MOF to support overseas patents
- Source: Global Times
- [00:01 October 14 2009]
- Comments
By Tu Lei
Approximately 100 million yuan ($14.65 million) will be made available to small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) applying for patents abroad, according to an announcement issued by the Ministry of Finance (MOF).
The new policy, the first of its kind, will award SMEs and other organizations that meet the government's standards as much as 500,000 yuan ($73,238) for each patent application abroad.
The patents must first be approved by the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO), and State-owned enterprises are not eligible for the subsidy.
The move is part of a multi-year plan to help promote SMEs' growth that has involved increasing loans and opening up a new Growth Enterprise Board to expand financing channels.
SMEs, 95 percent of which are privately-owned, have played an increasingly important role in China's economy over the last several years. SMEs contribute to 60 percent of China's GDP, 50 percent of tax revenues, 68 percent of exports and 75 percent of new jobs every year, according to official statistics.
Details will be forthcoming on whether joint ventures or solely foreign-funded enterprises will be eligible, said Lei Xiaoyun, an official from SIPO.
SMEs accounted for 66 percent of patent applications in China in 2008, but overseas is a different story.
Ma Hongya, an official from the Beijing Intellectual Property Bureau, told the Global Times that the Chinese firms applying for patents abroad are mainly large companies, and SMEs cannot afford to carry out the procedures and research an application requires.
"The main problem SMEs face when applying for patents overseas is money shortages," SIPO's Lei told the Global Times Tuesday, adding the move should encourage more applications and protect domestic intellectual property rights.
