Gao Li: The Triple Dimensions of Intellectual Property Rights Empowering the Development of New Quality Productive Forces
Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) serve as the fundamental guarantee for innovation-driven development and act as an effective governance tool for enhancing a nation’s capacity for scientific and technological innovation. General Secretary Xi Jinping has emphasized that "innovation is the primary driving force leading development, and protecting intellectual property is protecting innovation." He further noted: "The prominent characteristic of new quality productive forces is innovation, encompassing innovation at the levels of technology and business models, as well as management and institutional innovation. We must continue to do a good job in the 'great essay' of innovation [1] and promote the accelerated development of new quality productive forces," and "To comprehensively build a modern socialist country, we must better advance the work of intellectual property protection." These important expositions profoundly reveal the intrinsic link between IPR protection and the development of new quality productive forces. Placing innovation at the core of the overall situation of our country’s modernization, continuously improving the IPR system, and striving to elevate the level of IPR protection to better transform institutional advantages into governance efficacy are of great significance for accelerating the development of new quality productive forces and promoting high-quality development in an all-around way.
1. Strengthening the institutional functions of IPR protection to stimulate the momentum and vitality of scientific and technological innovation
Strengthening IPR protection is both a vital component of improving the property rights system and a necessary measure to activate the momentum of scientific and technological innovation. Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has persisted in placing scientific and technological innovation at the core of the overall national development situation. It has attached great importance to the construction of legal systems for scientific and technological innovation, continuously improving legislation in this field. This includes the revision and perfection of a series of laws and regulations such as the Patent Law, Copyright Law, Anti-Unfair Competition Law, as well as the Law on Progress of Science and Technology and the Law on Promoting the Transformation of Scientific and Technological Achievements, providing a solid rule-of-law guarantee for promoting innovation and stimulating the creative vitality of the whole society. The Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee clarified the overarching goal of further comprehensively deepening reform: "to continue improving and developing the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics and to promote the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity." It proposed "improving the property rights system, legally protecting the property rights of various ownership economies equally and long-term, and establishing an efficient comprehensive management system for intellectual property." Taking institutional construction as the main thread, accelerating the improvement of the IPR system, and constructing systems and mechanisms that support comprehensive innovation will provide fertile soil for the development of new quality productive forces.
Scientific and technological innovation is a vital momentum for developing new quality productive forces. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "New quality productive forces are primarily catalyzed by revolutionary technological breakthroughs. Scientific and technological innovation can give rise to new industries, new models, and new momentum; it is the core element for developing new quality productive forces." This means we must face national strategies and the practical needs of economic and social development, strengthen basic research, and promote scientific and technological innovation—particularly original and disruptive technological innovations. Using key generic technologies, frontier leading technologies, modern engineering technologies, and disruptive technological innovations as breakthroughs, we must fully leverage the advantages of the whole-nation system [2] to win the battle for key core technologies, continuously enhance original innovation capabilities, and cultivate new momentum for developing new quality productive forces.
Better exerting the incentive and guarantee roles of intellectual property to stimulate the creative vitality of various actors can provide powerful impetus for advancing new quality productive forces. Currently, the "changes unseen in a century" [3] are accelerating, a new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation is developing in depth, and the technological revolution is intertwined with major power competition. High-tech fields have become the frontier and main battlefield of international competition. We must clearly recognize that our country’s original innovation capacity is still relatively weak, and the situation where some key core technologies are "chokeholded" [4] by others has not yet been fundamentally changed. We must strengthen the institutional supply for new fields and "new tracks" [5], establish and improve the IPR protection system, break down systemic and institutional barriers, seize the commanding heights of technological competition and future development, and enhance the level of independent innovation. We should focus specifically on IPR issues in fields such as big data, artificial intelligence, and quantum technology, promptly improving protection rules for patents and copyrights to store energy and empower the emergence of new industries, new models, and new momentum. Strengthening IPR protection for scientific and technological innovation results will better support breakthroughs in key core technologies and help achieve high-level scientific and technological self-reliance. We must implement stricter protection for technologies with high investment and long cycles, such as biopharmaceuticals, genetics, the seed industry, and traditional Chinese medicine, timely revising and improving specialized legislation such as the Regulations on the Protection of New Varieties of Plants to consolidate the foundational systems supporting comprehensive innovation.
2. Leveraging the role of IPR as a governance tool to promote the better integration of a promising government and an effective market
As a vital national strategic resource, intellectual property is a core element in promoting the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "Intellectual property protection work concerns the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity, concerns high-quality development, and concerns the happiness of the people’s lives." Looking at the history of the creation, transformation, and development of IPR systems, all countries with technological progress and economic prosperity possess relatively complete IPR protection systems. The Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee, closely following the theme of advancing Chinese-path modernization, mapped out strategic measures for deepening economic system reform. Handling the relationship between the government and the market is the core issue of economic system reform and a systemic institutional proposition for developing new quality productive forces. Intellectual property serves as a catalyst for cultivating new quality productive forces and an accelerator for high-quality development, playing an indispensable dual role of institutional supply and technical supply. Accelerating the transformation and application of intellectual property and promoting the transformation of scientific and technological achievements is an effective path to promote the deep integration of technological innovation and industrial innovation. It is a major measure for accelerating high-level scientific and technological self-reliance and developing new quality productive forces according to local conditions in the new situation.
