On the afternoon of 26 september, the 13th people's standing committee of hunan province voted to adopt the hunan province intellectual property protection and promotion regulations, which came into effect on 1 january 2023. The full text of the regulations follows:
Regulation on the protection and promotion of intellectual property in hunan province
(adopted by the standing committee of the thirteenth people's congress, hunan province, at its 33rd meeting, on 26 september 2022)
Chapter i general provisions
The first is to strengthen the protection of intellectual property rights, to stimulate innovation throughout society, to promote the building of a strong province of intellectual property rights and to promote quality development, and to develop this regulation in accordance with the relevant laws and administrative regulations, taking into account the actual situation in the province。
Article ii. These regulations shall apply to the creation, application, protection, management, services and related activities of intellectual property rights within the province's administrative area。
For the purposes of these regulations, intellectual property rights are those which are exclusive to the right-holder under the law in respect of works, inventions, practical innovations, designs, trademarks, geographical indications, trade secrets, the design of integrated circuits, new varieties of plants and other objects provided for by law。
Article 3. People's governments above county level shall strengthen their leadership in intellectual property protection and promotion, exercise territorial responsibility, integrate intellectual property protection and promotion into national economic and social development planning, develop sound deliberative mechanisms, integrate intellectual property development funding into fiscal budgets, pursue policies for allocation that are oriented towards increasing the value of knowledge, and integrate key aspects of intellectual property protection and promotion。
Article iv. The intellectual property authority of the people's government at the county level and above coordinates the protection and promotion of intellectual property rights in the region, and is responsible for the protection and promotion of intellectual property rights such as patents, trademarks, geographical indications, and commercial secrets; the copyright authority is responsible for the protection and promotion of copyrights; and the agricultural and forestry authority or other sector determined by the people's government is responsible for the protection and promotion of new plant varieties. The departments provided for in this paragraph are collectively referred to as those with responsibility for intellectual property administration。
In accordance with their respective responsibilities, the people's governments at the county level and above are responsible for the development, reform, education, science and technology, public security, administration of justice, finance, social security of human resources, industrial and informationalization, commerce, culture and tourism, and customs, for the protection and promotion of intellectual property rights。
Article 5. People's governments at the county level and above and their relevant departments shall strengthen intellectual property education and guidance, raise awareness of intellectual property rights throughout society, and create a social environment that respects knowledge, is innovative, is law-abiding and fair。
All types of schools should provide universal access to intellectual property, raise students ' awareness of respect for and protection of intellectual property rights, and develop students ' capacity for innovative thinking and innovation。
Article 6 encourages and supports piloting of industrial parks, innovations in intellectual property protection and promotion mechanisms, improvements in related policy measures, and the creation of replicable innovation experiences and outcomes。
Article 7. The departmental people's governments, which have responsibility for the administration of intellectual property rights, shall establish mechanisms for external cooperation and exchange of intellectual property rights with the relevant sectors, such as commerce, and shall establish an international system for the protection and promotion of intellectual property rights。
To encourage the participation of enterprises, institutions of higher learning, scientific institutions, etc., in international cooperation and exchanges on intellectual property rights, to strengthen the overseas intellectual property rights landscape and to enhance international competitiveness。
Chapter ii creation and application
Article 8 - people's governments above the county level shall promote the establishment of a market-led, government-led, socially participatory, productive and research-based intellectual property innovation system for the creation and application of intellectual property。
Article 9 encourages enterprises, schools, scientific and research institutions and individuals to strengthen intellectual property creation and reserves, increase original high-value intellectual property ownership, enhance efficiency in the application of intellectual property rights and promote deeper integration of intellectual property rights with industry。
(c) encourage cooperation between enterprises, institutions of higher learning and scientific research institutions to establish new types of research and development institutions, such as technology research and development centres, industrial research institutes, and chinese testing bases, to undertake innovation in priority industries and key technological areas and to enhance technological innovation capabilities。
