The Research About Protection Of Medical And Pharmaceutical Intellectual Property In China

Since the opening and reform policy was adopted, China's economy has achieved great outcome. In 2006, in spite of the size of the population, the GDP per capital of China reached US$ 2000, still low-level, but finally passed the lowest standard in the world. In the meantime, the pharmaceutical industry of China has leaped forward in both manufacturing capacity and market performances attributable to the accomplishments, even some pharmaceuticals hold dominant position in the world. For the year 2006, the total sales of pharmaceutical in China were US$ 30 billion. This number is anticipated to grow at an annual rate of 12%, compared to 7% of the whole world, for the next 4 years and to reach US$ 45 billion in the year 2010.With China entering WTO, the problem of intellectual property has become more and more important. Intellectual property protection has been the most difficult problem which chinese enterprises and academic organizations are encounting. As a special industry, medical enterprises want to be more and more powerful, they must study the problem of intellectual property. Along with the medicine market development, our country's drugs intellectual property rights protection system obtains the consummation unceasingly, unceasingly is also strengthening to the drugs implementation intellectual property rights protection dynamics: First Amendment to PRC Patent Law, effective January 1, 1993, that embraces pharmaceuticals; execution of bilateral agreements with 19 countries to endorse administrative protection measures; and other alternatives available to proprietors, including registration of innovative pharmaceuticals, anti-unfair competition policies, and trademark registration. It is worth mentioning that the intellectual property protection scheme of China has been well developed to meet the demand of the potentially largest pharmaceuticals market within a comparatively short period of time.From the concept and feature of intellectual property, the paper introduces the type and role of Chinese intellectual property system, then details the conservation status and several forms of that. On this basis, from the aspects of the patent protection, trademark protection, and commercial secret competition law, the paper compares the current intellectual property system in China with the international ones. Due to the intensive and large-scale modification or amendment to laws and regulations related to intellectual property in China in recent years, most of the provisions or articles are now conformed to or approximate to international intellectual property system. The gap between them is shrinking.A comparison on the patent protection of medicines between China and developed countries are also carried out in this paper. The result shows that the difference between the two parties is not very obvious as China has amended the patent law according to the TRIPs, but they have a gap in using the system of intellectual property.In view of the reality that our medical and pharmaceutical intellectual property protection has kept pace with that of the world in laws and regulations but far from it in practice, in order to enhance the medical and pharmaceutical intellectual property protection and promote the development of medical and pharmaceutical industry in China, the paper presents the strategies of patent, trademark, commercial secret, standardization and that of medical and pharmaceutical intellectual property protection. Besides, the paper offers suggestions as how to improve the medical and pharmaceutical intellectual property protection in China.