Guangdong Vice Governor: IPR Protection Crucial

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 GUANGZHOU 015726 SIPDIS USDOC FOR 4420/ITA/MAC/MCQUEEN, DAS LEVINE STATE FOR EB/TPP MASSINGA, FELSING STATE PASS COPYRIGHT FOR TEPP STATE PASS USPTO FOR DUDAS, BROWNING, BOLAND, ANTHONY, NESS STATE PASS USTR FOR MENDENHALL, MCCOY, ESPINEL, CELICO USDOJ FOR SUSSMAN DHS/CPP FOR PIZZECK USPACOM FOR FPA SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KIPR PGOV ECON ETRD CH SUBJECT: Guangdong Vice Governor: IPR Protection Crucial for Innovation Ref: A) Guangzhou 14710 and previous, B) 05 Guangzhou 18895 (U) This document is sensitive but unclassified. Please protect accordingly. ¶1. (SBU) Summary: Guangdong Vice Governor Song Hai said that the province's intellectual property rights (IPR) protection efforts were improving but many gaps remained. He noted that the urgency of the issue so that the province could proceed vigorously down a path of innovation. In that regard, Guangdong must do a better job of intellectual property creation and management, with greater emphasis on the private sector in research and development. He emphasized that risk and entrepreneurship are crucial to innovation and economic growth, which are impossible without improved protection of the products of such risk. Song acknowledged the need for better benchmarking on IPR enforcement and better management of intellectual property and expressed openness to USG and American private sector involvement in these endeavors. End summary. Consulate Guangzhou-Guangdong Province IPR Roundtable -------------- -------------- ¶2. (SBU) Before the May holidays, Congenoffs called on Guangdong Vice Governor Song Hai for the third session of a U.S. Consulate Guangzhou and Guangdong Province IPR cooperation dialogue begun in the spring of 2004 (ref B and previous). Vice Governor Song is the Guangdong government's leading figure on IPR issues and also participates in national level discussions as well, and Song assembled top provincial officials from provincial offices of the Public Security Bureau (PSB),Administration of Industry and Commerce (AIC),Intellectual Property Office (IPO),Customs, and Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation (DOFTEC) for the occasion. IPR Protection and Innovation Essential for Growth -------------- -------------- ¶3. (SBU) Song stated that innovation, a key objective of the 11th Five-Year Economic Plan, is crucial in Guangdong's effort to upgrade its industrial structures and transform its means of economic growth. Innovation leads to wealth, which stimulates further innovation. He added that innovation cannot thrive without a public respect for the ownership of ideas, and strong IPR regulations and effective enforcement are the lynchpins. Song expressed regret that many of Guangdong's entrepreneurial and innovative intellectuals are struggling because of the lack of IPR protection. Guangdong has only 20 years of experience in IPR protection, and thus has much to learn from the United States, which China views as a teacher on IPR issues. Spotty Enforcement -------------- ¶4. (SBU) Song briefly noted that enforcement efforts have been stepped in the year since the last Consulate-Guangdong high-level dialogue on IPR, citing many of the accomplishments reported separately in Guangdong Province's white paper (ref A). After hearing the Consulate's presentations of the mixed experience of American businesses in various parts of the province, Song acknowledged that there were still many gaps in enforcement. Administrative Protection is Effective -------------- ¶5. (SBU) Song said administrative protection remains the most effective means of IPR enforcement in Guangdong. Though he acknowledged foreign complaints of insufficient judicial protection of IPR, Song said administrative offices are nevertheless responsive to disputes and complaints and can appropriately penalize counterfeiters. By using the administrative channel, rights-holders can also avoid lengthy periods of litigation. GUANGZHOU 00015726 002 OF 004 Public Education Efforts -------------- ¶6. (SBU) Song also touted Guangdong's IPR public awareness efforts associated with World IPR Day on April 26. He said all IPR-related government agencies were involved, with white papers coming not only from Guangdong but also Guangzhou and Shenzhen. In addition, Song instructed the Guangdong IPO to extend its relevant activities for April's IPR Week from one week to one month. Song said Guangdong has introduced IPR awareness courses into local high schools to ensure that students understand that it is illegal to buy counterfeit products. The Consul General noted that in a visit to Shantou University, a student said she was quite aware of the illegality of downloading American movies from the internet but felt that she needed to do so to improve her English language abilities. This encapsulates the challenge -- public education is indeed effective in raising awareness, but the violations nevertheless continue. Song agreed that this was a challenge. Using the Private Sector to Protect IPR -------------- ¶7. (SBU) Song continued that said Guangdong would like local enterprises to play a major role in intellectual property development and protection. Local companies have the skills to aggressively innovate their technical and management systems. Such innovation would lower their costs and accelerate their growth. The Guangdong government has encouraged industrial associations to play a more significant role in IPR development and self- enforcement. Song said Shenzhen's fast growth and