During CIFTIS, an international symposium on "Intellectual Property Rights: Driving Forces for China-EU Innovative Development" was held on May 31. With the support of the National Intellectual Property Administration, PRC and the Organizing Committee of CIFTIS, China Intellectual Property Society, the Sino-European Institute for Intellectual Property of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, the Peking University Intellectual Property School, EU-China Industrial and Commercial Investment Promotion Union and the China-Britain Business Council jointly held an international symposium on "Driving Forces for China-EU Innovative Development". At the Fair, the "Sino-European IPR Service Platform Alliance" was officially launched. Yu Xiang, Dean of the Sino-European Institute for Intellectual Property of Huazhong University of Science and Technology and Director of the Chinese-German Institute for Intellectual Property of the School of Management, delivered a keynote speech on "Sino-European Innovation and Intellectual Property Cooperation Empower Countries along the Belt and Road To Achieve Win-win Development".
After the Fair, Yu Xiang pointed out that what's behind the Sino-US economic and trade friction is dispute over scientific and technological innovation mainly, and the core lies in disputes over intellectual property rights, in an exclusive interview with reporters of Beijing Business Today on current international and domestic intellectual property protection-related issues. Chinese enterprises must strengthen independent innovation and intellectual property protection. Enterprises should be assisted by patent experts in the process of research and development to reduce the potential risks, such as blindness, exploratory and lagging problems in the innovation process.
From the perspective of legislation, Yu Xiang pointed out that in the new environment of the digital economy, where knowledge spreads faster, the carrier of intellectual property works is digitized due to the intelligent creation and the information-based digitalization, and thus the environment of its application and protection is more complicated than the traditional environment. As a result, new legislation is required. At present, there are some contents concerning the protection of intellectual property rights in the electronic commerce laws, but the new utilization, protection and management of intellectual property rights still need to be strengthened to form a system.
In addition, in response to a reporter's question about the public's concern over drug patents triggered by last year's Dying to Survive, Yu Xiang said, "The world is increasingly becoming a whole, and we have been emphasizing the 'community of shared future for humanity'. Therefore, although the original intention of the patent is to protect private rights, the ultimate ownership of the patent should fall to the public interest. In this regard, in accordance with the Doha Declaration of the World Trade Organization and related memorandum of agreements, China leads the world in the compulsory licensing system of pharmaceutical patents related to public health issues."
