The China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) has recently given Qingdao an official approval to build a national level intellectual property protection center, which will be geared at accelerating coordinated intellectual property protection in high-end equipment manufacturing and household appliances. It is reported to be the sole approved national protection center among cities in northern China in 2023.

As part of efforts of the CNIPA to expedite the construction of a powerhouse of intellectual property and to sustain the ongoing supply-side structural reform, the intellectual property protection center will serve as a national level function-oriented platform which is focused on local features and competitive industries to combine swift preliminary patent examination, determination of intellectual property rights and protection against infringement. After completed and put into service, the center will usher patent granting into a “fast track” that can shorten the time by an average of 70%, thus protecting the rights of innovation players and helping foster in a rapid manner industrial strengths in technological innovation.  (Wu Shuai)