The State Council issued a document stating that the central and local governments will decide who will do the work and who will pay for intellectual property matters

In order to strengthen the protection of intellectual property rights and promote innovation, the central government has a new measure.

On the evening of December 29, the General Office of the State Council released the "Reform Plan for the Division of Financial Powers and Expenditure Responsibilities between the Central and Local Governments in the Field of Intellectual Property" (hereinafter referred to as the "Plan"), which clarified which matters in the field of intellectual property should be done by the central government or local governments, and who would pay for the money. The Plan will be implemented on January 1, 2024. In general, the central government has strengthened the protection of intellectual property rights and given more autonomy to local governments, so as to give full play to the enthusiasm of the central and local governments, comprehensively strengthen the protection of intellectual property rights, and support innovation.

In recent years, China has continuously strengthened the protection of intellectual property rights in order to stimulate innovation, optimize the business environment, and build a new system of a higher-level open economy. Obviously, the government is a key to promoting intellectual property protection. Therefore, how to divide the financial authority and expenditure responsibility of governments at all levels in the field of intellectual property is of great significance to promote relevant work.

The division of fiscal powers and expenditure responsibilities is, in short, the level of government that should do the work and the level of government that should pay for the money. In recent years, China has promoted the division of powers and responsibilities in many fields such as education, science and technology, medical and health care, ecology and environment, transportation, public culture, natural resources, emergency rescue, etc., and the above-mentioned intellectual property rights are the latest areas, with the aim of changing the unclear, unreasonable and non-standard division of powers and responsibilities in these fields, and clarifying the rights and responsibilities of governments at all levels through reform, so as to implement the corresponding public service responsibilities of the government and improve efficiency.

For example, the above-mentioned "Plan" hopes to clarify the relationship between the rights and responsibilities of the central government and the local government in the field of intellectual property, comprehensively strengthen the protection of intellectual property rights, improve the intellectual property protection system in new fields and new business forms, maintain national security in the field of intellectual property, strengthen the legal protection of intellectual property rights, and promote the further improvement of the creation, application, protection, management and service level of intellectual property rights, so as to provide strong support for the implementation of the innovation-driven development strategy and the strategy of building a strong country with intellectual property rights and promoting high-quality development.

The Plan subdivides seven major matters in the field of intellectual property, including macro management of intellectual property rights, authorization and confirmation, application promotion, protection, public services, foreign-related work, talents and other matters, and clarifies which of these matters are borne by the central government, which are borne by the local government, and which are jointly undertaken by the central and local governments. Whoever has the authority to do so bears the responsibility for expenditure.

Internationally, in most countries, the central government assumes the responsibility for the protection of intellectual property rights. One of the highlights of this reform is the appropriate strengthening of the central government's financial authority in the protection of intellectual property rights.

"Programme" It is clarified that the construction of a national intellectual property protection system, the construction of a national response mechanism for foreign-related intellectual property disputes, the evaluation of the national intellectual property protection status and performance supervision and evaluation, the organization of national special actions for intellectual property protection, the organization of investigation, supervision and supervision of major intellectual property violations that have a major impact in the country or across regions, the customs protection of intellectual property rights, the administrative adjudication and administrative mediation of patent infringement disputes that have a significant impact in the country, the administrative rulings related to the early resolution mechanism of drug patent disputes, the administrative rulings on the standards for the collection of royalties by copyright collective management organizations, and the administrative mediation of copyright disputes that have a significant impact on the countryAdministrative adjudication and administrative mediation of disputes over infringement of exclusive rights in layout design of integrated circuits, review of the external transfer of intellectual property rights involved in the security review of mergers and acquisitions of domestic enterprises by foreign investors, examination and approval of the transfer of new plant variety rights to foreign countries, organization and promotion of the national software legalization work, collection and publication of the plant variety protection directory, which are confirmed as the financial powers of the central government, and the central government shall bear the responsibility for expenditure.

