飞利浦：“知识产权教席项目”

飞利浦与复旦大学续签“知识产权教席项目”合作协议

昨夜，刚好粗略翻看了一篇关于知识产权教育的文章：Intellectual Property education – In the Law School and Beyond。

在Allan Huang和我去年合写的 “Infringement of Intellectual Property Rights of Industrial Design: Multinationals’ Strategy, Practice, and Concerns in China” (in Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Computer-aided Industrial Design & Conceptual Design: Digital Techniques, Humanized Design, Regional Autonomous Innovation, p456-459, IEEE Press, Nov 2006, Hangzhou) 那篇文章中的OTHER INSTITUTIONAL AND CULTURAL CONCERNS RELATING TO DESIGN RIGHTS PROTECTION部分，我也说到了IP Education这个问题：

Multinationals are also taking initiatives to cultivate local IPR talents and enhance local IPR knowledge in China. In recent yeas, Royal Philips Electronics of the Netherlands has partnered with several leading Chinese law schools strong in IPR field, e.g., Renmin University, Tsinghua University, Fudan University, etc., to set up IP Academy aiming to promote Chinese IPR studies to cope with international competition. These programs involve, in these law schools, Philips’ selection and sponsorship of European IPR experts to teach IPR courses or give lectures, establishment of IPR scholarship, sponsorship of IPR Research, invitation of local professors to visit European universities, and support other IPR related projects and workshops. Multinationals see such educational efforts as an excellent opportunity and a long-term solution to drive China to improve its IPR situation. As one executive from one multinational company put it, “If we educate a hundred people on IP issues, they are going to tell a hundred more, and so on. The knock-on effect is unimaginable in scope. And that's how you reach every strata of society in a country as big as China.”

三年前，我也曾受益于飞利浦在清华法学院举办的IP Academy，那是我的知识产权启蒙课。

飞利浦的知识产权立场在国内常被人指责，像“飞利浦向中国教授‘低头’，承诺撤销争议专利”这样的报道屡见不鲜。我也常常在研讨会上听到其他跨国企业的知识产权高管批评飞利浦的一些做法。

但是，就“知识产权教席项目”而言，飞利浦的努力，我以为，值得称赞。