Impressive results magnified by pandemic, which forced consumers toward e-commerce

E-commerce plays an important role in maintaining people's livelihoods during the battle against COVID-19 and the stay-at-home economy is thriving in China, according to a report released by the China National Intellectual Property Administration on Dec 29.

The report took the IP protection models of Chinese mainstream e-commerce platforms such as Alibaba, JD and Suning as examples to analyze the development of e-commerce IP protection during 2020. It also discussed the key issues of IP protection standards and some breakthroughs in the field of cross-border e-commerce.

According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, national online retail sales reached 9.13 trillion yuan ($1.4 trillion) from January to October 2020, up 10.9 percent year-on-year.

Of this amount, online retail sales of tangible goods reached 7.56 trillion yuan, growing 16 percent year-on-year, and accounting for 24.2 percent of the total retail sales of social consumer goods.

In the first half of 2020, the transaction volume on WeChat mini programs increased by 670 percent year-on-year. At present, there are nearly 100,000 businesses which have opened livestream broadcast accounts on WeChat.

A number of e-commerce platforms also launched special zones amid the pandemic, providing free online business training for small business owners and farmers.

In 2020, under the efforts of all parties, e-commerce IP protection has achieved remarkable results, according to the report.

Cooperation among enterprises, official administrations and consumers is becoming more significant in light of the protection of IP rights on e-commerce platforms.

During the pandemic, the demand for masks and other personal protective equipment increased greatly.

The Chinese government and e-commerce platforms have worked together to carry out special actions to tackle counterfeit products. Offending merchants were punished by being blocked or having their links taken down.

The report also found that techniques to protect IP rights have been continuously invested in and upgraded.

Alibaba set up a stringent entry mechanism when reviewing businesses to be launched on its platform. It adopts a manual examination when granting licenses for shops and products. About 96 percent of IP infringement complaints are handled within 24 hours.

JD launched the "Red Net" system to provide targeted protection for well-known brands and special business names. It has provided services for more than 2,100 well-known brands so far.

ByteDance's "Lingshi" system, which is dedicated to protecting the copyrights and interests of original authors, can automatically analyze videos' copyrights to quickly find infringing content.

The results also showed that a package of comprehensive protection and management standards is needed in cross-border e-commerce IP protection.

Han Xiucheng, director of the IP development research center at NIPA, said all countries should actively cooperate to explore IP protection centered on international rules and optimize methods when handling trade disputes. This would ensure smooth cross-border e-commerce transactions and effective IP protection action.

The center will conscientiously apply the guidance of the Chinese central government and adhere to problem-solving working methods and hot spot issues, Han added.

Source: China daily