IP Awareness Week Launched in China
June 9, 2016
The ceremony to mark the start of China’s 2016 Intellectual Property (IP) Awareness Week took place at the studio of the People’s Daily on April 20th, 2016. The opening ceremony was broadcast live on the People’s Daily website and widely reported by other Chinese media.
Mr. Chen Hongbing, Director of the WIPO Office in China (WOC), Mr. Liao Tao, Deputy Commissioner of SIPO and around 100 participants were present at the opening ceremony. Francis Gurry, WIPO Director General and Mr. Shen Changyu, Commissioner of SIPO delivered speeches via video.
IP Awareness Week is organized each year in China at end of April. During this year’s edition, SIPO and 23 related ministries and government entities ran over 60 activities to promote awareness of IP, including:
- press conferences;
- publishing IP-related news/publications such as “The Annals of China Industrial Intellectual Property” and “The 2015 White Paper of IP Custom Protection”;
- all kinds of workshops, seminars and activities.
China – the home of IP Day
WIPO’s Director General said that China’s engagement in originating World Intellectual Property Day is emblematic or symbolic of the country’s engagement in intellectual property as a whole. Indeed, not only is the number of Chinese IP filings high and growing, but the country is also home to a vibrant, extremely important and rapidly developing creative industry.
Commissioner Shen talked about the latest landmarks in China’s IP activities in 2015 and emphasized that the Chinese government is committed to deepening structural reforms, adopting an approach of strict IP protection, and building China into a major IP powerhouse.