Introduction to China's Action Plan on IPR Protection 2009

To give a comprehensive, systematic elaboration of the key measures Chinese government has taken for IPR protection in 2009, member agencies of the Inter-agency Joint Meeting for Implementation of the National IP Strategy, in compliance with working schedule of the meeting, are pleased to present this Action Plan on IPR Protection for 2009, which details 170 measures in 9 areas.

In line with the 2009 Action Plan, relevant authorities will revise and formulate 23 laws, regulations, rules and administrative measures on trademark, copyright, patent and customs IP protection as well as 3 judicial interpretations. On the enforcement side, 9 dedicated nationwide campaigns against IP infringement and counterfeiting, coupled with 12 standing enforcement measures will be carried out. With regard to trails, 7 measures will be in place to solve the most frequent problems effectively and to strengthen judicial protection. With regard to institutional building, 23 measures will follow to promote institutional building for inter-agency coordination and regional interaction and to strengthen departmental IP administration. 24 publicity measures such as large promotion events, press conferences and forums will continue to create an atmosphere of intellectual property protection in the whole society. 19 training and education measures in the forms of training courses and workshops will target at judicial enforcement staffs, employees from corporate and non-corporate organizations, legal practitioners as well as middle and primary school students for the purpose of providing IP training and education. In international exchange and cooperation, 18 measures will be implemented through cooperation development, forums and seminars to strengthen international exchanges and expand cooperation. 7 measures will be introduced in the aspect of enterprises' IP protection to guide them to improve their IP administration system and to improve the capacity of utilizing IP for competition. 25 measures will be at the service of right-holders to improve public IP service and to develop IP intermediate services.

China's Action Plan on IPR Protection 2009

I. Legislation
II. Enforcement
III. Trials
IV. Institutional building
V. Publicity
VI. Training and Education
VII. International Exchanges and Cooperation
VIII. Corporate IP Protection
IX. Services to Right Holders

I. Legislation

1. To draft, formulate and revise some laws and regulations concerning patent protection.

1.1 To ensure proper revision of Implementing Rules of the Patent Law of the People's Republic of China.
1.2 To complete the adaptive revision of Guidelines for Patent Examination and its operational mandate. 
1.3 To ensure proper revision of the Regulations on Patent Commissioning and relevant departmental rules and regulations for patent commissioning administration. 
1.4 To expedite the promulgation of Provisional Rules on Patent Related National Standards.
1.5 To publish Guidelines on Patent Examination Standards for Traditional Chinese Medicine Inventions when appropriate.

2. To draft, formulate and revise some laws and regulations concerning the protection of trademark and copyright.

2.1 To accelerate the revision of the Trademark Law of the People's Republic of China and initiate amendment of its Implementation Regulations when appropriate.
2.2 To conduct research and formulate the Regulations on Trademark Agency.
2.3 To revise the Regulation on the Identification and Protection of Well-known Trademarks, and to further improve existing system for the identification and protection of well-known trademarks. 
2.4 To promote the revision, formulation and implementation of Regulations on the Copyright Protection of Folklore and to work on the revision, formulation and implementation of Administrative Measures for Voluntary Registration of Works and Reward Rules for Legal Licensing of Textbooks.

