by Sonny Leong, Publisher and Chair, Chinese for Labour

December 2011

At a recent intellectual property symposium, James Dyson, a Government technology adviser, accused Chinese authorities of turning a blind eye to native companies which violate intellectual property rights by imitating successful designs. He when on to say that the Chinese habit of copying and making a great export success out of other people's property.

This coming from a man who in 2003 moved his entire production to Malaysia – resulting in the loss of 800 jobs in the UK. James Dyson has no commitment to his workforce and his only concern is for making greater profit. In 2005, Dyson reported profits had passed £100 million, allowing him the luxury of trying to decide how much dividend to pay himself and his wife. They took out £17 million, helping to pay for a country estate.

In fact, Dyson needs a lesson in history before his outburst and a large dosage of moral responsibility. Possibly more than half of the basic inventions and discoveries upon which the modern world rests come from China. And yet few people know this. Why?

The Chinese themselves are as ignorant of this fact as Westerners. The Chinese became increasingly dazzled by European technological expertise, having experienced a period of amnesia regarding their own achievements!

It is just as much a surprise for the Chinese as for Westerners to realize that modern agriculture, modern shipping, the modern oil industry, modern astronomical observations, modern music, decimal mathematics, paper money, umbrellas, fishing reels, wheelbarrows, multi-stage rockets, guns, underwater mines, parachutes, hot-air balloons, manned flight, brandy, whisky, the game of chess, printing and even the design of the steam engine, all came from China.

Without, the importation from China of nautical and navigational improvements such as ships' rudders, the compass and multiple masts, the great European voyages of discovery could never have been undertaken. Columbus would not have sailed to the Americas and Europeans would never have established their colonial empires.

Without the importation from China of paper and printing, Europe would have continued to copy books by hand! Johann Gutenberg did not invent movable type. It was invented in China.

Many of the things around us, which we take for granted, have their origins from China which have been borrowed rather than achieved by the West. Why are we ignorant of this gigantic, obvious truth?

The main reason is surely that the Chinese themselves lost sight of it. If the very originators of the inventions and discoveries no longer claim them, why then should the inheritors (Westerners) take the trouble to establish the origins of the inventions!

Tian Lipu, commissioner of China's State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO), stated at a recent conference that China is fully committed to bring its Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) law and administration up to international standards, and is "taking a serious stance" on improving protection of IPR.

China still has a long way to go. As a developing economy with a short history of IPR enforcement, China's serious efforts and achievements cannot be ignored and this is reflected in the growing number of foreign companies filing their patent applications with SIPO demonstrates their trust in China's IPR system. The dramatic increase in registration of IPR in China in recent years shows that innovative Chinese companies and individuals have begun to recognize the value of intellectual property.

But as part of Beijing's strategy to turn the country's economy into one fueled by innovation rather than manufacturing it is gearing up to create an intellectual property-producing powerhouse of its own.

The Chinese government has outlined an ambitious plan to up its annual patent filings by 2015 to two million. China will rank among the top two in the world in terms of the annual number of patents for inventions. Patent filings are already increasing. Of the 1.22 million patents filed in China last year, the intellectual property office granted 815,000 patents, a 40% increase from the year before.

Data from the World Intellectual Property Office showed China become the world's top patent filer in 2011, surpassing the United States and Japan as it steps up innovation to improve its intellectual property rights track record. Patent applications from China were expected to total nearly 500,000 in 2015, following by the United States with close to 400,000 and Japan with almost 300,000.

And, finally as to Dyson's rant, let us remind him that for all the plastics he uses in his products, he should be grateful for the Chinese who invested lacquer which was the first plastic. Lacquer is a plastic varnish which has remarkable powers of preservation, strength and durability.

It is now time for the Chinese contribution to science and civilisation be recognised and acknowledged. Let this be recognised by today's schoolchildren. When that happens, Chinese and Westerners will be able to look each other in the eye, knowing themselves to be true and full equal partners.

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