Criticism of China’s IP protection lacks evidence, official says as trade negotiations set to restart
- Some nations’ allegations are non-specific, says Shen Changyu, head of the National Intellectual Property Administration
- US officials expected to arrive for talks in Beijing starting on Tuesday
Critics of China’s intellectual property protection “lack evidence”, and IP infringement is a worldwide problem, a senior Chinese official said on Sunday.
Speaking at a press conference, Shen Changyu, head of the National Intellectual Property Administration, said critics also ignored the significant progress China had made on IP protection.
“Some countries’ criticisms of China’s IP protection lack evidence and are non-specific,” he said.
IP protection had been a topic of “deep concern” in the ongoing Sino-US trade negotiations and Beijing would continue to take measures to “comprehensively strengthen” its IP protections this year, he said.
The measures would include amending IP laws to increase the cost for infringements, boosting the efficiency of IP approvals, and providing lower-cost and more convenient IP protection channels, he said.
Washington and Beijing last year slapped import duties on each other’s products as the US seeks reforms to Chinese practices that it says result in the theft of US intellectual property and the forced transfer of technology from US companies to Chinese firms.
US slams China for ‘failure’ on intellectual property reform
This month, US President Donald Trump’s administration labelled 36 countries as inadequately protecting US intellectual property rights, and kept China on a priority watch list, a move Beijing said lacked objective standards and fairness.
“China has some problems and we are stepping up efforts to fix them. But meanwhile, IP infringement is a global problem that exists in every country,” Shen said.
“Every country should try to improve their business environment and fix their problems, instead of window dressing themselves,” he said.
