Fair organizers said no IP complaints were filed during the China Shanghai International Technology Fair, a four-day event to mark the creation of a permanent center of technology exchanges. Under the theme of innovation-driven development, intellectual property protection and promoting trade in technology, the fair that started on May 8 attracted more than 28,000 professionals from 36 countries and regions. Eighteen patents were sold and agreements were reached on the rights to 165 others. An Intellectual Property Protection Day was also held during the event.

A patent search application for mobile devices was recently launched, enabling users to have more convenient access to patent information via cellphones. Developed by the China Patent Information Center, the app can be used on Android-based devices, and it will eventually be extended to other systems, such as iOS and Window 8 in the future. The app allows access to the patent databases of countries across the globe, including China, and provides online translation for patent names and summaries, said Ning Long, Director of the Center.

The Chinese government expressed deep regret as the U.S. kept the country on its “priority watch list” due to insufficient efforts in intellectual property rights protection, the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) said. China is on the list for the ninth year. The office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) has grave concerns about misappropriation of trade secrets in China, and incremental progress on a few of China’s many other significant IPR and market-access challenges, the Agency said in its 2013 Special 301 Report, an annual assessment of IPR enforcement. “Obtaining effective enforcement of IPR in China remains a central challenge, as it has been for many years. This situation has been made worse by cyber theft,” the report said. It also took note of several positive developments and said that in the past year, the climate for IPR protection and enforcement continued to reflect efforts toward, and opportunities for improvement, as well as challenges for U.S. rights holders. The Commerce Ministry’s statement said: “The Chinese government highly emphasizes IPR protection and has made great progress in IPR legislation and enforcement. Recent years saw a series of enforcements in IPR protection.” “The situation of IPR infringement is still challenging and we must maintain intensive combat,” Vice Premier Wang Yang told a conference on April 28.

Courts across China handled 83,850 civil lawsuits over intellectual property rights in 2012, up 44.1% year-on-year, according to the IPR white paper of the Supreme People’s Court. In 2012, courts across the country received about 87,420 new civil lawsuits over IPR issues, a year-on-year jump of 46%. More than 60,000 suspects were detained for IPR infringement and producing and selling substandard commodities in 43,000 cases in 2012, with a total value of CNY11.3 billion. The iPad trademark dispute between Apple and Shenzhen’s Proview topped a list of 10 major court cases involving IPR infringement last year. Apple eventually agreed to pay USD60 million to Proview in a court-mediated settlement in July. The court also released 50 typical IPR cases from 2012 and, for the first time, 10 “innovative cases” involving new legal fields or matters, which experts said can be used as a guide on how to handle similar lawsuits. Wang Chuang, Vice President of the Third Tribunal for civil trials said the number of IPR cases involving an overseas party is on the rise, and there is an increase in the number of cases in which transnational companies are accused of infringing the rights of Chinese firms. He also said transnational companies can have full confidence in China’s judicial protection of intellectual property rights because of improvements China has made in recent years.

Intellectual property is an increasingly important part of improving China’s core competitiveness and restructuring its economy, Tian Lipu, Commissioner of the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO), said in a video speech at the launch ceremony for IP Promotion Week on April 26. In 2012 alone, SIPO granted some 217,000 invention patents, raising the number of patents owned per 10,000 people in the country to 3.2. People and institutions filed 688,000 applications to have works copyrighted and registered 139,000 copyrights for computer software, both of which hit a record high for the country. By the end of last year, China’s accumulative trademark inventory had expanded to 6.4 million, enabling the country to hold on to its first-place position in the world. SIPO has grown into the largest office worldwide for dealing with patents and industrial designs, and China’s trade office also ranks first in the world, said World Intellectual Property Organization Director Francis Gurry. “The next generation of creation is going to belong to China,” Gurry said. In some Chinese metropolises, copyright-based industries have contributed more than 10% to GDP, Gurry noted, adding that they are “truly extraordinary achievements”. The week-long campaign was held under the theme of “implementing IP strategy and supporting innovation-driven development”. Tian said he hopes that the events are not only a stage for IP professionals but also a platform for the public to focus on IP issues, the China Daily reports.