Source: China Intellectual Property News
The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) came into effect on January 1, 2022. 10 countries are included—Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam (ASEAN members) and China, Japan, New Zealand and Australia. RCEP means the official establishment of the world’s largest free trade zone, and it will benefit the enterprises and the customers in the region.
Under the RCEP Agreement, there is one Chapter related to the intellectual property, which covers copyrights, trademarks, geographical indications, patents, designs, genetic resources, traditional knowledge, unfair competition, the enforcement and cooperation of intellectual property rights, and the transparency of the operation of the intellectual property systems.
To respond to the implementation of RCEP in China, the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) recently reviewed relevant obligations and formed a plan defining the internal responsible departments and their obligations and providing for detailed measures, goals and timelines.
In Guangxi, the provincial IP administration plans to spend 3 years to build a “Six-in-One” international intellectual property support system, establish and improve the platform for intellectual property protection, operation and information service so as to help the local enterprises get fully involved in RECP.
The “Six-in-One” IP support system includes Intellectual Property Protection Center, Fast IPR Protection Service Center, Guangxi Branch of the National Overseas Intellectual Property Dispute Response and Guidance Center, China-ASEAN/RCEP Intellectual Property Center, China-ASEAN/RCEP Trademark Research Center, and China-ASEAN/RCEP Big Data Center for Intellectual Property.
According to the official of Guangxi Intellectual Property Administration, the “Six-in-One” system can help to reduce the costs of obtaining and protecting the IP rights, and lower the costs of litigations and operations. It can improve the efficiency of granting and protecting patent rights, to encourage the allocation of IP resources for new products, new industries, new enterprises and new models of business.
The goal of the Intellectual Property Protection Center is to reduce the pendency of patent applications by speeding up the preliminary examination. The average period for examining the invention patent applications is expected to be reduced to 3 months from 22 months, approximately 1 month for the utility model applications and 10 working days for the design applications.
In addition, the China-ASEAN/RCEP Big Data Center for Intellectual Property will provide IP data of RCEP members, with access to the National Intellectual Property Big Data Center and the Information Network of Intellectual Property Protection and Supervision with a target to supporting the strategic planning and development and decision making of enterprises.
It is also known that China- ASEAN/RCEP International Intellectual Property Headquarters Base will be built up in Guangxi pilot free trade zone. The base will be an international hub for intellectual property services, and it will deepen the information exchange and international cooperation within the ASEAN/RCEP members, promote the service trade and right transfer of international intellectual property.
