Recently, Shenzhen Municipal Administration for Market Regulation (Intellectual Property Office) released the "36 Articles" on intellectual property rights in Hetao Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation Zone Shenzhen Park (hereinafter referred to as Hetao Shenzhen Park) - "Opinions on Strengthening Intellectual Property Protection and Utilization in Hetao Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation Zone Shenzhen Park" (hereinafter referred to as "Opinions").

According to reports, the "Opinions" were jointly formulated by 10 departments including Shenzhen Municipal Administration for Market Regulation (Intellectual Property Office), Shenzhen Science and Technology Innovation Bureau, Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court, etc., and proposed 36 innovative measures in seven aspects, including intellectual property creation and utilization, collaborative protection, administrative protection, judicial protection, diversified dispute resolution, operation transformation, and cooperation with Hong Kong Park, aiming to give play to the dual role of intellectual property system supply and technology supply, and accelerate the establishment of a higher level of intellectual property protection system in Hetao Shenzhen Park.

Located in the cross-border border area between the northern part of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the central and southern part of Shenzhen City, the Hetao Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation Zone is one of the major cooperation platforms in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and is composed of the Hong Kong Park and the Shenzhen Park. In 2023, the State Council issued the "Development Plan for the Shenzhen Park of the Hetao Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation Zone" (hereinafter referred to as the "Development Plan"), proposing to "accelerate the establishment of a higher level of intellectual property protection system", which opened a new chapter for building an international intellectual property highland for Shenzhen and Hong Kong to cooperate. "The Opinions closely revolve around the central task of coordinating with Hong Kong to promote international scientific and technological innovation, aiming to establish a higher level of intellectual property protection system, focusing on promoting the development of new quality productivity, adhering to the dual-wheel drive of scientific and technological innovation and institutional innovation, and striving to improve the full-chain intellectual property protection system of the Hetao Shenzhen Park, establish and improve the intellectual property creation and application mechanism, and strive to achieve strict protection, coordinated protection, precise protection, efficient protection, and intelligent protection, so as to provide strong support for Shenzhen to build a national intellectual property protection demonstration zone and a national intellectual property strong city construction demonstration city, and promote high-quality economic and social development." A relevant person in charge of the Shenzhen Municipal Market Supervision Administration (Intellectual Property Office) introduced.

Aiming at full-chain protection and strengthening demonstration and guidance

In order to further create a large protection work pattern, the Opinions put forward a number of pragmatic measures in terms of coordinated protection, administrative protection, judicial protection, and diversified resolution of intellectual property disputes around the full-chain protection of intellectual property rights, and promote the Hetao Shenzhen Park to continuously explore and improve the intellectual property protection system in line with international standards.

As the construction of the Hetao Shenzhen Park enters the "fast lane", the demand for intellectual property protection, especially cross-border protection, by innovative entities is becoming increasingly urgent. In order to further strengthen the coordinated handling of cross-border intellectual property cases, the Opinions proposes to support Futian District in applying for the construction of a national-level intellectual property rapid rights protection center, strengthen the coordinated handling of cross-border intellectual property cases, and equally protect the intellectual property rights of foreign investors and foreign-invested enterprises in accordance with the law. It focuses on strengthening the administrative protection of intellectual property rights, and proposes measures such as improving the administrative adjudication of patent infringement disputes, exploring the administrative adjudication of copyright infringement disputes, selecting and employing professional and technical personnel from Hong Kong and Macao as technical investigators, and building a cross-border digital asset mutual recognition coordination mechanism.

Judicial protection is an important part of improving the overall protection of intellectual property rights. The Opinions clarify a series of measures from the construction of the Shenzhen Park People's Court of the Hetao Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation Zone of the Futian District People's Court and the Shenzhen Intellectual Property Court Circuit Trial Point, accurately applying the punitive compensation system, encouraging the election of Hong Kong people's jurors, and establishing the Hetao Shenzhen Park Intellectual Property Procuratorial Work Platform of the Municipal and District Procuratorates to further strengthen the judicial protection of intellectual property rights.