:: encourage enterprises, institutions of higher learning, scientific institutions, etc., to build innovative coalitions, deploy patent pools, participate in standard-setting and strengthen the internationalization of the necessary patents for standard-setting。
Article 10 the science and technology department of the provincial people's government shall prepare and publish periodically, in cooperation with the relevant authorities, inventories of key technologies and priority products. For key technology and priority product projects included in the catalogue, project authorities should organize pre-project intellectual property assessments。
Article 11 the intellectual property authorities of the people's governments above the county level shall establish, in conjunction with the development reform, science and technology, industry and information technology, business, etc., sound mechanisms for the navigation of relevant intellectual property, and periodically publish the results of the navigational products, which shall guide regional development orientation, priority industrial planning, major enterprise decision-making and technological innovation direction. The provincial people's governments ' intellectual property authorities should direct and support the development of public-interest intellectual property navigation tools and promote the application of navigational products services。
Enterprises, schools and scientific and research institutions are encouraged to carry out intellectual property navigation, either by themselves or through professional services, to provide the basis and support for research and development, production operations, talent management, etc。
Article 12. The people's governments at the county level and above shall promote innovation in the fields of bio-cropping, intelligent agriculture, facilities agriculture, agro-processing, green agricultural inputs, strengthening the intellectual property rights (iprs) layout of key technologies in agriculture, regional brands, geographical indications, etc., promoting the green development of regional brand brands, geographical indications and feature industries, historical and cultural heritage, and rural renewal of organic integration, upgrading regional brands, geographical signs and product value addition。
Article 13 encourages enterprises, schools, scientific research institutions and individuals with technology-related scientific and technological achievements to evaluate their technical value, market prospects, etc. Before applying for intellectual property rights and to improve the quality of intellectual property claims。
Scientific and technological projects that use financial resources should be evaluated for technical value, market prospects, etc., prior to applications for intellectual property rights。
Article 14. The departments of the people's governments above the county level with responsibility for the administration of intellectual property rights should strengthen the building of platforms such as intellectual property transactions, industrial intellectual property operations and promote the conversion of intellectual property rights。
To encourage enterprises, institutions of higher learning and research institutions to establish specialized intellectual property transfer agencies, to cooperate in the transfer of intellectual property, to form industrial intellectual property unions and to promote the synergistic use of intellectual property。
Article 15: enterprises, institutions of higher learning and scientific research institutions shall establish a system for the distribution of the benefits of the conversion of the results of their work, which may be agreed upon with the persons who have completed their work in respect of the use, attribution, transfer, conversion, etc. Of the intellectual property rights, specifying the manner, proportion or amount of the conversion benefits to be shared with those who have made a significant contribution to the completion or transformation of their work. If otherwise provided by law or administrative statute, it shall be in accordance with its provisions。
Article 16 encourages financial institutions to innovate financial service models and financial products, provide financing security services such as intellectual property pledge financing, securitization of intellectual property rights, expand the scope of intellectual property financing guarantees and increase support for the financing of intellectual property rights of smes. Local financial organizations are encouraged by law to provide financing services to intellectual property rights holders. Insurance institutions are encouraged to carry out operations such as insurance guarantees for intellectual property pledge financing, and licensed credit insurance。
Financial institutions, intellectual property services, etc., are encouraged to develop intellectual property-specific evaluation systems and to improve intellectual property financing risk prevention, risk-sharing and intellectual property assessment and pledge disposal mechanisms。
Article 17 inducing various types of social capital to provide financial support for intellectual property-intensive industries, enterprises with intellectual property advantages and original high-value intellectual property culture projects。
Chapter iii protection
Article 18 establishes a system of intellectual property protection that combines administrative protection with judicial protection, business autonomy with industry self-regulation, public integrity and social oversight, and establishes mechanisms for the protection of rights that are clear, well divided, consistent and efficient。
