Source: China Daily

In the first half of 2018, the number of patent applications proposed by China in the countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative - excluding China - was 2,759, an increase of 26.9 percent year-on-year.

Meanwhile, the number of patent applications filed by the countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative was 2,681, an increase of 31.6 percent year-on-year.

This points to a markedly improving picture in the intellectual property sector among these nations.

Since the High-level Conference on Intellectual Property for Countries Along the Belt and Road was held in July 2016, fruitful achievements have been made in terms of IP cooperation at the international level as follows:

Firstly, an IP cooperation mechanism with B&R countries has been further optimized.

An agreement on enhancing "Belt and Road" IP cooperation between the Chinese government and the World Intellectual Property Organization was signed in May 2017.

To date, about 40 countries involved in the initiative have established cooperative relations with China.

In the past two years, China also signed memorandums of understanding on IP cooperation with a large number of countries including Tajikistan, Vietnam, Laos, the Philippines, Bangladesh, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Albania, Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania and Egypt.

Secondly, over the past two years, China has carried out extensive cooperation with B&R countries in terms of IP education, publicity, training and information exchange.

A training course designed to strengthen patent scrutinizing skills in B&R countries has attracted trainees from 16 countries.

The high-level seminar on IP strategy and policy in Asia attracted the heads of IP agencies from 19 B&R countries.

Thirdly, IP achievements granted by Chinese authorities have become acknowledged by other B&R countries.

Since September 2017, China's granted patent is regarded as effective in Cambodia. In addition, starting from April in 2018, Laos has acknowledged the results of the patent examination in China.

This progress has enabled Chinese applicants to obtain patents and IP protection in those countries more efficiently. Cumbersome and repetitious review procedures no longer exist.

Fourthly, the rollout of IP rights established by Chinese enterprises in B&R countries has significantly expanded.

In the first half of 2018, mobile phone and technology company Xiaomi Corp ranked No 1 in terms of numbers of patent, applying 345 of its patents in B&R countries with 345 pieces, followed by Huawei Technologies Co Ltd with 175 and Oppo Electronics Corp with 159.

Another example is ZTE Corp, which has completed the layout of its cable network in 52 B&R countries and regions and brought wireless network services to 40 B&R countries and regions.