On April 26th, the 16th World Intellectual Property Day, the “Intellectual Property and Innovation Forum” of 2016 was held in USTC. This forum was co-hosted by USTC, Anhui Intellectual Property Office, Anhui Copyright Administration and Anhui Copyright Association; co-organized by Shanghai Allbright Law Office (Hefei) and Beijing LonYuanZhiXin Intellectual Property Agency.
There were more than 200 attendees from universities, research institutes, law firms, enterprises and IP service organizations. Many representatives gave speeches and reports. Participants included DI Yong, Vice Director of Anhui Intellectual Property Office; DONG Rong, Director of Anhui Copyright Administration; LIN Qingfa, Vice President of Anhui Copyright Association; SONG Wei, Dean of the School of Public Affairs; WANG Huaiqing, lawyer from Shanghai Allbright Law Office (Hefei); YAN Dong, Chief Manager of Beijing LonYuanZhiXin Intellectual Property Agency; PANG Zhengzhong, lawyer from Beijing JINCHENG TONGDA & NEAL; Kalin Hristov, international student of PAS who is from the USA; WEI Guo, Director of IP committee of Lawyer Association;
The opening ceremony commenced with a speech by ZHU Changfei, Vice President of USTC. Due to a scheduling conflict as a result of other official affairs, he asked the host to read his speech which talked about IP development in the early days. USTC has always focused on IP education, research and practice. USTC has also emphasized IP development, which has a positive impact on technology transfer and innovation. The Vice President hoped that everyone could contribute to the national IP strategic planning.
DI Yong, Vice Director of Anhui Intellectual Property Office, introduced the achievements of Anhui IP industry. He listed the successful cooperation between Anhui Intellectual Property Office and USTC, including the establishment of the National IP Training Base (Anhui), Anhui IP development and research centre, Anhui IP distance education platform and qualification testing centre (Hefei) of All-China Patent Agents Association, which has gained good reputation among the public. He pointed out that IP is the key driver for regional economic growth; it requires everyone’s effort in creating an innovative cultural environment.
The theme of this year’s forum was “Digital Creativity: Cultural Reimagined”, concerning the opportunities and challenges of IP, especially digital copyright.
During the main forum, participants discussed digital copyright and its replication and transmission; property rights and recognition of online publishing; value assessment of IP products and their derivatives; the nature of AlphaGo and other relevant AI products, etc. The audience participated in a debate on the ownership of IP rights associated with AI generated products. Do these rights belong to designers, manufacturers or users?
During the three sub-forums in the afternoon, topics like IP industrialization, protection and application of digital copyrights, universities and research institutes’ management of IP were presented. DU Wei, Director of IP centre of Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, CAS; HOU Zhengchi, Vice Director of science and technology department of Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, CAS and GAO Changqing, manager of capital company of Hefei Insititute of Physical Science, CAS; illustrated the IP administration mode and operating models of scientific research institutes. They also talked about the patentability and financing of IP, as well as IP issues related to technology transfer. The sub-forums targeted specific fields and presented comprehensive content. This won both the applause and approval of the audience.
USTC continues to focus on IP matters. Since 2005, USTC students and teachers have engaged in academic activities relating to World Intellectual Property Day celebrated on 26th April. They have set up a platform to communicate and promote the development of the IP discipline, which in turn has positively affected the environment of innovative university culture.
(FANG Yuan, School of Public Affairs )
