China-Laos Cooperation On Intellectual Property Steps Into New Stage

On April 2, 2018, Changyu Shen, Commissioner of China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA), and Houmphan Inthirath, Deputy Minister of Science and Technology of Laos and Chairman of the Lao National Commission for Science and Technology, signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Intellectual Property Cooperation between the National Intellectual Property Administration of the People's Republic of China and the Ministry of Science and Technology of Lao People's Democratic Republic (MoU) in Vientiane, Laos. According to the MoU, the Lao government would recognize the patent examination results made by related Chinese authorities. The signing of the MoU shows that China and Laos have achieved positive results in the fields such as IP cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative, China-ASEAN IP cooperation, and examiner training cooperation.