Administrative protection of intellectual property rights refers to a series of administrative law enforcement activities, such as handling intellectual property disputes according to law and investigating intellectual property violations.
In view of the complicated procedure, difficulty in obtaining evidence, long period, low execution efficiency and the influence of litigation culture, in practice, the parties usually choose to avoid judicial channels to solve intellectual property disputes, and generally tend to choose fast administrative law enforcement to crack down on infringers, which is also in line with the national conditions of China's official-based or public-power-based thinking and is conducive to improving the efficiency of law enforcement in China.
1. Scope of implementation of administrative protection of intellectual property rights
The scope of administrative protection in China includes the following three aspects:
(1) Carry out special enforcement activities on intellectual property rights to protect the legitimate rights and interests of intellectual property rights holders. In China's intellectual property administrative law enforcement system, special law enforcement activities are unique, which can concentrate law enforcement resources and carry out large-scale and efficient law enforcement actions for a certain period and region.
(2) Accepting and investigating cases of intellectual property infringement, and maintaining fair competition order in the market. The copyright administration authorities handle cases of pirated publications and audio-visual products, the patent administration authorities accept cases of patent infringement and other patent disputes, and the industrial and commercial administration authorities investigate and deal with trademark violations.
(3) Establish a customs protection mechanism for intellectual property rights, and investigate and deal with intellectual property infringement of import and export products.
Other countries also have administrative enforcement of intellectual property rights, which is mainly reflected in customs protection of intellectual property rights. The main responsibility of intellectual property administrative departments in these countries is to prevent other countries from infringing their intellectual property rights or preventing infringing products from entering their own countries.
2. Law enforcement departments for administrative protection of intellectual property rights
China's intellectual property administrative law enforcement power belongs to different administrative organs, and the administrative law enforcement departments can be divided into three categories: first, the departments that confirm the right, such as China National Intellectual Property Administration, Trademark Office of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, National Copyright Administration, Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Agriculture, State Forestry Administration, General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, Ministry of Science and Technology, and National Defense Patent Office; The second is the judicial departments, such as the Patent Reexamination Board and the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board. Third, administrative departments, such as the Office of the National Intellectual Property Protection Working Group, the General Administration of Customs, the Ministry of Public Security, and relevant local administrative departments. The main administrative law enforcement departments and responsibilities are as follows:
China National Intellectual Property Administration is responsible for the patent right and layout design right of integrated circuits, the Trademark Office of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce is responsible for trademark rights, the National Copyright Administration is responsible for copyright, the Fair Trade Bureau of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce is responsible for stopping unfair competition, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine is responsible for geographical indications, the Ministry of Agriculture is responsible for new varieties of agricultural plants, the State Forestry Administration is responsible for new varieties of forestry plants, the Ministry of Commerce is responsible for intellectual property rights in international trade, the Ministry of Science and Technology is responsible for intellectual property rights related to science and technology, and the General Administration of Customs is responsible for intellectual property rights related to inbound and outbound goods.
In 2006, the Ministry of Commerce set up 50 service centers for reporting and complaining about intellectual property protection to strengthen the coordination of administrative protection functions of intellectual property scattered among various institutions. The center accepts reports and complaints of infringement of trademark rights, patents, copyrights and other intellectual property rights for the whole society, conducts a preliminary review of the reports and complaints received, and forwards the reports and complaints that meet the acceptance conditions to the corresponding administrative law enforcement organs, public security and judicial organs for handling according to law, so as to avoid the problem that obligees blindly choose law enforcement organs to complain and improve the efficiency of administrative protection of intellectual property rights.
3. Implementation of administrative protection of intellectual property rights
For the infringement of intellectual property rights, the obligee can appeal to the administrative organ, and the administrative organ can investigate and deal with it according to its functions and powers. One of the core contents of the fourth revised draft of China's patent law is to strengthen the administrative protection of patents, strive to give full play to the advantages of administrative means, safeguard the interests of obligees quickly and effectively, stop the infringement of patent rights, and promote the coordination between administrative protection and judicial protection. Therefore, patent disputes can be solved by administrative means first, and if they cannot be solved or are not satisfied with the results, they can be solved by judicial means. The administrative ruling cannot be final, and the judicial decision is final.
In order to further strengthen the administrative protection of intellectual property rights, in 20 13, the state established a coordination mechanism for intellectual property protection at the level of deputy prime minister to provide a safer business environment for domestic enterprises and foreign-funded enterprises in China; At the beginning of 20 14, Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shanxi and Inner Mongolia * * * Intellectual Property Offices signed a working agreement to establish a patent administrative law enforcement cooperation and dispatching center in North China.