Providing its national security, China cannot rely on foreign technology, expert says

Beijing. Jul 13. Silkroadnews - By the end of June China had 1.475 million patents for inventions, which means that for every 10,000 people in China there are 10.6 patents for inventions on average, the representatives of the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) of China say, Global Times writes.
In the first half of 2018, the number of disputes related to obtaining patents for inventions increased 29.5% compared to the same period last year. According to SIPO, by the end of June, 13,600 trademark infringement cases had been reviewed, and the total value of these cases amounted to 210 million yuan ($31 million).
“In the past, when China's industrial development partly relied on technology supplied by the outside world, the motivation for innovation was not as strong as that at present. Due to the trade war with the US, China's intention to strengthen its innovation capability will be even stronger than the past,” the agency quoted Bai Ming, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation.
China still needs to redouble its efforts to develop such large technologies as optics, turbine engines and medical equipment, the Director-General of the Planning and Development Department of SIPO Bi Nan said.
During the first half of the year, the SIPO received 23,000 applications for patents, of which 21,600 came from representatives of the domestic industry, which is a 7.6% increase year-on-year.
Among the 35 sectors classified by the World Intellectual Property Organization, the number of patents granted to domestic inventions exceeded the number of foreign ones in 32 categories.
“In the short term, the US’ trade war against China might bring some difficulties and challenges, but in the long term, it will force China to increase investment and make much more efforts to reduce its reliability on core technologies introduced from the outside world,” said Zhao Zhanling, legal advisor to the Internet Society of China.
With this, Bi noted, that Chinese organizations are not as competent as their foreign counterparts, based on the number of long-term patents whose validity can be extended for more than 10 years. The comparison was particularly evident in 28 of the 35 sectors, including transport facilities and computer science, she said.
“We should endeavor to improve the quality of patents, keep mapping out critical inventions in key areas and continue to reinforce the protection and utility of patents in important sectors,” she added.