on the Promotion and Management of the Chain Business of Audiovisual Market》 in which clarified the requirements and examination and approval methods for the chain audiovisual business. It promoted the development of the local chain businesses. In Shanghai, after several years' efforts, there established a chain business network for audiovisual products, which was standard, competitive and complementary. In Hubei province, efforts had been made to promote the development of the provincial audiovisual market and readjust the structure of the audiovisual supermarket. They invited bids to encourage and develop the audiovisual supermarkets, chain stores and special stores. In Shandong Province, while managing the audiovisual market, great assistance wwas given to the audiovisual special stores to promote the legal audiovisual distribution network and develop the chain business in order to create a fair and competitive environment for the legal audiovisual products.

In September 2001, the Ministry of culture carried out the 3rd National Event of Legal Publicity for Audiovisual Market entitled "Manage the market order, develop the audiovisual industry". The ministry printed and issued 5 kinds totaling 80,000 publicity pictures. Local audiovisual administrative agencies took an active attitude and conducted various activities with view to create a favorable working environment for the management of the audiovisual market, so that the awareness will be rooted in people to fight against the piracy and protect the intellectual property.

On December 25, 2001, the State Council issued the newly revised 《Regulations for the Management of the Audiovisual Products》. The regulations clarified the administration system for the audiovisual products from the central government to the local governments and strengthened the supervision of the contents of the dissemination and enlarged the scope for market access. The new regulations provided legal security for the management and prosperity of the audiovisual market, and created more and better guarantee and new opportunities for the development of the audiovisual industry.

VII.  Significant Achievement by the Public Security

In 2001, public security authorities across the country made arrangement and played its role in initiating several special actions to manage the audiovisual market, software market and the printing business, and had achieved great progress. According to statistics, the public security authorities across the country had investigated and settled 39,700 cases related to infringement, piracy and pornography, in which 51,400 suspects were captured. More than 119 million pirated and pornographic discs and 45.2 million pirated and pornographic publications were seized.

The local public security authorities investigated and prosecuted a large number of printing factories which had no license certificates or which was doing illegal business. The statistics from 19 provinces including Beijing and Hebei indicated that more than 2,380 printing businesses were cancelled due to the operation without license certificates, incomplete license certificates or serious illegal operations. More than 400 sets of printing facilities and 730,000 illegal publications were captured. On March 26, Shanghai Public Security Authority investigated and seized 2 printing factories operated by non-Shanghai residents, and 14 printing machines and manual net printing facilities were seized. On September 11, the public security in Taishan of Guangdong investigated and captured 2 assemblies and the ready-made discs and raw materials in Sanhe. The statistics showed that in 2001, the public security across the country seized 15 assemblies, and a total of 126 assemblies for illegal manufacture of the discs was captures.

Since August of 2001, the publication market in Beijing started to be managed. The  focus was on the production and sale of illegal political publications and pirated and pornographic discs, as a result of which the amount of illegal publications was greatly reduced. In Hubei province, special efforts were made to clean the market where there exited chaos in terms of the supplementary reading texts for primary and secondary schools.  In Hunan province, Shaodongxing market for books and journals was cancelled to meet the requirement by the government, and the publication markets in Yueyang and Changsha were also cleaned. According to incomplete statistics, more than 1,480 illegal businesses were closed down or cancelled upon the efforts made by the public securities and other concerned departments, and nearly 80,000 business units were cancelled for lack of license certificate.

On September 12, 2001, the public security authority in Tianjin strengthened the check of the important areas and had cancelled 4 places for selling and storing the illegal discs in Liqizhuang of Xiqing District. 4 suspects were captured, and more than 220,000 illegal pirated discs were seized. On September 1 and 16, the public security authority in Guangzhou of Guangdong province investigated and prosecuted a case related to the sale and transportation of the pirated discs by the airlines. Then they settled and captured the head suspect named Chen who led a criminal group for producing and sale of the pirated discs. 4.59 million pirated discs were seized and more than 10 suspects were captured.

