Beijing announced on Monday its intellectual property protection plan for the next four years.

According to the plan, the city will aim for an average of 18 patent applications, 12 of which will be invention related, for every 10,000 residents in Beijing by 2010. It also hopes to have 150,000 registered trademarks, including 500 renowned trademarks by 2010.

The city will train more managerial-level intellectual property protection professionals who are proficient in international intellectual property-related laws and regulations. Three hundred enterprises will be awarded "model enterprise" status for their efforts in protecting intellectual property.

"It is the first time the city has incorporated intellectual property protection in the city's overall economic and social development plans," said Liu Dongwei, vice director of the Beijing Municipal Intellectual Property Protection Bureau.

The intellectual property protection plan also covers the protection of the city's traditional literature and arts, as well as other hereditary resources.

Beijing saw 83,978 patent applications and 39,948 patent authorizations during the 2001 to 2005 period. Currently the number of the city's effective registered trademarks is above 100,000, ranking fourth of all the country's cities.

Beijing took the lead in copyright protection with 16,184 copyright registrations on literature and arts works, 23,961 on software and 34,152 on imported books, accounting for 46.3 percent, 37.1 percent and 66.2 percent respectively of the country's totals.

The local government has promised to inject more funds into IPR protection to ensure the targets are reached.

Domestic enterprises which have their own intellectual property will be eligible for more financial support. They will also be subject to examinations when merging and conducting technology trade with overseas enterprises to avoid losing the domestic intellectual property overseas.

(Xinhua News Agency January 16, 2007)