3. To draft, formulate and revise other IP laws, regulations and rules. 

3.1 To complete the revision of Implementing Measures for the Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Customs Protection of Intellectual Property Protection.
3.2 To press ahead with the revision of the Law against Unfair Competition of the People's Republic of China, and to improve relevant regulations concerning the protection of trade secrets. 
3.3 To work on the drafting of guidelines for trade secrets protection. 
3.4 To work on the formulation of corresponding rules for the implementation of labor contract law, and to guide enterprises in signing non-compete agreements with employees. 
3.5 To work on the formulation of Regulation on the Administration of Biological Genetic Resources.
3.6 To formulate China Biodiversity Conservation Strategy and Action Plan in order to strengthen conservation of genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge. 
3.7 To promote legislation for Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Law of PRC. 
3.8 To carry out research and investigation for the amendment of Regulations of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of New Varieties of Plants. 
3.9 To promulgate Rules on the Naming of Plant Varieties.  
3.10 To work on the formulation of Provisional Measures for the Naming and Administration of Cultural Ecological Reserves. 
3.11 To formulate Measures for the Administration of Drug Standards in order to improve the administration system of drug standards.
3.12 To press ahead with the implementation of Policies on the Promotion of Industrialization of Independent Innovations.
3.13 To continue with the revision of the Law of the People's Republic of China on Promoting the Transformation of Scientific and Technological Achievements and its relevant implementing regulations, so as to further standardize and ensure the application, transform and industrialization of scientific and technological achievements and their IPRs. 
3.14 To expedite the drafting of Regulations on the Administration of Human Genetic Resources and to improve the system for the protection, exploitation and utilization of human genetic resources in compliance with law and to establish rational mechanism on access and benefits sharing for genetic resources .

4. To draft and formulate IP judicial interpretation. 

4.1 To complete the Interpretations on Several Issues Concerning Application of Law to the Trial of Trademark Infringement Cases of Civil Disputes Involving over the Protection of Well-known Trademarks . 
4.2 To initiate drafting of judicial interpretation on criteria for patent infringement and submit the interpretation to the Supreme People's Court (SPC) Trial Committee. 
4.3 To initiate drafting of judicial interpretation on anti-trust civil action procedure and ensure its implementation within the year.

II. Enforcement

1. Special campaigns

1.1 To coordinate and organize nation-wide special campaigns on IP enforcement. 
1.2 To carry out Campaign Thunderstorm with focus on fighting against patent infringement and counterfeiting.
1.3 To launch Campaign Skynet with focus on fighting against patent fraud. 
1.4 To deploy cultural market rectification for the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the founding of PRC, with a view to pressing ahead with IP protection and maintaining market order.
1.5 To carry out special operations for animation market rectification with focus on copyright infringement and piracy. 
1.6 To launch special operations against on-line copyright infringement and piracy in 2009. 
1.7 To further promote copyrighted software in enterprises and to continue selection of the second batch of model entities for using copyrighted software.
1.8 To organize special enforcement inspection on agricultural materials, construction materials, food and electric home appliances to be sold in the countryside, and strictly penalize infringements on relevant quality and IP laws and regulations. 
1.9 To strengthen the fight against on-line pornography and illegal publications and to carry out special campaigns against infringement and piracy, so as to purify cultural environment on line.

2. Day-to-day enforcement.

2.1 To step up administrative enforcement for trademark protection with focus on trademarks concerning agricultural products, food and drugs, well-known trademarks and foreign-related trademarks, and to combat trademark infringement and counterfeiting. 
2.2 To further regulate and strengthen transfer of suspected cases of trademark crime. 
2.3 To promote trademark franchise system among medium and large cities nationwide and to conduct regulated trademark supervision on large-scale retail and wholesale markets.
2.4 To strengthen protection of the World Exposition symbols in accordance with Regulation on the Protection of World Exposition Symbols.
2.5 To further improve copyright administrative enforcement, esp. the system for reporting, assisting inspection, notification, statistics and recordation. To implement Provisional Measures on Rewards for the Report and Investigation of Copyright Infringements and Piracies and to provide incentives to meritorious persons who report and investigate copyright infringement and piracy cases. 
2.6 To step up daily inspection on illegal activities including forging the place of origin, forging or infringing upon factory name and addresses, and tackle forging or infringing quality marks with special focus on key and influential cases.
2.7 To strengthen administration and post supervision of the issue of production license for franchised varieties, and fight against production and sales of un-licensed or falsely branded products. 
2.8 To step up supervision and inspection on agriculture product market, and to fight against forging or infringing geographic indications of agriculture products. 
2.9 To enhance law enforcement for the protection of new plant varieties, and penalize illegal activities including infringing and faking of new plants varieties. 
2.10 To step up protection of IP during export and import, severely punish illegal activities such as illegally export and import infringing products, with a view to protect the legitimate rights and interests of right holders and facilitate Chinese brands in exploring the international market.  
2.11 To fight against illegally receiving and circulating broadcasting and TV programs.
2.12 To step up research on abuse of IP rights, and strengthen communication and negotiation with relevant foreign government authorities on this issue.