Local public securities strengthened the investigation and prosecution of the major pornographic and illegal cases. Since August of 2001, with the cooperation of the public security authorities in Jiangxi and Henan, the public security authority in Beijing investigated the international well known pirated cases named 《DingDing's  Adventures》and more than 3,000 copies of pirated books were captured. The major suspects including Zhong Ziren were captured. Upon efforts of the public securities from Shanghai, Jiangsu, Shandong and Shaanxi, the pirated 《Ci Hai》and 《College English》were investigated, and were transferred to the judicial organs for further proceedings.

VIII. Protection for Plant Varieties

By December 31, 2001, the Ministry of Agriculture received a total of 454 applications for protection of the new varieties, in which 422 were field crops such as the corn, rice, soy beans, and wheat, accounting for 93% of the total applications. 21 applications were vegetables such as the Chinese cabbages, potatoes, and pepper. 11 were forage grass, fruit trees and flowers. 7 were foreign applications including Korea, Netherlands, and Japan. Of all the applications for new varieties, 227 were received in the year of 2001, accounting for 50%, twice as much as that of the previous year. This indicated a rapid increase of the applications. Upon approval, the Ministry of Agriculture approved 49 new varieties by the end of 2001.

By December 31 of 2001, the State Administration for Forestry received a total of 172 domestic applications for new varieties, and 43 were approved. 6 were from foreign countries such as France, Netherlands and Germany, and 5 of which were approved.

According to the study on the implementation of 102 approved varieties from 23 institutions, the result was positive and efficient. 139.08 million kilograms of seeds of the new varieties were sold, covering 83.764 million mu. The revenue from the promotion reached 69.18 million RMB. The implementation included individual implementation (56.4%), licensing, assignment and cooperation.

According to the statistics from Jilin Agriculture and Science Institute, Shandong Denghai Variety Industry Co. Ltd, Henan Agriculture University, 20 cases were brought to the people's courts for infringement of the varieties. 15 were concluded, and the owners all won the cases and received certain compensation. The owners of the new varieties were aware of the importance of the protection of their rights.

In February of 2001, the Ministry of Agriculture issued 《Provisions of Examination by the Varieties Reexamination Board of Ministry of Agriculture 》( Order. 45 ), and established Variety Reexamination Board composed of the members from administration, scientific and research and academic units. Order 46 by the Ministry of Agriculture published the 3rd list of the plant new varieties, which included 4 plants such as Cymbidium Sw,Lilium L,Strelitzia Ait,Limonium Mill.. The total varieties and species for protection reached 23.

State Administration for Forestry had published 2 lists covering 24 varieties and species. According to the applications for varieties and principle of implementation, the State Administration for Forestry organized experts to formulate the testing guidelines for the new varieties such as poplar and peony, and at the same time, they started the research on the testing technology and means for the new varieties. The Ministry of Agriculture formulated testing guidelines for 42 new plant varieties, established the plant variety testing center, and purchased essential instruments and equipment for the 14 branch centers. This improved the testing level of the agricultural varieties. The State Administration for Forestry established 8 testing institutes for the plant varieties, and provided guarantee for the testing of the varieties of forestry.

In 2001, the Ministry of Agriculture organized the 3rd agents examination for agriculture varieties, and 42 persons were approved for qualified agents. The number of the agents for agricultural varieties reached 102. The State Administration for Forestry provided training and examination for more than 100 agents, and approved 4 agencies after reviewing the applications, report and conducting studies. The institutes for the protection of the new plant varieties had been established, forming a system for the protection of plant new varieties.

IX. International Exchange and Activities

In 2001, the Chinese delegation composed of members from SIPO, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Permanent Mission of P.R.China at Geneva), SAIC, NCAC attended the 36th series of meeting of the Assemblies of the member states of WIPO. Mr. Wang Jingchuan, head of the Chinese delegation delivered a speech on the achievements made by China in the field of intellectual property and on some major issues of the international intellectual property, in which he elaborated the opinions and stands of the Chinese government.

From September 10-13,2001, Commissioner Wang Jingchuan attended the First Trilateral Policy Dialogue Meeting among the Commissioners of the State Intellectual Property Office of the People's Republic of China (SIPO), the Japan Patent Office (JPO), and the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) held in Tokyo, Japan. The meeting was an important regional cooperation in the East Asia in the filed of the intellectual property, and its aim was to further expand the cooperation among China, Korean and Japan on the basis of the bilateral cooperation.