New quality productive forces require the joint cultivation and driving of both the market and the government. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "To develop new quality productive forces, we must further comprehensively deepen reform and form relations of production that are compatible with them." This requires smoothing out the relations between the productive forces and relations of production, and between the economic base and the superstructure. Developing new quality productive forces requires both forward-looking planning and scientific policy support from the government, and the regulation of market mechanisms and continuous innovation by micro-entities such as enterprises. It requires both deepening reforms in the economic and scientific systems to break through the "bottlenecks and blockages" [6] restraining the development of new quality productive forces, and deepening the market-based allocation of factors to innovate the way production factors are configured, allowing various advanced high-quality factors to accelerate their gathering toward new quality productive forces.
Intellectual property is the bridge for transforming scientific and technological achievements into actual productive forces. Only by effectively playing the role of IPR as a governance tool and promoting the better integration of a promising government and an effective market can we further break down the systemic and institutional barriers restricting the development of new quality productive forces. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "Only by strictly protecting intellectual property can we improve the modern property rights system, deepen the market-based reform of factors, promote the decisive role of the market in resource allocation, and better play the role of the government." This important exposition scientifically clarifies the vital role of strengthening IPR protection in promoting the better integration of a promising government and an effective market. We must correctly recognize and grasp the relationship between strictly protecting IPR and preventing the abuse of rights. While striving to improve the level of IPR protection, we must also severely crack down on IPR abuses such as monopoly agreements, abuse of dominant market positions, and malicious infringement litigation. We must increase the legal costs for behaviors such as malicious trademark squatting, hoarding, and reselling to prevent the phenomenon of "zombie trademarks" and create a fair, orderly, market-oriented, and law-based business environment. We should accelerate research into constructing rules for data IPR protection, improve the data property rights protection system, and promote the smooth flow of data factors toward new quality productive forces. Furthermore, we should deepen the reform of the ownership system for service-related scientific and technological achievements, innovate the ways in which talent participates in IPR distribution, and fully stimulate the creative vitality of talent and the motivation for the transformation of scientific and technological achievements.
3. Releasing the utility of international IPR coordination to continuously expand high-level opening up
IPR protection has long been a focal point of international concern. Forming new institutional advantages for our country's participation in international IPR competition and cooperation will not only provide strong support for our enterprises to expand into international markets but also inject new momentum into the global intellectual property cause. For example, at the beginning of "reform and opening up," China began to establish its IPR system and actively joined relevant international conventions and integrated into the international rule system, continuously improving IPR protection and providing a necessary guarantee for creating a new pattern of opening to the outside world. Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, China has deeply advanced the construction of an "intellectual property power," achieving historical achievements in the IPR cause and walking a path of IPR development with Chinese characteristics. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "Intellectual property protection work concerns the overall situation of the country’s opening up; only by strictly protecting intellectual property can we optimize the business environment and build a new system for a higher-level open economy." Strengthening the rule-of-law guarantee for IPR is also an inevitable requirement for deeply participating in global IPR governance and expanding high-level opening up.
High-level opening up is a necessary condition for developing new quality productive forces. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "We must continuously expand high-level opening up, participate deeply in the global industrial division of labor and cooperation, make good use of both domestic and international resources," and "create a favorable international environment for the development of new quality productive forces." To accelerate the development of new quality productive forces, we must steadily expand institutional opening up in terms of rules, regulations, management, and standards, continuously enhance our country's discourse power in regional and even global economic and trade patterns, and actively shape a favorable external environment.
Coordinating the advancement of international cooperation and competition in IPR and creating a new situation of high-level opening up is conducive to fostering a favorable international environment for the development of new quality productive forces. Against the backdrop of intensifying global economic and trade frictions, international IPR rules are undergoing a new round of profound adjustment and change. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "We must coordinate the advancement of international cooperation and competition in the field of intellectual property," and "We must adhere to the concept of a community with a shared future for humanity, adhere to the principles of openness, inclusiveness, balance, and universal benefit, and deeply participate in global intellectual property governance under the framework of the World Intellectual Property Organization." We must correctly handle the relationship between domestic and international IPR law: emphasizing that IPR rule of law cannot be detached from the actual development of the country to prevent "blindly following" the protection standards of developed countries, while also strengthening international IPR exchanges and cooperation to promote the improvement of international IPR protection rules. In international negotiations on IPR protection, we must "dare to struggle and be good at struggling," [7] never giving up legitimate rights and interests, and effectively safeguarding national interests. We must adhere to the principle of "extensive consultation, joint contribution, and shared benefits," [8] pushing for the improvement of international rules and standards in IPR and related international trade and investment, and guiding the global IPR governance system toward a more just and reasonable direction. We should deepen regional IPR cooperation, strengthen legal collaboration with countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative, and advocate for knowledge sharing and information circulation. We must expand the scope of IPR cooperation, comprehensively enlarging external cooperation in areas such as examination and authorization, cross-border enforcement, and dispute resolution, promoting IPR protection and trade facilitation to help Chinese enterprises "go global." By telling China's IPR story well and providing Chinese solutions, we will actively integrate into the global IPR governance system, strive to create a new situation of high-level opening up, and foster a favorable international environment for the development of new quality productive forces.
(Author: Gao Li, Specially Invited Researcher at the Jiangsu Provincial Research Center for Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, and Professor at the Party School of the CPC Jiangsu Provincial Committee)
Source: Guangming Daily (December 05, 2024, Page 06)