III. Trials

1. To urge local courts to conduct research and set up pilots for the establishment of IP tribunals that handle civil, administrative and criminal IP cases. 
2. To speed up the research and resolution of problems concerning the handling by relevant Beijing IP tribunals of patent and trademark affirmation cases. 
3. To form an integrated plan and properly adjust the trial jurisdiction system for IP cases, continue to strengthen control of designated jurisdiction system for patent and other technical cases, explore the possibilities of establishing a system for basic people's courts to conduct cross-regional jurisdiction of general IP cases such as copyright, trademark, unfair competition and IP contract.
4. To set up independent IP tribunals at the Supreme People's Court, high people's courts, intermediate people's courts with intensive loads of civil IP cases, as well as basic people's courts designated to handle civil IP cases. Collegiate bench shall be set up in other intermediate courts to handle civil IP cases in a unified manner.
5. To streamline and improve affirmation procedures for patent and trademark. 
6. To convene the second symposium for nationwide courts on trial of patent cases, and to clarify relevant trial principles and policies according to revised patent law. 
7. To hold symposium for nationwide courts on trial of IP cases, to build on past experiences, unify judicial policies and to push forward the implementation of national IP strategies.

IV. Institutional building

1. Building of working mechanism for inter-agency coordination and regional interaction.

1.1 To improve the inter-agency joint meeting system for the implementation of national IP strategy, and enhance comprehensive coordination among various agencies on the implementation of national IP strategy.
1.2 To introduce opinions on strengthening IP work, implementing IP strategy, and promoting reform and opening-up and socio-economic development of the Yangtze River Delta, and to enhance the institutional building for IP cooperation within the region. 
1.3 To set up IP cooperation mechanism, and to conduct industry-specific IP pilot projects. 
1.4 To strengthen assistance to IP enforcement, to improve relevant working mechanism and to accelerate the building of assistance centers for IP enforcement. 
1.5 To select a batch of government departments, judicial authorities, R& D institutions, intermediary institutions, educational institutions and market entities as key liaison units for IP protection, and to set up nationwide major liaison mechanism on patent protection. 
1.6 To launch Project 5?26 with a special focus on setting up regional pilots for IP protection.
1.7 To press ahead with the building of a “connecting on line, share information” mechanism between administrative enforcement and criminal judicial authorities.
1.8 To formulate and implement Guidelines on the Handling of IP Infringement Criminal Cases by Public Security Authorities, and unify legal understanding and standardize case handling system. 
1.9 To step up supervision, inspection, review, award and penalty according to the Notice on Building Coordination Mechanism in a Common Effort to Strengthen IP Protection, and to improve IP administrative and criminal protection system. 
1.10 To launch an all-out fight against unfair competition concerning infringement on trade secretes, and to set up an effective transfer system for such criminal cases. 
1.11 To enhance communication with enterprises and key industry associations that have suffer severely from right infringements and counterfeiting, and to give full play to their role in order to make enforcement more targeted and effective.
1.12 To strengthen and improve the coordination mechanism between copyright, public security and telecommunication agencies, and to set up an efficient and rapid coordination mechanism again online piracy.
1.13 To step up communication and coordination between public security and customs authorities, and to further improve inter-agency coordination mechanism against transnational IP infringements.

