Xinhua News Agency, Hangzhou, February 20th. Title: National People's Congress Representative Zhou Di: Use "professional" and "focus" to help intellectual property protection

Xinhua News Agency reporter Wei Yijun

Talk to visit enterprises to understand the bottlenecks of new technology transformation and application, talent attraction and retention, and carefully record the suggestions and demands in the development process of enterprises... In recent times, Zhou Di, a member of the National People's Congress and director of Zhejiang Ushi Technology Co., Ltd., has been constantly conducting in-depth research in enterprises.

As a scientific and technological worker on the front line of the enterprise, Zhou Di has long been paying attention to the latest progress in cutting-edge technologies, and has a keen observation and unique understanding of how new technologies can empower thousands of industries.

"The NPC deputies have a great responsibility. I must give full play to my strengths and expertise as much as possible and put forward more quality suggestions." Zhou Di said.

Last year, after Zhou Di visited more than 10 schools and relevant government departments, he proposed a suggestion at the National People's Congress on "promoting scenario-based applications of artificial intelligence to empower the healthy growth of young people." After the meeting, this suggestion was taken seriously by the education department. Binjiang District of Hangzhou City increased the coverage of smart device application, which played a positive role in promoting the healthy growth of students.

Zhou Di (fourth from the right), a representative of the National People's Congress and director of the Research Institute of Zhejiang Ushi Technology Co., Ltd., visited and investigated the company. (Photo provided by the interviewee)

There is a response to the suggestion, which continues to inspire Zhou Di's enthusiasm for performing his duties.

In 2024, a well-known Internet company in Hangzhou was involved in an intellectual property dispute and found Zhou Di for help.

"I own more than 500 patents, of which more than 300 are the first inventor. My years of work experience has allowed me to accumulate in-depth and professionally in the field of intellectual property rights." Zhou Di said. After a comprehensive understanding of the causes and consequences of the dispute, he helped the company re-clutter the materials and objectively make statements to the judicial department.

This case attracted the attention of the Supreme People's Court. After repeated coordination and communication, the ideal result was finally achieved - the two companies reached an out-of-court settlement. However, during the process of sorting out the materials, Zhou Di found that similar cases were not uncommon in the country.

"Combined with the analysis of existing cases, I found that there has not been a clear provision on how to protect the 'vertical series of products' that inherits the brand design genes of enterprises. Once a litigation dispute occurs, it is often declared invalid due to its certain similarity to the historical model design." Zhou Di said that this situation hinders the continuous innovation of the same series of products in the enterprise, and thus affects the company's ability to continue to innovate and improve its competitiveness.

Innovation is the primary driving force for development, and protecting intellectual property rights is protecting innovation. With this concept in mind, Zhou Di devoted a lot of energy to visit and investigate in addition to his job, and led the proposal to "revise relevant provisions of the Patent Law and strengthen the protection of iterative product appearance design patents."

Zhou Di (second from left), a representative of the National People's Congress and director of the Research Institute of Zhejiang Ushi Technology Co., Ltd., conducted research at the grassroots level of the community. (Photo provided by the interviewee)

At the same time, Zhou Di also found that as more companies accelerate their pace of "going out", compared with European and American countries, my country still has major shortcomings in overseas patent layout, resulting in companies being restricted to varying degrees in international competition, thereby weakening global competitiveness.

"I have prepared more than 20 suggestions at this year's National People's Congress, one of which is to optimize my country's overseas patent layout and enhance the global competitiveness of enterprises. I hope it can provide inspiration and reference for more international companies." Zhou Di said.

"The evolution of science and technology is accelerating, and enterprises may face more new challenges in the development process. I will further promote the combination of performance of duties and work, listen to the voices of grassroots from the aspects of science and technology, talents, industries, etc., and contribute more to creating a better innovation environment." Zhou Di said.

[Reporter's Notes]

With simple dress and gentle tone, Zhou Di, holding more than 500 patents, is like a low-key "sweeping monk". During the conversation, the deepest impression he gave was "focus" and "professional".

In the interview, Zhou Di will always take out the information to carefully check and verify specific details such as time and quantity. He has made detailed records of his performance experience over the past year, and his focused performance attitude has become his "password" to form targeted and high-quality suggestions.

Relying on his deep accumulation in the field of intellectual property, Zhou Di helped enterprises protect their rights with objective and professional statements, and combined with the development trends of popular industries, he learned from one example and made relevant suggestions. It was his professionalism that effectively promoted the solution of the problem.