There have been 59,674 invention patents in forestry sector since the implementation of patent law to the end of 2012, according to the Comprehensive Report of Forestry Intellectual Property in 2012 (“Report”) released by the State Forestry Administration (SFA).
According to a SFA official, forestry has made a great progress in its IPR creation, utilization, protection and administration since the establishment of a Chinese patent system, especially since the implementation of the Outline of National Intellectual Property Strategy.
Patent applications have been annually exceeding 10,000 since 2008. As of the end of 2012, there had been 128,960 patents in forestry area. Some model businesses which performed successfully in patented technology transfer arose in such technical areas as tree seedling cultivation, wood processing, forest chemical processing, bamboo and rattan resource utilization, raising the market competitiveness of traditional industry. It also improved the development quality and efficiency of the field. Patent enforcement was strengthened so as to severely crack down on infringements. In patent administration, a national forestry demonstration initiative, which covered 55 forestry research institutes and key forestry enterprises, was launched. Up to now, the first batch of 26 forestry IPR pilot units have passed quality acceptance, helping cultivate a group of forestry enterprises with high-level IP administrative capacity and strong core competitiveness.
The SFA also issued a National Flower Industry Development Plan (2011-2020) ("Plan"), which provided that during the 10-year Plan period, China would focus on the development of flower industry with independent intellectual property rights.
The SFA official said China's flower industry was being shifted from traditional flower farming to flower processing and servicing. The collection and preservation of varieties of flowers, variety innovation and technology development were key to providing more new varieties of independent intellectual property rights for the flower industry.
(Source:IPR in China)