2. Strengthening departmental IP administration

2.1 To implement IP projects to upgrade the overall strength of towns.
2.2 To understand diversified demands for patent examination, further adjust the priorities and directions of patent examination quality management, and improve external quality feedback mechanism and examination quality evaluation system.
2.3 To coordinate the solution of the dispute between variety names and trademark protection. 
2.4 To further establish and improve the system for the protection of intangible culture heritage including traditional knowledge and folklore, continue to enhance the building of the listing system for intangible culture heritage, step up protection for inheritor, and to arrange the third round of application for the listing of national-level intangible culture heritage. 
2.5 To implement the project for the salvation, preservation and support of the Kunqu Opera Art and the project for supporting key national Peking Opera houses and troupes, with a view to encouraging the creation of national traditional art works. 
2.6 To set up mater file system for drug quality, and to better protect core business secrets.
2.7 To continue to implement policy pilot projects for special protection on traditional knowledge of traditional Chinese medicine.  
2.8 To improve product system building for the protection of geographical indications, set up an integrated standard system focused on quality technical requirements and based on local standards. To strive to achieve the comprehensive standard of 40% products with geographical indications.
2.9 To strengthen communication and coordination with enterprises, explore cooperation in joint combating and prevention, enforcement training, information sharing, publicity and education, so as to raise domestic enterprises' IP protection awareness and press ahead with independent innovation. 
2.10 To step up research and investigation on IP status in broadcasting, film and television sector, strengthen the sector IP work, IP protection system and mechanism for new media and technological research for digital copyright protection of the sector, with a view to promote the development of creative industry of film and TV, and develop new audio-visual media.

V. Publicity

1. Orientation 

1.1 To publicize new thinking, new measures and new achievements of regions and departments in implementing the requirements of the central government to carry out the IP strategies, and to set up role models in IP protection.
1.2 To integrate IP publicity into the publicity plan for the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the founding of PRC.
1.3 To follow up on a group of highly innovative state-owned enterprises with sound IP record, review and disseminate timely their experiences and approaches in strengthening IP protection by various means such as one-to-one communication, conferences and media publicity. 
1.4 To integrate IP laws and regulations into the 2009 national publicity program in legal system, and to carry out a nationwide in-depth publicity and education campaign on IP laws and regulations.
1.5 To give full play to the role of broadcasting, film and television media in publicity, and carry out publicity campaigns on IP.

2. Large-scale publicity campaigns

2.1 To organize 2009 national IP publicity week. 
2.2 To launch the project on IP cultural construction in China.
2.3 To publicize and carry out principles for addressing patent related standard formulation for local governments and enterprises, to guide domestic enterprises in creating national standards on the basis of independent innovative technologies, and take an active part in the formulation of international standards.  
2.4 To host 2009 China Trademark Festival, and to introduce the Report on the Development of Trademark Strategy in China. 
2.5 To raise transparency in trademark administrative enforcement cases, encourage and urge local industrial and commercial administrations to publish more typical trademark administrative enforcement cases, and to further increase transparency in handling such cases.
2.6 To stage a series of publicity campaigns on copyright protection themed Copyright Protection in China in celebration of the 60th anniversary of the founding of PRC. 
2.7 To promote the building and selection of copyright model cities, entities and bases, set up copyright protection models, disseminate advanced experiences, and promote the development of copyright related sectors. 
2.8 To organized a series of campaigns themed Cultural Heritage Day to increase publicity on intangible cultural heritage. 
2.9 To carry out fifth five-year legal publicity plan, incorporate IP laws and regulations as the centerpiece for themed legal publicity and education campaigns, such as six entries of laws. 
2.10 To organize commemorate activities in celebrating of the tenth anniversary of the implementation of the system for protecting new varieties  of plant in China, and to award variety right owners for their contribution to the protection of the new plant varieties in China.
2.11 To step up publicity and to raise the legal awareness and concept of enterprises and individuals, so that enterprises abide by relevant laws and regulations voluntarily and individuals comply with trade secrets.  
2.12 To carry out, among university, middle and primary school students and urban communities, in-depth campaigns themed Say No To Piracy, Starting from Myself.

