The Chinese government (the General Offices of the Communist
Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and the State Council)
recently issued Guidelines for Strengthening Intellectual
Property Protection. With the current bilateral trade issue
discussions between the People's Republic of China and the
United States of America highlighting the importance of
Intellectual Property, the new Guidelines include planned
amendments that could alleviate concerns raised by the U.S.A once
implemented.
In the Guidelines, the Chinese government makes a strong calling
for intensified protection of intellectual property rights (IPR).
Two essential changes appear to be of particular relevance: 1)
introduction of a punitive compensation system for patent and
copyright infringement; and 2) exploring the establishment of a
drug patent linkage system and a drug patent term compensation
system.
