In the rapidly changing Internet age, "micro-innovation" is becoming a new fulcrum to instigate changes in the industry, but innovators face the difficulty of patent protection. The partial design patent system newly incorporated to the draft amendments to the Chinese Patent Law is expected to become the "terminator" of the aforementioned problems.

Article 2 of the draft stipulates: "Designs refer to new designs that are aesthetically pleasing and suitable for industrial applications based on the overall or partial shape, pattern, or combination of products, as well as the combination of colors, shapes, and patterns."  The focus of the amendment is to incoporate a "whole or partial..." clause, which means that partial design innovation is expected to be included in the scope of patent law protection.

Compared with the subversive overall product design, partial design is gradually becoming an important way of product design.  According to current laws and regulations, GUI must be bundled with specific products and protected as a whole, resulting in many partial innovations being excluded from the object of design patent protection.

"The term of design patent rights is fifteen years."  Compared with the current patent law, the draft amendment extends the protection term of design patents by 5 years. This move is considered to be China's preparation for joining the Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs (Geneva Act) (hereinafter referred to as the Hague Agreement).  At present, the Hague Agreement has established a system for the international registration of industrial designs, which stipulates that when the international registration has been renewed, the term of protection of the designated contracting party shall be at least 15 years from the date of the international registration.

"Extending the term of protection is one of the measures to increase the protection of intellectual property rights."  Some designs with certain characteristics usually have a longer life cycle, such as parts of automobiles, household appliances or daily necessities that have significant design characteristics.  Generally, products have a long lifespan.  Only by giving right holders a reasonable protection period can the interests of innovators and the public be better balanced.

At present, the second review of the draft amendment to Chinese Patent Law is soliciting opinions from the public.  Incorporating a partial design protection system and extending the protection period of design patents...  The relevant provisions of this amendment will make China's design protection system increasingly perfect, and help broaden the scope of design protection, increase design innovation protection, and allow innovation those who have the heart of innovation have no worries about infringement.

From CNIPA

July 29th, 2020