Article 19 sectors of people's governments above county level with responsibility for intellectual property administration should strengthen the development of intellectual property law enforcement, improve intellectual property law enforcement mechanisms, deal promptly with intellectual property infringement disputes in accordance with their respective responsibilities, investigate and prosecute intellectual property violations and protect the legitimate rights and interests of intellectual property rights holders。
Where the parties apply for administrative treatment of intellectual property disputes, the authority responsible for the administration of intellectual property may conciliate on the basis of an application made by the parties before making an administrative decision。
Where a party applies for an administrative decision in a patent tort dispute, the intellectual property authority shall decide in a timely manner in accordance with the law。
Article 20 people's governments at the county level and above shall organize joint enforcement mechanisms for intellectual property, implement harmonized enforcement standards, rules of evidence and case guidance systems, improve systems for notification of intellectual property violations, referral of cases, law enforcement links, mutual recognition of findings of identification, and strengthen cross-sectoral and cross-regional enforcement collaboration。
Provincial people's governments should promote joint inter-provincial intellectual property enforcement and collaboration mechanisms。
Article 21 the departments of the people's governments above the county level with responsibility for intellectual property management should develop intellectual property protection measures adapted to the cyber-environment and digital economy, and establish quick online and offline coordination and enforcement coordination mechanisms。
The departments of the people's governments above the county level with responsibility for the administration of intellectual property rights should strengthen cooperation with e-commerce platform operators, industry organizations, professional bodies, etc., and use modern information technology to promote innovations in intellectual property protection in the areas of leads and information verification, the tracking of priority commodity flows, the dissemination of priority product networks, the transfer of intellectual property rights, tort monitoring and identification, evidence-gathering and documentation。
Article 22 the intellectual property authority of the provincial people's government, in cooperation with the authorities concerned, shall strengthen the development of the rapid defence mechanism for intellectual property and improve the layout of the intellectual property protection centre, the rapid defence centre and the assistance centre for the defence of rights。
The approved intellectual property protection centre, the rapid defence centre and the human rights assistance centre should serve as professional technical support platforms for the conduct of protection services such as rapid vetting, quick determination of rights and rapid defence of rights。
Article 23. The authorities responsible for the administration of intellectual property rights at the county level and above may directly order the immediate cessation of the decision to deal with the infringement of intellectual property rights when the authorities responsible for the administration of intellectual property rights at the county level or above have taken a decision to establish the infringement of intellectual property rights, or when the people's courts have issued a decision establishing the violation of intellectual property rights, and the infringers have again committed the same violation of the same intellectual property right。
Article 24 the intellectual property authorities of the people's governments above the county level shall promote the establishment of sound mechanisms for the protection of business secrets, strengthen the organization, coordination, guidance and supervision of the protection of business secrets, and guide business secret rights holders to the establishment of improved systems for the management of business secrets。
Article 25. The agricultural, forestry or other sectors determined by the people's governments at the county level and above shall strengthen the protection of new varieties of good plants, investigate and punish, in accordance with the law, violations of the right to falsely authorized varieties and new varieties of plants and settle disputes on application。
The agricultural, forestry or other sectors identified by the people's governments should strengthen the management of standard samples of varieties, accelerate the development of techniques for the detection of species molecules, standard development and the development of a database of dna fingerprints, and promote the retroactive management of the entire process。
Article 26. The departments of the people's governments at the county level and above with responsibility for the administration of intellectual property rights should support the establishment of a model of intellectual property protection for enterprises, institutions of higher learning, scientific research institutions and related services, such as a sound internet, big data, artificial intelligence, block chains, online education, teleworking, smart medicine, etc。
The departments of the people's governments above the county level with responsibility for the administration of intellectual property rights should promote the establishment of data-related intellectual property protection mechanisms and rules for transactions, the legal protection of intellectual property rights resulting from activities such as data collection, storage, use, processing, transmission, provision, disclosure, trading, etc., and the provision of guidance to intellectual property rights holders on compliance with intellectual property rights in digital technologies, products and services and protection against the risk of abuse。
