Faced with the new situation of economic globalization and the development of international intellectual property protection, especially after China's accession to the WTO, which will realize the integration of China's economy and the world economy, China's intellectual property work is facing tremendous pressure and challenge. They must effectively strengthen the protection of intellectual property rights, and through effective protection of intellectual property rights, the country can form a comparative advantage in knowledge resources, thereby promoting the economic development and scientific and technological progress of the entire country. First of all, governments at all levels should follow the principle of ruling the country according to law, transform their functions, adapt to the needs of developing a socialist market economy after joining the WTO, create a good policy and legal environment, improve the ways and means of intellectual property protection, and strengthen the protection of intellectual property rights. Strengthen efforts to improve national and local intellectual property work systems and promote the rapid development of the national economy, including high-tech industries.
The first is to tilt the policy, from generally supporting the transformation of scientific and technological achievements to focusing on supporting patent projects, especially those high-tech patent projects that affect the implementation of patent projects that affect the level and direction of industry development, and build its own A high-tech national industrial group with independent intellectual property rights. At the same time, effective measures will be taken to ensure that the rewards and rewards of the patent system are fulfilled, and some major invention patented technologies will be heavily rewarded. At the same time, in technological innovation, they must give full play to their own scientific and technological advantages, gain advantages in several technical fields, apply for patent protection, focus on developing new patented products, and use the intellectual property system to occupy and monopolize the market.
The second is to provide financial support. Facing the new situation after joining the WTO, governments at all levels should establish patent funds, with finance and enterprises as the main bodies, open up a wide range of funding sources, and adopt multiple channels and forms to raise funds. Focus on supporting the implementation of patented technologies with broad market prospects, high technical content, and high added value. At the same time, funds for various science and technology and economic plan projects such as the Torch Plan, Spark Plan, high-tech industrialization, technological transformation projects, and new product development projects should be tilted towards the implementation of high-tech patent projects, and actively support and develop high-tech enterprises with independent intellectual property rights in China. Science and technology national industry.
The third is to ensure it through mechanisms. To strengthen intellectual property work, China's intellectual property mechanism must also be continuously improved. It is necessary to continuously improve the intellectual property legislation and law enforcement system, increase the intensity of law enforcement of intellectual property rights, promote the public attention to legal protection of intellectual property rights through law enforcement, encourage scientific and technological personnel to create more intellectual property achievements, encourage the establishment of independent intellectual property industries, and promote China's economic development. First, we must seize the commanding heights of patent rights in certain high-tech fields. China still lags behind the world's industrial powers in terms of the overall and absolute level of high technology, but it also has its own advantages in certain local areas and is at the forefront of the world. Many of its extremely valuable inventions and creations should be highly valued and protected. .
Second, we must gain absolute control in the areas of national advantageous industries. China has an absolute advantage in some traditional national industries. However, if they stick to tradition and do not pay attention to the research and development of traditional industrial technologies and the protection of intellectual property rights, this absolute advantage will gradually be lost. Prominent examples include the traditional Chinese medicine industry, the rare earth industry, and the gene industry.
Third, we must strengthen patent protection for the digestion, absorption and innovation results of imported technologies. The digestion, absorption and innovation after the introduction of enterprise technology is one of the key links in the enterprise's technological progress and the focus of successful technology introduction. In the "Guidelines for Technology Introduction to Developing Countries" compiled by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, digestion, absorption and innovation are even listed as a basic principle that must be followed when introducing technology. The rise of Japan is not so much the success of technology introduction as it is the success of digestion, absorption and innovation. After the introduction of Japanese steel technology, major companies jointly formed research teams to carry out digestion, absorption and synthesis. For every 1 yen spent on introducing technology, 2-3 yen was spent on digestion, absorption and research. China is a developing country, and an important way for many enterprises to improve their technological capabilities is through technology introduction.
Fourth, we must adopt the competitive strategy of “exchanging small for big”. Joining the WTO will inevitably bring about the influx of a large number of foreign technology companies. Chinese companies can adopt appropriate patent policies to break the monopoly of others' patent rights. This mainly involves taking advantage of the comparative advantages of follow-on patents and prior patent laws to adopt a proactive strategy of attacking foreign high-tech and patent applications in China after joining the WTO. After conducting research and improvements on prior patents, they actively apply for follow-up patents. An American company applied for a patent in Japan. The Japanese immediately studied it, changed the color of the patented product and applied for a design patent.
As a result, products with that color sell better in the Japanese market than American products, forcing Americans to either cross-license "big for small" or cede the market and charge licensing fees. Because the Japanese are familiar with the country's national customs, they only used a little brain to take advantage of the Americans with the strategy of "exchanging small for big." This case illustrates the truth that Chinese companies can also make improvements on the basis of other people's patents. Even if it is a small local improvement, as long as it can produce a larger market effect, it can turn from passive to proactive and compete with the patents of foreign companies. Carry out reasonable and legal competition.