3. Hosting forums and symposiums, producing and disseminating publicity materials. 

3.1 To host China High-level Forum on IP.
3.2 To host IP protection forum for nationwide foreign enterprises. 
3.3 To host 2009 medical IP forum and international symposium on the protection of medical test data. 
3.4 To continue the engagement in the 2009 Cross-straits Trademark Forum. 
3.5 To publish the White Paper on IPR Protection in China. 
3.6 To compile Annual Report on IPR of Chinese universities and colleges.
3.7 To issue Annual Report on the Trial of IP Cases by the Supreme People's Court (2008) and publicize ten top IP cases for judicial protection in China 2008.

VI. Training and Education

1. IP enforcement and training of judicial professionals

1.1 To launch targeted trainings and education programs on IP enforcement among local public security officers, to host jointly with relevant foreign departments and institutions training workshops for IP criminal enforcement officers, and to enhance the capacity of addressing transnational, cross-boundary IP criminal cases. 
1.2 To work with IPR owners to carry out trainings for front-line customs enforcement officers to enhance their capacity of identifying goods suspected of right infringement. 
1.3 To carry out training and guidance for professionals responsible for customs case investigation and trial in order to raise their capacity of addressing difficult cases.
1.4 To active use platforms such as China-EU IPR Protection Program (Phase II) to step up training for trademark enforcement professionals.
1.5 To carry out training and guidance for local copyright enforcement officers to enhance their enforcement capacity under new technical conditions. 
1.6 To enrich IP judge team, trial professionals and other related talents, and to improve the professional structure of trial team. 
1.7 To upgrade IP trial training, revise and supplement IP trial training outlines when appropriate, strengthen infrastructure building of local systems, and hold specialized training workshops for IP trial professional at basic people's courts.
1.8 To enrich IP content in the training programs for procurators, and host jointly with China-EU IPR Protection Program (Phase II) IP training activities.

2. IP publicity and education 

2.1 To press ahead with the revision of compulsory education curriculum standards, striving to integrate IP content into the Standards for Ethical Education.
2.2 To conduct IP training and practical guidance in line with the varying demands of scientific and technological administrators, professionals that are involved in national scientific and technological programs, and entrepreneurs. 
2.3 To conduct training programs for industrial enterprises on countermeasures of standards and IP issues.
2.4 To enhance publicity and education on IP laws and regulations for officials, civil servants, youth, business managers, etc.
2.5 To strengthen IP training for civil servants according to the Rules for the Training of Civil Servants (Provisional).
2.6 To organize IP training for practitioners from traditional Chinese medicine sector, pharmaceutical companies and institutions as well as local drug supervision professionals, and hold IP training on key scientific and technological programs in drug and public health sector. 
2.7 To integrate IP laws and regulations into the curriculum of civil servants within the broadcasting, film and television sector, and organize IP training workshops targeting the sector.
2.8 To conduct training for copyright owners, users, mayors of key cities in charge of IP issues, as well as directors of copyright administration of all provinces, prefectures and cities, and organize trainings and publicity on copyright collective management to the public. 
2.9 To continue the planning for the building of high-quality IP lawyers' team, step up IP training, and to improve lawyers' engagement with IP application, dispute solution and foreign-related IP issues. 
2.10 To step up training for IP judicial identifiers, and strengthen pre-post and post transfer training.   
2.11 To launch nationwide training programs for copyright agencies, cultivate copyright traders, and to lay a solid foundation for the establishment and regulating of copyright agency and agent qualification mechanism.

VII. International Exchanges and Cooperation

1. Building of international exchanges and cooperation mechanism

1.1 To set up and improve IP information communication and exchange mechanism, and to enhance international cooperation with international organizations such as World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). 
1.2 To maintain and development existing bilateral and multilateral cooperation mechanism in IP, expand communication and cooperation content and scale by various means, and upgrade communication and cooperation.
1.3 To enhance communication and coordination with foreign enforcement agencies, International Criminal Police Organization and other international organizations, and conduct joint enforcement actions. 
1.4 To enhance IP communication and cooperation through such channels as China-US, China-EU, China-Switzerland, and China-Russia dialogue mechanisms, specific IP working groups, and Japan IP protection joint delegation of senior officers and merchants.

