UK And China Sign New Intellectual Property Deals

by Robin Pilgrim, LawAndTax-News.com, London

05 February 2009

The UK and China have signed two ground-breaking Intellectual Property agreements as part of a summit meeting between the two countries.

The agreements, which cover patents and trade marks, aim to encourage and make it easier for UK and Chinese business to develop products and services from new ideas and innovation.

Chinese companies now file four times more patents than five years ago. By 2012 China is forecast to become the largest patenting nation in the world.

However, the global patent system faces a growing crisis with huge backlogs of unprocessed applications and delays. In some countries it can take over 10 years to get a patent. Much of this backlog is due to duplicate processing of similar patent applications in different states.

The patents agreement, signed in the presence of Prime Ministers Wen and Brown, will:

• Tackle the problem of backlogs by reducing duplication and delays in the processing of patent applications by enabling UK and Chinese examiners to make better use of each others’ work; and
• Promote and encourage the use and understanding of our respective Intellectual Property systems by Chinese and UK businesses.

The trade marks agreement is the first of its kind between China and the UK. It promotes cooperation between the Intellectual Property Office and the China Trade Mark Office, including the exchange of best practice and training.

UK Minister of State for Intellectual Property, David Lammy, explained:

“In the current challenging global economic climate, it is those countries that invest in innovation that will be at the forefront of the economic recovery. The agreements announced today will help to make it quicker and easier for businesses in our two countries to better protect and exploit their ideas. They will improve the global IP system to make it effective, efficient and accessible to all innovative companies.”

In addition, Commissioner Tian Lipu remarked: “The agreement on patents is a step towards making the system more efficient for both UK and Chinese business by reducing duplication and delays.”

Lastly, Ian Fletcher, Chief Executive of the Intellectual Property Office, commented:

“These agreements are very important to both UK and Chinese business. By reducing duplication and delays in patents we will assist in translating each other's innovation and creativity into economic growth and social benefit. The agreements will also promote greater awareness to business of how intellectual property works.”

China is a key market for the UK, with the UK being China’s largest EU investor. In 2008 China/UK trade was worth over GBP25bn.

These new agreements will be followed up with a series of staff exchanges and joint UK/China outreach events to business over the coming year.

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