Tian Lipu, Commissioner of China's State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) met with Jim Pooley, the visiting Deputy Director-General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in Beijing on June 20. Both parties exchanged opinions on cooperation under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) during the meeting, where Tian said that China will continue to provide high-quality services to global users and make greater contributions to the development of the PCT system.

Tian indicated that the cooperation between SIPO and WIPO is of historic and practical significance and should be continually enhanced especially under the PCT system. PCT has been playing a very unique role in the current global patent systems, said Tian. After years of development, it has become increasingly vigorous and mature.

China has been actively promoting the development of PCT in the country by organizing seminar tours with WIPO and establishing special departments in SIPO to take charge of PCT-related affairs on application examination, process management and quality control. Given that PCT also involves some challenges despite of its promising future, China should make greater efforts in this regard and provide high-quality services to global users.

Mr.Pooley approved SIPO's efforts in promoting the PCT system and looked forward to a continual fruitful cooperation between the two parties. He said that China's practice on patent could play an exemplary role in the promotion of the PCT mechanism, which was designed to provide one-stop services for global users.

Mr.Pooley took up his functions at WIPO on December 1, 2009 as Deputy Director-General of WIPO for PCT and technical transfer affairs. Before joining WIPO, he was a senior partner in Morrison & Foerster, a law firm in the U.S., taking charge of patent, copyright and trade secrets cases.

(Source:IPR in China)