2. International communication and cooperation activities

2.1 To host jointly with WIPO Inter-regional High-level Forum on Intellectual Property. 
2.2 To press ahead cooperation of WIPO and Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, and to assist the Hong Kong SAR government in hosting regional symposium. 
2.3 To follow up closely on and conduct in-depth analysis into latest developments concerning the financial crisis and their impact on IP cooperation.
2.4 To collaborate with WIPO in the dissemination of patent information and documentation, and put in place information and basic resources included in the cooperation agreements between China, on the one hand, and the US, Japan, EU on the other. 
2.5 To step up communication with international standardization organizations and standard setting organizations of developed countries, and to participate in ISO working group on patent evaluation and IEC, ITU standardization activities.
2.6 To step up international exchanges and cooperation in the fight against unfair competition concerning trademarks, trade secrets and IP, promote cooperation in width and depth, and carry out projects under the existing cooperation framework. 
2.7 To work on relevant copyright protection in the trade policy review and transitional review of China by the World Trade Organization (WTO).
2.8 To take an active part in negotiations on international protection of folklore in WIPO, and to promote the norm settings of international protection for folklore that are internationally binding.
2.9 To continue with work concerning the WTO TRIPs Council and IPR Experts' Group of APEC, engage in IP agenda of international organizations, continue with the involvement in IP related free trade area negotiations, and press ahead with the work related to WTO IP disputes. 
2.10 To implement the Sino-US Customs Memorandum on Strengthening Cooperation in IPR Enforcement, Action Plan on IP Protection among China, Japan and Korea Customs, and Action Plan on IP Protection between China and EU Customs. 
2.11 To organize international negotiation on international system for access to and benefit sharing of genetic resource under the Convention on Biological Diversity. 
2.12 To host the Second East Asia Plant Variety Protection Forum and the 42nd Technical Working Parties for Vegetables of International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV), and ensure sound operation of the Rotating Secretariat of East Asia Plant Variety Protection Forum.
2.13 To promote the cooperation between domestic film, television and media companies and their foreign counterparts in research, development and application of patent technologies relating to film, television product. 
2.14 To host China-EU International Symposium on Judicial Protection of Online Copyright and International Symposium on IP Judicial Protection.

VIII. Corporate IP Protection

1. To conduct in-depth IP pilot demonstration projects, promote strategic pilots within enterprises and entities, and launch projects to nurture and promote enterprises with advantages in independent IP.

2. To continue to assist enterprises in IP issues when participating in overseas exhibitions according to Circular on Strengthening IPR Protection of Chinese Enterprises at Overseas Exhibitions issued by nine ministries. 
3. To organize trademark pilot and demonstration, step up guidance on formulating and implementing trademark strategies by local authorities, build corporate liaison offices, and make whole journey evaluation on the implementation of trademark strategies by pilot enterprises. 
4. To carry out the Implementation Plan for Overseas IP Enforcement Mechanism, set up overseas IP enforcement networks and expert database, and organize the compiling of reports on overseas IP enforcement. 
5. To explore the setting up of IP helpdesk for Chinese enterprises at well-known exhibitions, and to strengthen exhibitors' capacity in handling IP disputes and raise their IP awareness. 
6. To guide state-owned enterprises in preventing foreign-related IP infringement and lawsuits, guard against IPR loss in overseas investment, transnational merger and acquisition, international project cooperation, project contracting and labor cooperation. 
7. To continue with pilot projects on innovative enterprises, focus on improving corporate capacity in IP creation, utilization, protection and management, take IPR volume as major assessment criteria, and guide enterprises in implementing IP strategies. 