Article 27 the intellectual property authorities of the people's governments above the county level shall strengthen the quality orientation of intellectual property rights by directing natural persons, legal persons and organizations of illegal persons to apply for patent and trademark registration in accordance with the law, and shall investigate and punish, in accordance with the law, any irregular patent application for the purpose of protecting innovation and any malicious application for trademark registration for the purpose of use。
An intellectual property agent who knows or should have known of the existence of an irregular patent application under the preceding paragraph, or who makes a malicious application for registration of a trademark, may not accept its commission。
Article 28. The departments and judicial bodies of the people's governments at the county level and above with responsibility for the administration of intellectual property rights shall establish sound mechanisms for the administrative protection and judicial protection of intellectual property rights, improve the mechanisms for the transfer of cases, the notification of leads and the sharing of information, and promote the harmonization of standards for administrative enforcement and the administration of justice。
Article 29: the people's courts shall improve the mechanisms for the filing, adjudication and enforcement of intellectual property cases, implement, in accordance with the law, the system of punitive compensation for intellectual property violations and protection of intellectual property acts, improve the system of guidance on intellectual property cases, optimize the allocation of judicial resources and improve the quality and efficiency of intellectual property cases。
Article 30 the people's procuratorate shall strengthen the legal supervision of criminal, civil and administrative proceedings relating to intellectual property, undertake proceedings for the public good relating to intellectual property and promote the comprehensive protection of intellectual property inspection。
In cases of highly skilled intellectual property rights, people's courts, people's procuratorates, public security organs and departments with responsibility for the administration of intellectual property rights may select technical personnel to serve as technical investigators and make technical inquiries; technical experts in the relevant fields may be hired from enterprises, institutions of higher learning and scientific institutions to provide advice on major, difficult and complex technical issues。
Article 32 the people's courts shall improve the interface mechanism for intellectual property disputes with the departments of the people's governments above the county level with responsibility for intellectual property administration。
The departments of the people's governments above the county level with responsibility for the administration of intellectual property rights, and the judicial administration, shall provide the necessary support and guidance to mediation organizations for the mediation of intellectual property disputes。
The establishment of professional mediation organizations is encouraged in accordance with the law, which leads parties to settle disputes through conciliation。
Article 33 agreements of a civil contractual nature reached through mediation between the departments of the people's governments with responsibility for the administration of intellectual property rights at the county level and above, the people's mediation organizations, the trade mediation organizations or other organizations with a mediation function may, in accordance with the law, apply to the competent people's courts for confirmation of their validity。
Article 34 organizers and hosts of exhibitions, fairs, fairs and fairs shall comply with their intellectual property protection obligations in accordance with the law and shall comply with the following provisions:
(i) to urge exhibitors to conduct an intellectual property risk inventory of the project and to require exhibitors to make a commitment that the project will not infringe on the intellectual property of others
(ii) publicizing procedures and rules for receiving and handling intellectual property complaints
(iii) the disclosure of the handling measures and complaint rules for products suspected of violating intellectual property rights
(iv) complete preservation of intellectual property dispute information and archives at fairs and cooperation with administrative bodies in investigations and processing。
Article 35 the operator of an electronic commerce platform shall fulfil his or her intellectual property protection obligations by establishing a system of intellectual property protection and a mechanism for the defence of rights, and shall not place unreasonable conditions or obstacles on the legal defence of intellectual property rights holders。
The intellectual property authorities of the provincial people's governments, together with the business sector, should develop guidelines for the protection of intellectual property rights in electronic commerce and guide and enforce the implementation of intellectual property protection obligations by the operators of e-commerce platforms。
Chapter iv services and management
Article 36 people's governments at the county level and above and their relevant departments shall establish a sound intellectual property public service system, develop and publish public service lists, standards and processes, provide intellectual property legal policy guidance, advocacy advice, information sharing, etc., and promote the standardization, equalization and facilitation of intellectual property basic public services。