The construction of a local intellectual property protection system, the construction of a local response mechanism for foreign-related intellectual property disputes, the evaluation of local intellectual property protection status and performance supervision and evaluation, the enforcement of local intellectual property rights, rapid and coordinated protection, and assistance in rights protection, the administrative adjudication and administrative mediation of intellectual property infringement disputes not included in the central financial authority, and the exclusive rights of patent rights and layout designs of integrated circuits in the export of technology. The review of the external transfer of computer software copyrights shall be organized and promoted in the local software legalization work, and shall be confirmed as the local financial authority, and the local government shall bear the responsibility for expenditure.

Strengthening the protection of intellectual property rights is the most important part of improving the property rights protection system, and is also the greatest incentive for enhancing the mainland's economic competitiveness. The central government's assumption of more responsibility for the protection of intellectual property rights will obviously promote the overall improvement of protection capacity and level.

Of course, the division of financial powers should also consider factors such as the scope of benefits, the complexity of information and the enthusiasm of mobilization, so some local areas that benefit more and are familiar with the relevant affairs will be entrusted to the local government, so as to improve administrative efficiency and reduce costs, and better motivate local initiative.

The Plan gives more autonomy to local governments in the field of intellectual property rights and encourages them to better promote relevant work.

For example, in terms of the promotion of the use of intellectual property rights, the promotion of the transfer and transformation of local intellectual property rights and the supervision and management of the operation of intellectual property transactions, the evaluation of intellectual property rights in major local economic and scientific and technological activities, the registration of contracts for the publication of foreign books, the registration of contracts for the publication and reproduction of overseas electronic publications and computer software, Copying the registration of entrustment contracts for overseas audio-visual products, applying for the registration of new plant variety rights abroad, carrying out patent navigation in combination with the industrial development of the region, supervising the local intellectual property service industry, and undertaking the examination of the patent agent qualification examination within the administrative region, which is confirmed as the local financial authority, and the local government bears the responsibility for expenditure.

In addition, the "Plan" reduces and regulates the joint financial powers of the central and local governments. Compared with other fields, the central and local governments have more common financial powers, while the common financial powers in the field of intellectual property are relatively few, and the division of rights and responsibilities is clear.

For example, the Plan recognizes the registration of works by domestic authors or other copyright holders as a joint financial authority of the central and local governments, and the central and local governments bear the responsibility for expenditures respectively. Among them, the central government shall bear the responsibility for expenditure for the registration handled by the state copyright management department, and the local government shall bear the responsibility for expenditure for the registration handled by the local copyright management department.

With the clear division of rights and responsibilities between the central and local governments in the field of intellectual property, the Plan requires that each province divide the financial powers and expenditure responsibilities in the field of intellectual property at the provincial level and below in light of the actual situation.

According to the plan, it is necessary to clarify the responsibilities of provincial-level people's governments to promote intellectual property work within their administrative regions, strengthen provincial-level overall planning, and increase financial support for areas with financial difficulties within their administrative regions. It is necessary to shift the responsibility for expenditure in the field of intellectual property that is suitable for the local government at a higher level to be borne upward, so as to avoid the grassroots government from bearing excessive expenditure responsibility.

Luo Zhiheng, chief economist of Guangdong Kai Securities, told Yicai that intellectual property rights are very important for scientific and technological innovation and the construction of a new development pattern, and the reform of the division of rights and responsibilities between the central and local governments of intellectual property rights has strengthened the protection of intellectual property rights. At present, the scale of fiscal expenditure on intellectual property rights is not large, and in the future, it is necessary to increase investment, and further improve the relevant systems to reduce the cost of rights protection. The reform of the rights and responsibilities of the central government is a continuation of the reform of the division of powers and responsibilities of the central government in 2016, and this reform will be further deepened in the future, with vertical management strengthened in some areas and reduced local expenditures entrusted by the central government.