The China IP Annual Forum, which originated in 2011 and was organized jointly by China IP and IPR channel of China Daily, has run consecutively for four years. The forum aims to make annual summaries and projections of China’s IP development and launch tailored discussions over IP management strategies under different economic landscapes. The annual forum has covered important topics such as the latest trends in policies and regulations, opportunities and challenges facing China IP development in the next year and China IP management strategies. Meanwhile, the forum also conducted polls for outstanding IP persons and institutions within the IP domain. The forum has increasingly become a grand industry event and one of the most influential forums in China.

Big names gather, various opinions contend

Unlike previous years, this year’s forum lasted two days with an additional training session on IP management, litigation and defense strategy on the second day. The training session, jointly chaired by Shi Bisheng, a judge in the IP Tribunal of the Beijing Higher People’s Court, and Li Shunde, Director of Law and IP Department of the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, has attracted wide attention with over 300 attendees from enterprises. Important participants of the forum also included Liu Chuntian, Director of the Intellectual Property Academy of Renmin University of China and Chairman of the China Intellectual Property Law Society; Qu Sanqiang, Director of the Law School of Beijing Institute of Technology and Director of the Institute for Intellectual Property Protection at Z-Park; Tao Xinliang, Director of Intellectual Property Institute of Shanghai University; Zhang Xiuping, former Executive Deputy President of the Copyright Society of China; Zhang Xiaojin, Presiding Judge of IP Tribunal of Beijing Second Intermediate People’s Court; Du Changhui, Presiding Judge of IP Tribunal of Beijing Third Intermediate People’s Court; Qu Ning, Deputy Director of IP Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology; Wang Xiaoyan, Director and Chief Representative of China of BSA|The Software Alliance; and Gu Jinyan, Deputy Secretary General of China University of Political Science and Law Intellectual Property Research Center. This is the reason that the media hailed the forum as a grand IP event in the industry.

The first day of the forum was mainly divided into four sessions. On the morning, the 2014 forum on China IP management trend brought together keynote speeches by big names covering their respective fields. On the afternoon, practical forum for Chinese enterprises on IP management had a dialogue session with heated discussions over topics of “IP Talent Training & IP Manager Career Development” and “How to Achieve Positive Results in Litigation.” The topics have aroused much participation from both onstage and offstage.

Quotes from keynote speeches at the forum

2014 forum on China IP management trend

Liu Chuntian

Director of the Intellectual Property Academy of Renmin University of China and Chairman of the China Intellectual Property Law Society, Consultant and Academic Guidance Committee Director of China IP Magazine

• Technological Innovation and Cultural Creation Promote Social Transformation

“I am very honored to participate in such an IP event. The Central Government has initiated to build an innovative country, which can be summed up in one word, namely, ‘change.’ And the only driving force for the change is technological innovation and cultural creation.”

Qu Sanqiang

Director of the Law School of Beijing Institute of Technology, Director of the Institute for Intellectual Property Protection at Z-Park, Consultant and Chief Expert of China IP Magazine

• Intellectual Property Is a Historical Choice

“History has chosen IP, which means that IP is a social phenomenon inevitably emerging as the human society evolves to a certain stage. When it has completed its historical mission, it will also exit the stage of history. Therefore, IP, as a social phenomenon, is a choice of history.”

Zhang Xiaojin

Presiding Judge of IP Division of Beijing Second Intermediate People’s Court

• 20 Years’ Retrospect and Prospect of Beijing IP Judicial Adjudication

“In August 2013, the Haidian court launched a pilot ‘3 in 1’ program in trial of IP cases. The current trial practice has witnessed growth in the number of IP cases, civil cases and criminal cases; therefore, the program aims to consolidate all these cases into a court panel for a specialized trial.”

Du Changhui

Presiding Judge of IP Division of Beijing Third Intermediate People’s Court

• The First Steps of the IP Division of Beijing Third Intermediate People’s Court

“Beijing Third Intermediate People’s Court and the Third Branch of the Beijing Municipal People’s Procuratorate were formally established on August 6th 2013. Starting from August 21st, the IP panel of the court began to accept various types of IP cases. The court was born in the prime time of China’s IP trials and I hope the court may make greater achievements in the future.”

Qu Xiaoyang

Director of Corporate IP of Siemens Ltd., China

• Innovation and IP Protection - Sustainable Development for Enterprises

“The sustainable development of China’s economy pivots on implementation of the policy of building an innovative country. The life of enterprises depends on who is the tycoon in the past, but currently more on innovation capability. The Internet and mobile communication is rapidly penetrating into various industries and the IP industry which values protection of innovation is flourishing. In this regard, we should capitalize on this trend.”

Liu Xiaoqing

In-house Counsel Director of Le Shi Internet Information & Technology Corp., Beijing

• Business Model Innovation and New Challenges on Copyright Protection

“For video websites, the competition lies in use of multi-monitors. For multi-monitors, the biggest change in 2013 is the emergence of large-screen TV sets, such as the launch of super TV sets by Le Shi, cooperation between iQIYI and TCL and the launch of MiTV sets. Therefore, the Internet big names have begun to shift their focus to large screens.”

Wang Xiaoyan

Director and Chief Representative of China of BSA| The Software Alliance

• Software Industry Development and IPR Protection

“According to the 12th five-year plan by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, in 2015 China’s software revenue is expected to exceed four trillion yuan, but the software industry has not unlocked its full potential, largely as a result of piracy. Statistics show that in 2011, 63% of computer users in the Asia-Pacific region admitted having obtained or used pirated software programs.”

