29 Years Passed Like a Moment
—Interview with Tian Lipu, Commissioner of the State Intellectual Property Office

On December 19, 2008, Mr. Tian Lipu, commissioner of the State Intellectual Property Office, was invited to the launching ceremony of intellectual property channel of People’s Daily Online (People.com.cn, hereinafter “People”) for an online video interview, in which he reviewed the development of China’s intellectual property rights.

People: The State Intellectual Property Office was formerly known as the Chinese Patent Office, set up in 1980. Do you still remember when you joined the Office?

Tian: I remember clearly. The office was established in January 1980, and was in very shabby condition. We had only a few dozen staff members and no regular working place. We rented, and kept moving from place to place. We had to start patent work from scratch, for we knew little about intellectual property or the related laws. So the first thing we did was to learn. Many people were sent abroad to study. Looking back, 29 years is a long time, but it has passed so quickly.

People: Between 1980 and 1984 when The Patent Law was put into implementation, what was the focus work of the Office?

Tian: First, we had to put the law together, which took us five years, for it was something new anyway. So, how it was drafted was very important. Second, we train our people, for we needed professionals in every respect. We recruited people and sent them abroad to study. The third was physical facilities, for we needed to rent office and buy furniture. The early stage was very hectic.

People: Just now you mentioned the hardships during the drafting of the Patent Law. What is most memorable to you about that period?

Tian: The drafting was very hard. At that time we were under a socialist planned economy, but patent is a product of market economy, that is, to recognize people’s mental labor and inventions as property that can generate economic value and be traded. This was a tremendous change to people’s mind at that time, like a U-turn. Many were opposed the patent system, labeling whoever advocated for a patent system as a capitalist.

People: What do you think the public’s perception of patents was like in the 1980s?
Tian: The public had no idea whatsoever of what a patent was like, and believed the fruits of one’s mental labor should be shared by everybody else. When the Patent Law was published but not yet enforced, a domestic newspaper ran an article entitled One Borrows, Everyone Benefits. The mentality was that all people could use it regardless of intellectual property rights, copyrights, or trademark rights. The entire nation and society lacked the notion and basic legal framework to respect and protect intangible assets. So it was extremely hard to start under such circumstances. The hardest part was changing people’s mind.

People: Could you give an example to illustrate China’s patent development?

Tian: Since we were not sure about the future, we were not bold enough in taking actions at the very beginning. We started an infrastructure project to get a building for the office. What was the capacity design of the building? That was, to handle 20,000 patent applications every year. But when the building was finished in 1989, applications were already several times that of the estimation. We started the second building immediately, which was finished in 1998 or 1999, but the number of applications again exceeded its capacity. We are always playing catch-up, and that shows the rapid advancement in intellectual property.

People: How about the progress in Patent Law implementation?

Tian: In the first year we received more than 8,000 applications, that was a peak. The second year saw a slide, started at 5,000 or 6,000 and grew steadily. The number rose to about 100,000 around the year 2000, before we entered the World Trade Organization. The total number exceeded 700,000 last year. We ranked first in the world in utility model and design, and might take the third place in invention this year. Although we started late, we moved fast, and now are leading the world in numerical terms. Of course we still have many problems. Our capacity for innovations and the quality of patent application need further improvement.

People: How did the Chinese Patent Office change its name to its current title, State Intellectual Property Office, on April 1, 1998?

Tian: The broad background was government institution reform, an effort to reshuffle institutions and raise efficiency by putting related branches together. It was similar to the State Council reform of “larger ministries” this year. We hoped to consolidate the administrative organs of intellectual property departments, and this is also an international practice. Though the reform was not completely finished, the change of name indicated the direction of the central government’s endeavor and sent a strong signal of its close attention to intellectual property in the hope of doing a better job by institutional regrouping.

People: This year the state published the Outline of the National Intellectual Property Strategy, what’s the motive behind that?

Tian: The motive is simple: China will take a road of innovations and build an innovative country, for which we must provide strong support. First we established the system and learned from foreign experience, and then we stressed intellectual property protection. The Party’s 16th congress report talked about improving intellectual property protection, while the 17th is about implementing intellectual property strategy. It is a major strategic change from “protection” to “strategy”, because protection is only one link among many others, without which many systems cannot continue. It is, however, not enough and intellectual property also includes creation and utilization, and must be turned into productivity. It also has many other facets such as law service, information service, and personnel training. We put all links under strategic management and formulate an overall scheme, and carry it out step by step. I believe it is a vitally important measure for China’s development.

People: What effect do you think this year’s American financial crisis will have on the implementation of the Outline? 

Tian: The domestic economy has been obviously affected by the crisis, with many companies receiving fewer orders and workers laid off, and some businesses have even closed down. We found that all these enterprises lacked their core technology, innovation or knockout products. For example, a Chinese company might have design and brand provided by its foreign counterparts, raw materials imported, equipment rent or appointed, so the only thing it truly owns is labor. Such a production model might not be out-of-date, but out of place today, because a withdrawal of order means unemployment. However there are also other enterprises that have become stronger in the crisis, for they have independent intellectual property rights, core technology and competitiveness, and take the crisis as an opportunity.

Looking into the future, I want to say that implementation of the strategy provides a good institutional platform for the construction of our innovation system and the uplift of social awareness. Through the strategy, we will be able to optimize the intellectual property system, provide more and better service for our market entities and people from all walks of life. We can also give fuller play to the people’s creativity and translate more inventions into productivity and social wealth. In this way we can truly reach the goal of an innovative country and enter an era of knowledge economy. The strategy, which was launched before the crisis represented certain inevitability to me, as it is an inevitable choice for the country’s future road and is sure to be a success.

(Translated by Li Heng)