On October 18, the International Chamber of Commerce in Hangzhou officially launched its Intellectual Property Special Committee. The event gathered a diverse group of participants, including invited experts, representatives from 51 member organizations, and delegates from 30 international intellectual property associations (AIPPI) from countries such as the United States, Australia, Italy, Singapore, Japan, and Malaysia.
Intellectual property (IP) is a core element of international competitiveness and a strategic resource for national development. Hangzhou is seizing the opportunity to build a national model for intellectual property protection, actively implementing an innovation-driven development strategy. The city is committed to advancing comprehensive reforms across the entire IP value chain, enhancing the quality of IP creation, maximizing the benefits of its use, strengthening protection measures, and improving management and service levels. Hangzhou aims to create thriving industrial ecosystems in five key areas: smart IoT, biomedicine, high-end equipment, new materials, and green energy.
The Special Committee was initiated by ten member enterprises of the Hangzhou International Chamber of Commerce, including Hangyang Group Co., Ltd., Beijing Zhonglun (Hangzhou) Law Firm, Zhejiang Huace Film & Television Co., Ltd., New H3C Technologies Co., Ltd., Taotian Group Co., Ltd., Wanshili Group Co., Ltd., Ant Technology Group Co., Ltd., Hailiang Group Co., Ltd., Zhejiang Dahua Technology Co., Ltd., and Zhejiang Uniview Technologies Co., Ltd.
Hangyang Group Co., Ltd. serves as the chair of the committee, while Beijing Zhonglun (Hangzhou) Law Firm takes on the role of executive vice-chair. Notable figures, such as AIPPI President Shoichi Okuyama, John Osha, founder and global director of Osha Liang LLP, and Long Chuanhong, director of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade’s Commercial Laws Department and head of AIPPI China, were invited as special experts.
The event also marked the release of the “China (Hangzhou) Intellectual Property International Commercial Mediation Cloud Platform 2.0.” This digital mediation platform, led by the Hangzhou Council for the Promotion of International Trade, has been upgraded to provide more convenient and professional commercial mediation services for both domestic and international businesses. The executive vice-chair of the committee, Beijing Zhonglun (Hangzhou) Law Firm, also unveiled a series of handbooks on intellectual property protection along the “Belt and Road” initiative.
Frans J.A.M. Greidanus, a co-director at the Intellectual Property Management Research Institute at Zhejiang University, emphasized, “Innovation requires intellectual property protection, and strengthening IP protection in China is a timely move. In the past, people merely collected data while overlooking its immense value. Now, however, Hangzhou is developing systems related to data protection and intellectual property. This illustrates how China is at the forefront of global developments in this field.”
Furthermore, the meeting facilitated the signing of a framework cooperation memorandum by representatives from eight domestic and foreign organizations, along with the holding of an international intellectual property exchange meeting with over 70 companies from around the globe.