On June 19, 2005,  the State Council of the People's Republic of China appointed Mr. Tian Lipu as the Commissioner of the State Intellectual Property Office of the People's Republic of China (SIPO). (Prior to this new post, Mr. Tian was the Deputy Commissioner of SIPO.) Mr. Wang Jingchuan, former Commissioner, stepped down from his post.

Mr. Tian Lipu, born in October 1953 in Anguo County, Hebei Province, received a Master of Science degree at Graduate School of University of Science and Technology of China. He also has an academic title of Research Fellow.

Mr. Tian joined SIPO (under the name of China Patent Office then until 1998) in May 1981 where he served in several capacities in time sequence: a full-time member of the Patent Reexamination Board, Deputy Director of the Board, Deputy Director of the Electronics Examination Department and Deputy Director and Director of Automation Department. He served as Deputy Commissioner from March 2001 till June 2005 when he was appointed as the Commissioner.

Mr. Tian was a visiting scholar at Marks-Plank, European Patent Office, German Patent Office and Federal Patent Court of Germany in late 80s and early 90s.