Advanced technologies need more legal protection, report says

Laws concerning new technologies, including artificial intelligence and data, should be further improved, with stronger intellectual property protection for innovators, a report said.

Although China has seen an improvement in IP-related legislation last year, the legal research and formulation of legislative items in the field of advanced technologies also need to be increased and optimized, according to the Chinese Law Enforcement Report.

The report, which was jointly made by the China Behavior Law Association and the Central South University in Hunan province, was issued on Sunday.

The association, founded in the 1980s, consists of more than 3,000 senior law professionals nationwide, aiming to conclude legal practice and provide suggestions for the country's construction of the rule of law.

"AI, a new engine of global industrial development, has been stimulating innovation, as well as advancing high-quality economic growth and intensifying production efficiency," Xu Changhai, a senior judge of No 3 Civil Adjudication Tribunal with the Supreme People's Court, said in the report. "But it has also brought us many new challenges and problems."

"Therefore, it's essential to conduct IP-related research to optimize relevant legislation in this regard, so that the emerging industry can be better regulated and upgraded," he said, whose tribunal handles IP disputes in the country's top court.

Meanwhile, he also called for defining the boundaries of data usage, protecting legitimate rights and interests of data users and enhancing IP protection rules in the data field, in order to facilitate the digital economic creativity.

In addition, he suggested the country continue to improve the efficiency and quality of examining IP applications, with more focus on standardizing the patent review regarding AI, big data and gene technology.

Given that high technology is crucial for international competition, he added that it is also a must to strengthen IP protection for key technologies, such as formulating a law to protect integrated circuit layout-design or revising the current regulation in this field, thus incentivizing technological innovation.

Data showed in the report that Chinese courts tackled more than 544,000 IP-related cases in 2023, up 3.41 percent year-on-year.

Among the cases, the number of disputes involving technological contract was 6,492, an increase of 53.19 percent compared with the previous year, according to the data.

By the end of last year, the mainland has owned nearly 4.02 million valid invention patents, up 22.4 percent year-on-year, the report said, adding that the number of registered trademarks has also exceeded 44 million, up 8.4 percent year-on-year.