China promotes IP pledge financing to support enterprises amid epidemic

China will further promote intellectual property pledge financing to support small and medium-sized enterprises amid epidemic, according to an official on Feb 25.

Since the outbreak of the epidemic, the National Intellectual Property Administration (NIPA) has rolled out a series of measures to facilitate intellectual property-related businesses and pledge financing, said He Zhimin, deputy director of the NIPA at a press conference.

"It is a very effective measure for those small and medium-sized companies, especially technological companies, to pledge their intellectual property rights for funds and tackle their financing strain," He said.

He said the NIPA has set up a green channel for IP pledge financing registration, shortening the electronic registration period to one working day. It has enhanced investigation on the demand for intellectual property pledge financing and coordinated with banks to grant loans or renew loans for those enterprises.

He gave an example of intellectual property pledge financing, saying that an enterprise producing emergency medical materials in the city of Dongguan, Guangdong province has received a loan of 15 million yuan (about $2.14 million) by pledging its three patents, thus enhancing its production capacity.

The intellectual property office in Jiangsu province has set up a special project for intellectual property pledge financing, and 37 enterprises in the province have obtained pledge loans of 114 million yuan since the epidemic outbreak, He said.