May 18, 2018   People's Daily   Page 16

(Hao Hong) What does a technical investigator do? Many people wonder about this question. It seems that Peopleare more curiousabout the working style, the professionalidentity and even the salary for this new occupation rather than the technical investigator system itself.

Looking back on the development history of intellectual property protection in China, it can be easily observed that this new system with a short history of only three yearsis a significant new starting point in the course of intellectual property protection.

Technical investigator system establishedalong withintellectual property courts. The reform of judicial system has been making further headway, and China is marching ahead on the road of innovation. However, our country has also encountered problems in intellectual property protection. On one hand, enterprises are often “ambushed” and accused of intellectual property infringement due to lack of core technology; on the other hand, it's difficult for them to safeguard their independent intellectual property rights because of the absence of relevant laws and the imperfections of the judicial protection system. Litigation often takes a long time and at a high cost, leading to the dilemma of “winning the lawsuits but losing the market”.

The rule of law is the answer to the thorny issue of intellectual property and it entails a profoundsocial change driven by top-level design. In the process of comprehensively deepening the reformand promoting the rule of law, the construction of intellectual property judicial system hasalsobeenpicking up pace. Drawing upon theadvanced experiencesof foreign countries and taking into consideration the local reality, China has set up intellectual property divisions andcourts. By unifying the adjudication standards and improving the trial quality and efficiency, they have become important milestones for China's intellectual property protection and judicial systemreform. A series of innovative practices for fair trial, with the technical investigator systembeing an example, are just like the cornerstones of a building, layinga solid ground for the judicialprotection system of intellectual property rights.

Strengthening the judicial protection of intellectual property rights can greatly helpbuild consensus on the rule of law and push aheadthe constructionof a society ruled by law. Should a technical investigator be part-time or full-time? Should technical investigationopinions be made public? How it complements with the previous systems of technical consultation, technical appraisal and technical jury? Juridificationof intellectual property rights protection is an inevitable trend of the era, and in active response to this, the intellectual property courts in Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai have been exploring reform measures, paying great attention to details when finding technical facts and in relentless pursuit of fair trial procedure.

Nowadays, we are in anera of knowledge-driven economy, and intellectual property protection has become a key element of international competitiveness. In a way, our approachof fortifyingintellectual property protection is a determining factor of our position on the international stage. "No country will stay strong or weak forever. He who abides by the law will make a country strong while he who fails to do so will make a country weak. "When we talk about the technical investigator system, we are actually talking about building China into a powerful country ruled by law.