Pudong aims to be world leader in intellectual property rights in five years

Pudong aims to become a world-class intellectual property rights benchmark in the following five years, according to its 14th Five-Year Plan on IPR released on Thursday.

Under the plan, Pudong will basically complete its mission to build a state-level highland of IPR protection with Pudong characteristics by 2022 and a highland of IPR protection with influence in the Asia-Pacific area by 2025.

By that time, a ratio of one in 10,000 people will have at least 50 high-value invention patents.

The number of applications for international patents, including those via the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), will exceed 1,000 in a year, under the plan. And the number of successfully mediated intellectual property disputes will reach 650 in five years.

The plan specifies 20 major works in five areas to achieve the goal. Some have been or will soon be carried out as they were mentioned in the guideline released last month on supporting the high-level reform and opening-up of Pudong and building it into a pioneer area for socialist modernization, according to He Ying, deputy director of Pudong Intellectual Property Administration.

An example was the guideline called Pudong to set up IPR service stations for local companies with intention to be listed on STAR Market.

"We have basically formed a plan," said He. "These spots will provide services such as teaching companies how to handle disputes and avoid risks. We want to increase their capability for creating, managing, protecting and using intellectual property."

This year, Pudong will also pilot the country's program on invalid patent review, including carrying out remote video case hearings. It will also guide and encourage insurance institutions to develop new products related to intellectual property, she said.

With an aim to have overseas influence, Pudong has also started to explore how to handle overseas intellectual property disputes, such as building pools of experts, improving related regulations and alerting companies to possible risks.