Third, the whole society should further improve the awareness of intellectual property protection, popularize knowledge on intellectual property protection, and learn to use legal procedures to apply for patents for new inventions and creations. At the same time, we must vigorously publicize the role of the patent system in technology. The patent system is not only an incentive mechanism to promote invention and creation, but also a dynamic mechanism to promote scientific and technological development under market economy conditions.
It is necessary to improve the awareness of intellectual property protection among the entire nation, especially among leading cadres at all levels and operators of enterprises and institutions. It is necessary to completely correct the practice of only focusing on the identification of scientific and technological achievements, publishing papers, and applying for awards, while despising applying for patents and seeking legal protection. We must change the ideological concepts of scientific and technological personnel to the track of the market economy, act in accordance with the laws of the market economy, and reduce Loss of intangible assets. (1) More and more countries have elevated intellectual property protection to national development strategies
As the role of intellectual property in the development of the world economy and science and technology has become increasingly prominent, more and more countries have realized that The key to future global competition is economic competition. The essence of economic competition is the competition of science and technology. The competition of science and technology is, in the final analysis, the competition of intellectual property rights. Therefore, many countries, especially developed countries, have elevated the issue of intellectual property protection to the macro level of national policies and development strategies, and have regarded strengthening intellectual property protection as an important strategy to gain and maintain international competitive advantages in the fields of science and technology and economy. measure. Since the 1980s, the United States has taken a series of major measures to strengthen the protection and management of intellectual property rights in order to restore its strong position in the world economy. In the past few decades, Japan has proposed slogans such as "building a country through education" and "building a country through science and technology." In 2002, it further recognized the strategic position of intellectual property, formulated the "Intellectual Property Strategy Outline", and established a cross-government department. The Intellectual Property Strategy Conference positions "intellectual property" at the level of "national strategy" and aims to develop into "one of the few intellectual property powers in the world." In addition, while formulating technological innovation strategies, countries such as Russia, South Korea and India have also incorporated the protection of intellectual property rights in the process of technological innovation into national strategies.
(2) The scope of international intellectual property protection continues to expand and the content of rights continues to deepen
With the continuous emergence of new technologies and new knowledge, new categories of intellectual property rights have emerged one after another. Modern The scope of intellectual property protection has expanded from traditional patents, trademarks, and copyrights to diverse objects including computer software, integrated circuits, plant varieties, trade secrets, biotechnology, etc. Developed countries have absolute advantages in high and new technologies, so they continue to expand the scope of protection in the fields of electronics, communications, networks, and biology. Countries such as the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Sweden have all launched gene patent granting services. The United States has even included concepts such as the Internet marketing model within the scope of patent protection. Internationally, business method patents have long been considered a "natural product" and cannot be granted patent protection. But with the rapid development of world business, this traditional concept is being challenged. Whether business methods have the "possibility of patent protection" has become the most concerning topic in the industry together with biological gene patents. Developing countries are increasingly proposing the concept of protecting genetic resources, traditional knowledge and folklore.
On the other hand, the protection of intellectual property rights further strengthens exclusivity. For example, well-known trademarks are now separated from goods or services and are included in the scope of protection as a proprietary category. Gene patents issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office not only include new genes with complete biochemical, biological, and genetic functional evidence, but also include DNA sequences whose functions are not yet clear.
(3) The time for approval of intellectual property rights is accelerated, the period of protection is extended, and the penalties for infringement are increased.
In order to encourage innovation and increase the reserve of intellectual property rights, many countries have passed Simplify the approval process and shorten the acceptance time to improve approval efficiency.
For example, since the establishment of the United States Patent and Trademark Office 200 years ago, the government has granted more than 6 million patents. The first 1 million patents took about 100 years, the second 1 million patents took about 50 years, and the second 1 million patents took about 50 years. Three million patents took about 25 years, and the fourth million patent took about 12 and a half years.
Intellectual property rights are one of the important civil rights, and their existence has a legal limit. The protection period for different intellectual property rights formed in the process of technological innovation has not only been different in different countries or regions, but also in the same country or the same region at different times. Regulation. According to the provisions of relevant international conventions on intellectual property, for any country or region that participates in international conventions, the protection period for the same intellectual property rights in that country or region can exceed but cannot be less than the term of the international convention.
With the rise of the knowledge economy and the unprecedented improvement of the status of knowledge as a factor of production, countries around the world have strengthened penalties for intellectual property infringement. On the one hand, the amount of compensation for intellectual property infringement has gradually increased. For example, the total amount of damages involved in intellectual property litigation in the United States from 1990 to 1994 was initially estimated to reach US$92 million, and infringement compensation has shown a trend of becoming higher. On the other hand, a considerable number of intellectual property infringements are subject to criminal liability. For example, China's criminal law stipulates the crime of intellectual property infringement in a special chapter.