prosperity is due in part to an improved IPR environment. Song said Guangdong is transforming its economy from a labor-intensive focus to increasingly high-tech industries, stating that that the province's high-tech output value has increased from RMB 280 billion (USB 35 billion) in 2000 to RMB 1,016.8 billion (USD 127 billion) in 2005. Song's 2005 Visit to the United States -------------- ¶8. (SBU) Song also said that his trip to the United States in December 2005 had helped the Guangdong and central governments in shaping new approaches. He met with U.S. government IPR-related agencies and several members of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. With the U.S. Chamber he discussed future joint training programs both at a conceptual level and in detail. Song also hopes to set up an information-sharing program with the Chamber, which will focus on IPR-related statistics and enforcement efforts. (The U.S. Chamber hopes to use a late June seminar to help develop benchmarking tools to measure Guangdong's IPR enforcement progress in real terms.) Song added that, after talking with U.S. journalists, including a reporter from New York Times, he believes the American public continues to underestimate the Chinese government's IPR protection efforts. He also said, however, that this situation meant that neither the Guangdong authorities nor the central government has been doing a good job in publicizing China's IPR accomplishments, a situation that he reported to Beijing. Song said that Guangdong was very much interested in working with the USG and American business associations in this area. Disappointing Commercialization of IP -------------- ¶9. (SBU) Turning back to the topic of innovation, Song said local institutions of higher education have failed to become major sources of intellectual property (IP),and the amount of commercialized IP developed by them has been limited. He welcomed U.S. input on how to stimulate more IP commercialization from local research organizations, including those in the private sector. Song also highlighted three universities in Guangzhou that have set GUANGZHOU 00015726 003 OF 004 up IPR schools -- Jinan University, Zhongshan University, and South China University of Technology -- all of which offer masters degrees. Building a Culture of Innovation -------------- ¶10. (SBU) Song said that these were all elements of a larger challenge for Guangdong and China -- building an entire culture of innovation in which inventiveness, creativity, efficiency, and productivity are fundamentally ingrained into the government and private sectors with IPR protection in full play. This is clearly the path that Guangdong must take if it is to maintain its edge as the most prosperous province in China. "Tolerance of Failure" -------------- ¶11. (SBU) Song cited the "tolerance of failure" as a key facet in innovation. Government officials and entrepreneurs must recognize that many more ideas fail than succeed. To punish failure would only create a cautious culture, unwilling to take risks. To encourage risk-taking and entrepreneurship, the Guangdong government included the of "tolerance of failure" in its 11th Five-Year Plan, and the Shenzhen government is using it in its economic development guidelines Evaluating Officials -------------- ¶12. (SBU) When asked how Guangdong evaluates the performance of IPR officials, the attendant officials admitted that their offices lack specific guidelines. The Guangdong IPO deputy director-general said IPO work largely involves encouraging enterprises to develop their IP and to increase public awareness. To evaluate this type of activity one would need to measure whether more people are aware of the IPR issue and whether more enterprises develop their own IP. He added that he would be interested in to developing an evaluation standard with the input of U.S. experts. Song echoed this, saying he supports the establishment of a scientific system of standards to evaluate the usefulness of government IPR efforts. Valuation of Seized Products -------------- ¶13. (SBU) In response to a question about valuation methods, officials from AIC and IPO said they typically use market price as the standard in valuing counterfeit trademark goods. They explained that the Supreme Court's 2004 Judicial Interpretation permits three evaluation standards: market price, real value, or a middle price. They added that government agencies choose a middle-level price when it is difficult to determine the market price. Comment -------------- ¶14. (SBU) Even if the Vice Governor's comments are rhetoric, at least they are the right rhetoric. He clearly understands that innovation and IP-creation -- and the encouragement of risk-taking enterprises -- are vital for Guangdong's continued growth. There is also significance in the fact that Song brought his entire IP team to the meeting, including the PSB -- which usually doesn't show up for such things. Nevertheless, his defense of Guangdong's IP administrative agencies distracts from the issue at hand -- namely the lack of deterrent effect of administrative enforcement to date not to mention the spotty record of criminal prosecution. Song's and IPO's interest in evaluating IP officials might be a worthwhile opening for USG assistance in establishing an effective evaluation system. More importantly, the willingness of Guangdong to engage in genuinely transparent benchmarking would be a considerable contribution -- a proposition that we will test at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce seminar in late June. GUANGZHOU 00015726 004 OF 004 N