China's National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) and Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) have issued comprehensive guidance to strengthen intellectual property protection in the solar industry. The document establishes key tasks for solar companies and emphasizes protecting important supply chain links while enhancing risk management capabilities.

The guidance aims to stimulate intellectual property rights' role in building a modern solar industry system and supporting China's development as a manufacturing and intellectual property powerhouse. This initiative comes as the solar industry experiences increased patent disputes during the transition from Mono PERC to TOPCon technology.

Enhanced Patent Creation and Quality Standards

The guidance encourages solar enterprises to significantly increase research and development investment while accelerating technology advancements in critical areas. Companies must strengthen high-value patent layouts for TOPCon, back-contact, and heterojunction solar module technologies.

Solar companies must proactively reserve basic patents for advanced technologies and expand patent mining activities across upstream and downstream supply chain segments.

Streamlined Patent Examination Processes

The document establishes mechanisms to improve patent examination efficiency through national-level intellectual property protection centers. These centers will provide professional, efficient patent pre-examination services specifically for solar enterprises.

Key implementation measures include:

• Establishing intellectual property risk monitoring and early-warning mechanisms
• Providing enterprise guidance for intellectual property compliance management
• Conducting patent risk analysis to prevent infringement disputes
• Strengthening tracking and analysis of industry intellectual property risks

Specialized Dispute Resolution Framework

CNIPA and MIIT recommend that provinces with concentrated solar industries establish specialized mechanisms for efficient patent dispute resolution and administrative adjudication case handling. The guidance supports creating cross-regional joint trial mechanisms for solar patent infringement disputes.

Cross-Agency Coordination and Enforcement

The guidance establishes comprehensive information-sharing mechanisms between intellectual property management departments and industry authorities. Regular sharing of administrative adjudication case information will occur with industry and information technology authorities, state-owned assets supervision departments, and customs authorities.

Critical enforcement measures include:

• Strict adherence to solar manufacturing industry standards
• Dynamic management of compliant enterprise lists based on core patents
• Strengthened customs protection to prohibit import and export of solar products that infringe intellectual property rights
• Enhanced oversight of administrative rulings on intellectual property infringement

Overseas Protection and Brand Development

The document emphasizes enhancing overseas intellectual property rights protection assistance mechanisms for solar enterprises. Companies must improve intellectual property risk prevention during international exhibitions, product exports, and overseas investments.

Solar companies are required to actively cultivate positive images for Chinese brands while building internationally influential and well-known brands. This includes increased trademark protection efforts, monitoring overseas trademark use, and promptly handling overseas intellectual property disputes.

The guidance addresses growing intellectual property challenges as the solar industry transitions to advanced technologies, particularly following recent global settlements between major manufacturers like LONGi Green Energy Technology and JinkoSolar regarding patent disputes.

Source: https://www.mercomindia.com/china-issues-guidance-on-strengthening-solar-intellectual-property-rights

US President Donald Trump has issued a clear warning to Chinese President Xi Jinping regarding Taiwan, stating he would be "very unhappy" with any change to the island's status quo. The comments came during a New York Times interview published Thursday, where Trump addressed potential parallels between his recent military operation in Venezuela and China's approach to Taiwan.

Trump Dismisses Venezuela-Taiwan Parallels

Trump firmly rejected suggestions that his audacious military operation in Venezuela could provide China with a precedent for action against Taiwan. Speaking to the newspaper Wednesday, the President emphasized fundamental differences between the two situations.

"He (Xi) considers it to be a part of China, and that's up to him what he's going to be doing," Trump stated. "But I've expressed to him that I would be very unhappy if he did that, and I don't think he'll do that. I hope he doesn't do that."

The President explained that Taiwan does not pose the same type of threat to China that the government of Nicolas Maduro posed to the United States, making the situations non-analogous in his view.

Presidential Timeline and Strategic Outlook

Trump expressed confidence that Xi would refrain from taking action against Taiwan during his current presidency, which ends in 2029. However, he acknowledged uncertainty about future scenarios under different leadership.

"He may do it after we have a different president, but I don't think he's going to do it with me as president," Trump said.

The Trump administration outlined its strategic approach in a policy document last year, aiming to prevent conflict with China over Taiwan and the South China Sea by building up US and allied military capabilities.

Longstanding Tensions and Diplomatic Positions

The Taiwan issue remains a persistent source of friction in US-China relations. China views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, with Beijing never renouncing the use of force to bring the island under its control. Taiwan firmly rejects Beijing's territorial claims.

Liu Pengyu, spokesperson for China's embassy in Washington, reiterated Beijing's position: "The Taiwan question is purely China's internal affair, and how to resolve it is a matter purely within China's sovereign rights."

US Commitment and Strategic Ambiguity

While the United States maintains no formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, Washington serves as the island's most important international backer. US law requires providing Taiwan with the means to defend itself, though Trump has largely avoided directly stating how he would respond to rising tensions over the island.

The President's latest comments represent his most direct warning to China regarding Taiwan since his recent Venezuela military operation, emphasizing personal diplomatic engagement while maintaining strategic ambiguity about specific response scenarios.