Peking University, Nov.5, 2011: Session Two, with the theme of “WTO and the Post-crisis”, took place against the background of the eighth Beijing Forum -- WTO Round-Table Discussions in Leo KoGuan Building of Peking University (PKU) Law School.

Valerie Hughes, current Director of Legal Affairs of WTO Secretariat, and Andreas R. Ziegler, professor from the University of Lausanne in Switzerland were chairmen of the two sub-sessions.

Michel Friocourt, director of the Board of PTR Group gave a speech at the morning sub-session with the theme of “Culture and Heritage”. He said, creativity and innovation play a greater role in industry today than at any other time in human history; people do not see differences in the trend of globalization, yet the only thing to do is to balance controversies. The current luxury market puts customers in a situation where they can find the same kinds of goods everywhere in the world where counterfeiting can be a huge problem. He does not see differences between copyright protections in China and those in other nations, and China even adapts the whole system before entering WTO. In this sense, economic development should be the prime factor in China, rather than IPR protection.

Experts including Wang Guiguo, chairman of the Hong Kong WTO Research Institute, and Chen Fuli, member of the Intellectual Property Research Association of China Law Society, also expressed their views on WTO and China’s adaptation in this trend.

Reported by: Li Yang

Edited by: Arthars