In 2001, SIPO sent delegations to German Patent and Trademark Office, Sweden Patent and Registration Office, Swedish Federal Institute of Intellectual Property, European Patent Office, Patent Office of UK, Industrial Property Office of France, Croatia National Intellectual Property Office, Japan Patent Office, Korean Intellectual Property Office, Intellectual Property Office of Singapore, Department of Intellectual Property of Thailand, Australian Intellectual Property Organization, Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand, Turkey Patent Office and World Intellectual property Organization. The visits were to publicize the newly revised patent law and the achievement made in the area of patent, and such visits further created environment for further cooperation in the international intellectual property. At the same time, SIPO also received the delegations from European Patent Office, Austrian Patent Office, Spanish Patent and Trademark Office, German Patent and Trademark Office, Japan Patent Office, etc, and continued the cooperation with these countries. From June 10-16, SIPO cooperated with WIPO to jointly organize Intellectual Property Enforcement Training Seminar in Beijing and Shanghai, and over 250 participants were at the seminar.

From March 12-16, 2001, Mr. Hou Lin, Director of the trademark office of SAIC visited Japan to attend the 4th Heads Meeting of Trademark between the two offices. Mr. Hou Lin and Mr. Oikawa, Commissioner of JPO exchanged views and opinions on the latest development of the trademark, the revision of the Trademark Law, the protection of the well known marks, trademark enforcement, personnel exchanges. After the meeting, they signed the Record of Discussion. From May 4-21,Mr. Cao Zhongqiang, Deputy Director of Trademark Review and Adjudication Board, went to Las Angeles to attend the 123rd Annual Meeting of the International Trademark Association (INTA), and delivered a keynote speech on "Trademark Protection in China----Laws and Practise"to publicize the trademark review and adjudication in China.

From July 10-12, 2001, Mr. Daniel Hangard, Director-General of French Industrial Property Office was invited by the trademark office to come to China to attend the 15th Sino-France Trademark Working Group Meeting. Mr. Hou Lin and Mr. Hangard exchanged views on the international issues in the field of trademark, domestic legislation, and the cooperation between the two offices, and then they further discussed the cooperation in the year 2001-2002.

Form March 27-29, 2001, the NCAC cooperated with WIPO to organize "Asia-Pacific Symposium on the Impact of the WCT and WPPT on the Copyright Industry". Mr. Xu Jialu, Vice President of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress sent a letter of congratulation. Mr. Roberto Castelo, Deputy Director General of WIPO, Mr. Shi Zongyuan, Director General of NCAC attended the opening ceremony and delivered the speeches. Famous experts from WIPO, European Union, United States of America, Japan Malaysia, and China attended the symposium and delivered keynote speeches. More than 150 participants from 28 countries in Asia-Pacific including China were at the symposium. From September 4-6, NCAC and European Union Intellectual Property Office co-organized the training seminar on the copyright collective management in Beijing. Representatives from Europe including Italy, Belgium, Germany and Shanghai Copyright Administrative Office, and Shanghai 2nd Intermediate People's Court delivered speeches. More than 80 participants from local copyright administrative offices, concerned industries and some intellectual property litigation lawyers attended the seminar.

From July 23-26, 2001, Asia Technology Coordination Meeting for Protection of Plant Varieties was held in Beijing, which was sponsored by UPOV and organized by the Ministry of Agriculture, State Administration for Forestry, and SIPO. More than 100 representatives from the Office of UPOV and the member states, Asia countries, the agricultural and forestry departments in China attended the seminar. There were 29 foreign representatives from 15 countries and international organizations including UPOV, International Rice Institute, Japan, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, France, Australia, and the United State of America. The meeting focused upon the latest development for the protection of the plant varieties in different countries, and discussed the examination, testing technology and the international cooperation of the testing for the new plant varieties. The Deputy Secretary-General of UPOV remarked that Chinese government attached great importance to the protection of the new plant varieties. The regulations had been well implemented, and China set a good example for the other Asian countries, which would produce positive impact to further promote the development and protection of the new plant varieties.  The meeting also reached a common understanding on the technology for the testing of the new varieties.