CAAS sets up agricultural IP research center

On September 12, the unveiling ceremony of the Agricultural IP Research Center of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) was held in Beijing, which was attended by experts from the CAAS, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Renmin University of China, and officials from the Ministry of Agriculture and the State Intellectual Property Office.

When interviewed by a reporter, an official named Shi Yanquan from the Ministry of Agriculture said, in recent years, the sum of China's agricultural patent applications has greatly increased and the proportion of invention patents has continuously risen as well, and the annual application amount of new varieties of agricultural plants ranks the fourth among UPOV members.

However, in the process of the development of agricultural intellectual property cause, China is facing many theoretical and practical problems. So it is necessary to establish a specific research center to solve those problems, Shi added.

It is learned that, the Agricultural IP Research Center of the CAAS is an academic institution engaging in researching on agricultural IP-related issues, to guide right holders to avoid IP traps, and boost the transformation of research fruits into IPs and the mercerization of those research fruits with IPRs. [Chinese version is available on AGRI.gov.cn]