IX. Services to Right Holders 

1. Improving IP public service

1.1 To improve patent documentation services for the public, strengthen the building of IP museum, patent exhibition halls, and patent documentation library, set up a sound online patent documentation inquiry desk, and to provide clients with high-quality search, translation and advisory services. 
1.2 To complete the construction of China Patent Electronic Examination System, strengthen sophisticated processing of patent data, and promote the construction of China Patent Search and Service System.
1.3 To launch a three-tiered patent information backbone network for public use that consists of a national patent data center, regional patent information service centers and local patent information networks.
1.4 To set up human resource pools including national IP experts database, senior IP talent information pool, etc, and press ahead with the establishment of provincial-level IP talent pools in various provinces, prefectures and cities and construct information network platform for professional talents.
1.5 To improve trademark examination working mechanism, optimized working flow, improve trademark examination efficiency and quality, ensure the attainment of the goal to examine 1.3 million trademark registration applications within year 2009 and to shorten the examination cycle from 30 months to 19 months. 
1.6 To continue to contain malicious trademark application, opposition and transfer that may affect trademark registration and damage the trademark rights and interests of parties concerned, and to maintain sound trademark registration order.
1.7 To improve and expand on-line trademark application and inquiry system so as to bring convenience to domestic and foreign applicants.
1.8 To organize the operation of national copyright supervision platform Phase I, launch relevant work of copyright supervision platform Phase II, to utilize technical advantages of the platform to fight against infringement and piracy more efficient.
1.9 To carry out in-depth studies on issues such as contract registration, works registration and pledge registration, to press ahead with the introduction of relevant regulations, and to promote an orderly development of the copyright sector.
1.10 To push ahead the development of professional IP information service agencies and cultivate a batch of IP information service professionals by providing IP information services to key national scientific and technological projects. 
1.11 To promote the establishment of information sharing system for major scientific and technological projects, latest developments in national scientific and technological plans and tracking and analyzing on relevant patent information.  
1.12 To carry out studies on IP information tracking and early warning working mechanism in major industrial sectors, and regularly disclose patent early warning information in major sectors and areas. 
1.13 To set up patent information database for major sectors and areas of industry and information technology and to meet the basic needs of industrial enterprises to search and utilized IP information.
1.14 To speed up the building of an information platform for the protection of new plant varieties, and to promote digitalization of filing, examination, testing, granting and information disclosure. 
1.15 To actively explore agriculture products with geographic indications, and to set up basic information database for geographic indications of agriculture products.
1.16 To improve the patent information platform for drug registration.

2. Developing IP intermediary services

2.1 To continue to promote IP asset assessment project, and to implement local programs to push forward local IP asset assessment. 
2.2 To continue to enhance supervision on trademark agency order, innovate supervisory modes, and to set up trademark agency credit database.
2.3 To set up social service system for copyright, further promote the development of copyright associations and intermediaries, support the development of collective management system for copyright, step up supervision on copyright collective management organizations and to set up regular channels for the use of works. 
2.4 To improve IP legal service system, expand the scope of IP legal services, improve service approaches so as to give better play to legal services in the creation, utilization, protection and management of IPR.
2.5 To strengthen guidance on IP legal services for lawyers in the sector, improve and strengthen administration measures, give full play to industry discipline, and to ensure regular and orderly IP legal services providing by lawyers.
2.6 To enhance coordination, carry out research and investigation on setting up relevant lawyer agency system in IP sector including patent agency and trademark agency. 
2.7 To encourage and guide IP judicial identification institutions in applying for laboratories' and inspecting agencies' recognition, push forward the standardization of IP judicial identification institutions, work on the formulation of classification rules for IP judicial identification, strive to integrate IP judicial identification into unified administration, and provide technical support to IP lawsuits.
2.8 To regulate social intermediaries and industry associations, and to give full play to their role in protecting trade secrets.
2.9 To press ahead with the establishment of IP protection association or copyright collective management organization for the broadcasting and television industry, and convert film copyright protection association into copyright collective management organization.

(This publication is released in both Chinese and English, and the Chinese version shall prevail in the event of discrepancy between the two said versions.)