【英语国际】英国新任知识产权大臣率团访华 China mission aims to crack down on intellectual piracy

David Cameron’s new business minister will lead a delegation of businesses to China today in a bid to forge fresh agreement over intellectual property.

The trip marks the first formal overseas visit by Lady Neville-Rolfe, a former Tesco executive who was appointed in the summer reshuffle. It comes weeks after Vince Cable, business secretary, called for a more global approach to IP piracy, saying theft of ideas was “part of the business way of life” in China.

It has been estimated that every 1 per cent rise in IP crime costs the economy ￡1.7bn. “It’s an international problem. Cross-border leakages are enormous and there is a recognition of the potential losses as a result of piracy,” Mr Cable said.

Senior executives have complained to Downing Street on many occasions about IP infringement in China – with some small companies saying it added significantly to the cost of entering the market there.

Officials quote a survey suggesting a quarter of British businesses were put off doing business overseas because of concerns about IP theft.

Lady Neville-Rolfe said the Chinese authorities had improved their approach in recent years. “If we have had a problem in the past – their regime for patents dates back to 1983 – they have put in a lot of new legislation in the last two years,” she said.

In 2013, Beijing introduced a crackdown on “bad faith” applications by individuals determined to “squat” on a trademark until reaching a financial settlement with the original owner.

Chinese companies have registered a large number of new patents, making it more pressing for the Beijing authorities to improve domestic IP standards. By 2012 the country had issued more than 1m patent certificates, overtaking the US in annual filings.

But Lady Neville-Rolfe said more could be done to improve bilateral relations with China on the ownership of ideas and the reduction of counterfeits and design theft.

“This symposium is going to be an unrivalled chance for Chinese and British businesses to share experiences, discuss issues with government officials and learn about intellectual property in both of our countries,” she said. “The Chinese are looking at our expertise in this area.”

China has accused western media of distorting copyright piracy by accusing it of being the main culprit. Officials say China is the world’s largest payer of trademark rights and royalties.

英国首相戴维?卡梅伦(David Cameron)的新任知识产权大臣将于今日带领企业代表团访华，以期缔造新的知识产权协议。

此行是男爵夫人内维尔?罗尔夫(Lady Neville-Rolfe)上任以来首次正式出访，这位前任乐购(Tesco)高管于今夏换届时获任命。就在几周前，英国商务大臣文斯?凯布尔(Vince Cable)曾呼吁对知识产权盗窃采取更全球化的应对方式，同时称窃取创意是中国的“企业行为方式之一”。

据估计，知识产权犯罪每上升1%就会带来17亿英镑的经济损失。凯布尔说：“这是个国际问题。知识产权的跨国泄露数量庞大，人们已经认识到盗版所造成的潜在损失。”

企业高管已多次向英国政府抱怨中国的知识产权侵权行为，一些小公司表示这明显增加了他们进入中国市场的成本。

官方人员援引的一份调查表明，四分之一的英国企业因担心知识产权受侵而推迟海外业务。

男爵夫人内维尔?罗尔夫表示，中国政府近年来已在这方面有所改进。她说：“可能我们过去曾有疑问，因为他们的专利制度建立于1983年，但近两年来他们已通过了大量新的立法。”

2013年中国政府对故意“占用”商标的侵权人提出的“恶意”申请出台了严惩措施，直到侵权人与原商标所有人就经济赔偿达成和解。

中国企业已注册了大量新专利，这令中国政府更有压力改进国内知识产权标准。截至2012年，中国发放的专利证书已逾100万份，年均申请量超过了美国。

但男爵夫人内维尔?罗尔夫表示，在改善中英两国关于知识产权保护和减少仿造及设计剽窃的双边关系上，还有更多可以做的。

她说：“此次研讨会将是中英两国企业分享经验、与政府官员讨论问题和了解彼此知识产权情况的一次绝佳机会。中国人正注视着我们在这方面的专业知识。”

中国指责西方媒体歪曲中国形象，将中国说成是盗版大国。中国官员表示中国是为商标权和专利权付费最高的国家。

译者/曲雯雯