People's governments above the county level and their relevant departments should support the establishment of integrated intellectual property public services or service clusters to provide one-stop intellectual property public services。
Article 37 people's governments at the county level and above and their related departments should strengthen the development of public information service platforms on intellectual property, building on the national intellectual property public information service system。
(c) encourage institutions of higher education, scientific institutions, etc. In a position to do so, to open up intellectual property information services to society。
Article 38 the people's governments at the county level and above and their relevant departments shall take measures to support the development of intellectual property services, such as intellectual property agents, operations, assessments, legal services and the development of intellectual property brand services; support the development of industry organizations of intellectual property services and establish standards and norms for industrial services。
Intellectual property services shall, in accordance with the law, carry out activities such as intellectual property agency, operation, evaluation, legal services, observance of professional ethics and discipline, honesty, and defence of the legitimate interests of the client。
Article 39 the people's governments at the county level and above and their relevant departments should strengthen the development and management of the intellectual property workforce, incorporate the high-level intellectual property talent and the much-needed shortage of human resources into their introduction and development programmes, and build systems and training bases for intellectual property talent。
Institutions of higher learning are encouraged to build intellectual property disciplines, with a focus on leading national intellectual property professions and curricula, and on developing complex intellectual property talent。
Article 40 the human resources and social security department of the provincial people's government shall, in conjunction with the authorities concerned, establish a system of evaluation and recruitment for the sound title of intellectual property, making the contribution in the creation, use, protection, management and service of intellectual property an essential condition for the evaluation and employment of the relevant professional technical title。
Article 41 the provincial people's governments, with which they have responsibility for the administration of intellectual property rights, should establish, in cooperation with the authorities concerned, mechanisms to defend the protection of intellectual property rights abroad, provide guidance on the overseas intellectual property regime, issue timely warning of risks, strengthen the pool of experts and support the handling of overseas intellectual property disputes。
Enterprises are encouraged to increase their financial investment and to increase their capacity and level of intellectual property rights advocacy abroad through market-based creation of mutual funds for the defence of intellectual property rights abroad。
Article 42. Where significant economic, scientific and technological activities involving intellectual property are the subject of large financial investments and have a greater impact on economic and social development and the public interest, the project manager shall organize intellectual property analysis reviews to evaluate the intellectual property situation, risk of infringement, etc. Of the project。
Enterprises, institutions of higher learning and scientific institutions are encouraged to establish a system of intellectual property analysis reviews and conduct intellectual property reviews。
Article 43 the intellectual property authorities of the provincial people's governments should work with the business, science and technology sectors to improve the ipr review rules for technology exports。
The provincial people's governments, in the sectors of commerce, science and technology, market supervision and regulation, agriculture, rural areas, forestry, etc., shall, in accordance with the regulations, carry out intellectual property reviews of foreign investment mergers and acquisitions that are subject to state-mandated security checks for the transfer abroad of state-restricted technologies。
Article 44 the departments of the people's governments above county level with responsibility for the administration of intellectual property rights, as well as other relevant departments, shall establish a sound system for the prevention and control of emergencies in the field of intellectual property rights, strengthen the monitoring of intellectual property rights emergencies, establish contingency plans for emergencies and improve and implement mechanisms for the reporting, emergency disposal and dissemination of information on major events。
Article 45 the provincial people's governments, which have responsibility for the administration of intellectual property rights, shall, in conjunction with the development reform, develop a social credit system in the area of intellectual property rights, establish by law a joint disciplinary mechanism for the proper classification of intellectual property credit ratings, credit evaluation, publicity of integrity, observance of trust incentives and credit failures, and undertake the integration, evaluation and restoration of intellectual property credit information。
