On July 25^th, 2019, the International Conference on Innovation and China’s Global Emergence, organized by the East Asian Institute (EAI) and National University of Singapore (NUS), was held in Singapore. This conference brings together scholars and experts from China, Singapore, Europe, the USA and Canada and so on to discuss the global implications of China’s structural reforms, industrial policies and promotion of innovation-driven growth. In the session "Innovation Policy and Intellectual Property Protection" Prof. Can Huang gave a speech titled "Transform Chinas IP System to Stimulate Innovation“.

After the conference, The Straits Times, an English newspaper with a long publication history in Singapore, reported Prof. Can Huang’s speech in an article in the Asian Column. A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on July 29, 2019, with the headline "China to amend patent law to pacify US, spur innovation".

China is amending its patent law this year, which will address criticism from the United States of inadequate intellectual property protection and also help stimulate innovation domestically. This is the fourth amendment to the law, which will further strengthen protection of intellectual property (IP), noted Professor Can Huang.

The conference looked at Chinas efforts to transition from an investment-led economy to one driven by innovation in order to avoid the middle-income trap or the inability of a middle-income economy to maintain growth momentum to rise to a higher-income status.

Prof. Huang noted that pro-patent amendments to the 1984 patent law were among the reasons for a surge in Chinas patent applications, particularly in the last 15 years, so that by 2011 it had become the top country in terms of the number of invention patent applications received, surpassing the US.

These changes included amendments in 2001 to bring the law in line with international standards ahead of accession to the World Trade Organization, and in 2009 to improve patent quality and strengthen enforcement of patent rights, among other changes.

Through the years, the Chinese government has also improved enforcement, by setting up three IP courts in 2014, 18 specialized tribunals at the provincial level from 2017, and a new IP court of appeals at the national level within the Supreme Peoples Court early this year.

In response to US demands that China addresses the problems of forced technology transfer and IP protection - two of the sticking issues in the current trade and technology war between the world’s two largest economies - Beijing in March enacted the foreign investment law. This legislation prohibits forced technology transfer.

It is also making more changes to the patent law that will kick in this year, including introducing punitive damages that are five times the loss incurred by the plaintiff or patent owner and increasing statutory damages. Prof. Huang noted, “The amended Law on Promoting the Transformation of Scientific and Technological Achievements in 2015 also encourages innovation by stipulating, among other things, that no less than 50 per cent of the net profit from technology transfer should be given to inventors as compensation.”

The on-line version of the report article is available in the following link: https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/china-to-amend-patent-law-to-pacify-us-spur-innovation.