Brian Lee Klock

Managing Partner of Fitzpatrick, Cella, Harper & Scinto

• Strategic Use of Inter Partes Review

“In the United States, the first instance case may last usually over one year. If you are the defendant who wishes to request invalidation of proceedings, you may request termination of the judicial proceedings. According to the law, such invalidation shall be concluded within a year; therefore, the court is obliged to terminate the proceedings.”

Mikael Bergstrand

Partner of AWApatent AB

• Important Things to Consider in Patent Prosecution before the EPO

“In Europe, if there is a very important application, we want to further protect our IP rights. Therefore, if you want to increase the success rate of your applications, first of all we should file some modifications. If you receive a rejection from the examiners, you may file an application with dependent claims, thus increase the success possibilities.”

Lu Baofeng

LexisNexis’s China Representative

• The Application of IP Legal Information Tools for Chinese Enterprises

“From everyday communications with IP managers and corporate in-house counsels, we find that basically everyone’s thoughts and approaches mainly focus on the following three aspects: factual research, legal research and patent analysis.”

Practical forum for Chinese enterprises on IP management

Richard B. Racine

Partner and Former President of Finnegan

• IP Strategy for Chinese Medium and Small Sized Enterprises in U.S. Litigation

“When your enterprise starts preparing to enter overseas markets, for example, the U.S. market, how to minimize risks and how to sell your products have become the biggest challenges for us.”

Jiang Yinxin

Senior IP Director of Advanced Micro-Fabrication Equipment Inc.

• Turning IP Weakness to Effective Weapons for Chinese Enterprises

“For Chinese enterprises, the best strategy is actually defeating an enemy without ever fighting, namely, you can subdue the enemy without a fight. You must fight to end a war and actively compete. First of all, you have to actively fight. Secondly, you may end a war by flexing your muscles, developing your own strength and might. And finally you may end a war for the sake of interests. You have to consider the value of your strategy.”

Wang Cheng’en

Senior IP Manager of Legal Department of Skyworth Group

• From Methods to Strategies - In-house IP Managers’ Evolution

“Firstly, different jobs may have similar requirements. Some jobs may even require the same requirements in essence, all demanding you be able to endure loneliness and willingness to do the jobs. Secondly, doing IP jobs is like practicing Buddhism, an approach to make you perfect.”

Yang Jin

IP Director of BSH

• IP Culture Cultivation for Enterprises

“As an IP practitioner in an enterprise, you need to convey your ideas clearly to different people in their languages. This is very important.”

Year-end conclusion: three perfect endings

The awards banquet of the forum began with the tradition of announcing Global IP Firms in China-Related Business 2013. Following the great success of the previous year, China IP launched a survey on the strength of international IP firms in China-related business in the late half of 2013 and gathered comprehensive information on the firm size, staffing, services, strength and successful cases of international IP firms in terms of China-related business. After exhaustive examination and statistical analysis of the information, China IP came out with detailed data indicators of the international IP firms and a list of their overall strength in China-related business.

In 2013, China IP and China Daily launched a series of reports and polls on Outstanding IP Litigation Teams in China 2013 in a bid to discover and build star IP litigation teams. The teams then were extensively reported across the globe through different media channels to meet business needs for specialized litigation services. Outstanding IP Litigation Teams in China 2013 went to Unitalen, King & Wood, Lu Sheng, Wan Hui Da and Co-effort. Guo Shugui, President of China Technology Exchange, Qu Sanqiang, Tao Xinliang and Wang Xiaoyan won the award of China IP Most Influential People 2013. The China IP Lifetime Achievement Award went to Zheng Shengli, Professor and Doctoral Supervisor of IP Academy of Peking University.

The most exciting part of the award was the announcement of Outstanding In-house IP Managers in China. Fifteen people won the honor, which were Bai Baoguo, Chen Guangji, Dou Xiarui, Jiang Yinxin, Lin Hua, Lin Ying, Qian Haifeng, Wang Cheng’en, Wang Xuming, Wu Jiang, Yang Jin, Zhang Liang, Zhang Yong, Zhong Jingheng and Zhou Huijing.

Specialized training of great value

China IP, as an organizer of the forum, arranged a specialized training on the second day of the forum in order to enrich contents of the forum and to allow participants to get more valuable returns. For such purposes, China IP invited IP judges, well-known lawyers and IP experts to update participants on the latest legislative developments at home and abroad and to share their insights on IP management and litigation strategies.

China IP invited Shi Bisheng, also a columnist with China IP , to present a detailed interpretation on Guidelines for Determining Patent Infringement to facilitate better understanding of the guidelines for IP personnel of enterprises and IP firms. His presentation was themed Practical Determination of Patent Infringement - Problems and Opinions. Later Li Hongjiang, a lawyer with Unitalen Attorneys at Law, also shared his ideas on patent due diligence for innovation-driven enterprises in practice.

In the afternoon, well-known IP expert Li Shunde, also a member of the State IPR Expert Advisory Committee, presented his interpretation on the draft Law on Promoting the Transformation of Scientific and Technological Achievements.

The organizers also invited Brian Lee Klock and Xu Feng, managing partner and lawyer respectively with Fitzpatrick, Cella, Harper & Scinto to advise on roadmap to patent litigation in the U.S.: procedures, issues and strategies to help guide Chinese enterprises obtain and exercise IP rights, and respond to difficulties and challenges in their “going out” process. Finally, Hao Peng, Director of Innovation Affairs and Director of Patent Strategy Department from Beijing Jihui Zhijia IP Management Consulting Co., Ltd. and Feng Feifei, the firm’s Director of Trademark Strategy Department, shared their views on the IP management for enterprises.

(Translated by Wang Hongjun)