“Perception and Functioning of IPR in China”, March 12, 2012

Further to the discussion at the exploratory workshop, the 1st BCCDS-Contact Forum in 2010, the existing gap between the implementation, functioning and discourses on IPR issues in China remains considerably large. European and Chinese legal scholars and IPR lawyers who follow BCCDS-WG's research interests recognize the fact there is a constant and slow convergence on IPR concepts between China and the West. However, more endeavors for bridging such a gap are also deemed necessary among concerned parties in the "glocalization" context. In this regard, BCCDS-WG devoted one of its lectures in 2012 to a further exploration of the question about "Perception and Functioning of IPR in China".

The lecture was given on March 12, by Prof. dr. Li Yi from the School of Public Affairs, University of Science and Technology of China on “Perception and Functioning of IPR in China”. Prof. Li Yi explained how the Chinese IPR national policy is implemented on the provincial level with an example of the 12^th five-year plan on IPR in Anhui Province.  He also gave a survey of the number of patent applications and offered some examples of local patent disputes. At his School of Public Affairs, trainings are provided for patent agents and Prof. Li Yi expressed the need for further international exchange. With the enthusiastic participation of the audience, among which members of the Centre for Intellectual Property Rights at the Catholic University of Louvain as well as a partner from a European Law Firm in Hong Kong, a discussion followed about practical implications of IPR policy development, especially after China’s entering of WTO, differences noted between practices of foreign and domestic patent applications in China, and difficulties involved in foreign license applications for technology transfer.