In recent years, Hetao Shenzhen Park has actively explored and boldly tried in the field of promoting the diversified resolution of intellectual property disputes, and promoted the establishment of Shenzhen's one-stop multi-dispute resolution center for foreign-related, Hong Kong and Macao business, Hetao International Commercial Mediation Center, and Shenzhen Futian District Professional Mediation Distribution Center for Conflicts and Disputes, forming a new "one-stop" international legal service system. On this basis, the "Opinion" further proposed "On the premise of not violating the basic principles of national laws and not harming national sovereignty, security and social public interests, research allows Hong Kong-funded enterprises registered in the customs supervision area of Shenzhen Park to choose to apply Hong Kong law to resolve contract disputes and choose Hong Kong as the arbitration venue by agreement", "Support China (Shenzhen) Intellectual Property Arbitration Center, Futian District Hetao International Commercial Mediation Center and other arbitration and mediation institutions to explore the establishment of intellectual property arbitration and mediation cooperation mechanisms with Hong Kong-related arbitration and mediation institutions in Hetao Shenzhen Park", "Actively absorb Hong Kong intellectual property arbitrators" and other measures.

Focus on high-efficiency application and cultivate an innovative ecology

More than a year after the "Development Plan" was issued, changes in Hetao Shenzhen Park have gradually emerged, and an efficient collaborative mechanism for scientific and technological innovation between Shenzhen and Hong Kong has gradually been established. Data shows that as of September this year, the Shenzhen Park has promoted and implemented more than 200 high-end scientific research projects, gathered more than 15,000 scientific and technological talents, and accumulated more than 1,700 PCT international patent applications.

In order to accelerate the formation of a pattern of collaborative innovation between Shenzhen and Hong Kong, the Opinions proposed the development goal of improving the intellectual property creation and application mechanism of the Hetao Shenzhen Park in two steps, namely, by 2029, cross-border intellectual property transactions will be more active, financial services will be more optimized, the benefits of intellectual property application will be accelerated, and the patent industrialization process will be accelerated; by 2035, the construction of the intellectual property operation system will achieve remarkable results, the international operation mechanism of intellectual property will be standardized and orderly, and the patent chain will be deeply integrated with the industrial chain and innovation chain.

In terms of promoting the creation and application of intellectual property, the Opinions clearly stated that it will explore and promote the full inclusion of Hong Kong innovation entities in the scope of patent rapid pre-examination services of the Shenzhen Intellectual Property Protection Center, encourage and guide universities and research institutes to license scientific and technological achievements to small and medium-sized enterprises in accordance with the use-first-then-pay method, and encourage the park's innovation entities to allow scientific and technological personnel to have greater autonomy in the distribution of scientific and technological achievements transformation income, etc., to further stimulate the vitality of innovation and creation and create a good innovation ecology.

Intellectual property operation and transformation is the "golden key" to turn "intellectual property" into "assets". The Opinions focus on promoting the operation and transformation of intellectual property rights, emphasizing the need to accelerate the construction of the National Intellectual Property Operation (Shenzhen Hetao) International Transformation Pilot Platform (hereinafter referred to as the Hetao Platform), explore cross-border intellectual property securitization, and support the creation of an intellectual property service cluster in the Shenzhen Park.

"Since the approval of the construction of the Hetao Platform in May this year, Shenzhen has fully utilized the location advantages of the Hetao Shenzhen Park and the resource advantages of the City University of Hong Kong, continuously enriched the service functions of the Hetao Platform, carried out patent international transformation matching, transaction matchmaking, talent training, international exchanges and other businesses, strengthened cross-border intellectual property transactions and international innovation achievements in the mainland, and promoted the construction and operation of the platform. The work has achieved certain results." A relevant person in charge of the Shenzhen Market Supervision Administration (Intellectual Property Office) said.

On November 20 this year, the "Outline for the Development of the Hong Kong Park of the Hetao Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation Zone" was officially released. Together with the "Development Plan", it formed the overall puzzle of the development plan of the "one zone and two parks" of the Hetao Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation Zone. I believe that in the near future, the Hetao Shenzhen Park will gradually build a system of intellectual property protection and utilization that connects with Hong Kong and is in line with the international standards, and work together with the Hong Kong Park to push the cooperation zone towards the goal of becoming a "world-class scientific research hub."