On November 30, CNIPA held a regular press conference in November. Zhang Peng, director of the Treaty and Law Department of CNIPA, introduced that the implementation rules of the Patent Law are important supporting administrative regulations to ensure the effective implementation of the Patent Law and it’s the further refinement of the provisions. The amendments to the implementation rules of the Patent Law mainly involve the following four aspects: first, improving the patent examination system and the quality and efficiency of patent examination; second, strengthening patent protection and protecting the legitimate rights and interests of patentees; third, promoting the transformation and application of patents; fourth, it is a new chapter dedicated to the international application of industrial designs, which is in line with international rules.

The revised Patent Law has been implemented since June 1, 2021. The amendments mainly involve the following three aspects: First, strengthen the protection of the legitimate rights and interests of patentees, and newly increase the penalty of one to five times for serious intentional infringement compensation, increase the statutory compensation amount to between 30,000 and 5 million yuan, improve the burden of proof, reduce the burden of proof for right holders when claiming compensation, improve patent administrative protection measures, clarify the principle of good faith, and increase the duration of drug patents relevant regulations on compensation and early settlement of drug patent disputes. Second, it is to promote the implementation and application of patents, clarify the unit’s right to dispose of service inventions and creations, add an open licensing system, and strengthen patent public services. Third, the patent examination authority system has been improved, the applicable circumstances of the grace period and partial designs have been added, patent right evaluation report system have been improved, with the term of design patents extended.

From Intellectual Property Protection in China

November 30th, 2022