Criticisms of China’s intellectual property (IP) protection “lack evidence” and infringement is a worldwide problem, the head of China’s National Intellectual Property Administration said yesterday.
Critics also ignored the significant progress that China has made on IP protection, Commissioner Shen Changyu (申長雨) told a news conference in response to a question on concerns raised by countries such as the US.
“Some countries’ criticisms of China’s IP protection lack evidence and are non-specific,” Shen said.
IP protection has been a topic of “deep concern” in ongoing Sino-US trade negotiations and China would take further measures to comprehensively strengthen its IP protections this year, he said.
The measures would include amending China’s intellectual property laws to increase penalties for infringements, boost efficiency of approvals and provide lower-cost and more convenient protection channels, Shen said.
Washington and Beijing last year slapped import duties on each other’s products as the US seeks reforms to Chinese practices that it says result in the theft of US intellectual property and the forced transfer of technology from US companies to Chinese firms.
US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and US Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin tomorrow are to leave for Beijing for trade talks to discuss issues including intellectual property and forced technology transfer.
This month, US President Donald Trump’s administration labeled 36 countries as inadequately protecting US IP rights, keeping China on a priority watch list, a move that Beijing said lacks objective standards and fairness.
“China has some problems and we are stepping up efforts to fix them, but meanwhile, IP infringement is a global problem that exists in every country,” Shen told reporters.
“Every country should try to improve their business environment and fix their problems, instead of window dressing themselves,” he added.
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