Meeting with Deputy Director General Zhang Yongzhong from Shanghai Intellectual Property Administration
2019-07-10 | Shanghai
On 10th July, Mr Yongzhong Zhang, the newly elected deputy director general (DDG) of the Shanghai Intellectual Property Administration (SIPA), visited the European Chamber's Shanghai office. He was received by Carlo D'Andrea, vice president (VP) of the European Chamber and Shanghai Chapter Chair, and Ms Xu Lin, national chair of the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Working Group.
VP D'Andrea welcomed DDG Zhang and his colleagues and presented the key findings of the Business Confidence Survey 2019. VP D’Andrea mentioned that, although Shanghai has strengthened its IP protection systems, the issue is still listed as the 8th most significant regulatory obstacle for foreign businesses. Meanwhile, the survey showed unfair technology transfers continued to take place, with 20 per cent of respondents feeling compelled to transfer technology in order to maintain market access, up from 10 per cent in 2017. Most affected were high-value, cutting-edge industries such as chemicals and petroleum (30%), medical devices (28%), pharmaceuticals (27%) and automotive (21%). Ms Xu Lin also touched upon some of the key recommendations in the soon-to-be published Intellectual Property Rights Working Group Position Paper 2019/2020.
DDG Zhang agreed to look into individual cases of unfair technology transfer occurring locally and emerging IP issues in e-commerce. He also agreed to share difficulties faced by the European companies with higher-level government officials, and vowed to continue the dialogue between the SIPA and the European Chamber.