ChinaChina Patent OfficeCNIPAPatent LawUpdates and Changes
10 November 2023

Announcement: Implementation Regulations (Rules) of the Chinese Patent Law have been Approved

by
Ms. Yolanda Wang
Ms. Jennifer Che

On November 3rd, 2023, the Premier of the State Council, Li Qiang, chaired a regular meeting where the "Implementation Regulations of the Patent Law of the People's Republic of China (Revised Draft)" was reviewed and approved. This is great news, as we have been waiting quite some time for these Regulations (Rules) to be approved (see our previous article summarizing the draft Implementation Rules). Considering the 4th Amendment of the new Chinese Patent Law was passed in October 2020, we have certainly been waiting a long time for more details about how this law will be implemented.

This document is not publicly available yet. However, the announcement provides a summary of key highlights:

Key Highlights:

  • China will continue to enhance protection of IP rights, with a goal of further refining the patent application and examination systems to improve China’s standards in patent innovation, application, protection, management, and related services.
  • China will continue efforts to strengthen alignment with relevant international treaties.
  • The Regulations affirm that the patent law plays a pivotal role in promoting technological innovation and the development of new industries and markets.
  • China will initiate multiple forms of public awareness campaigns on IP Rights to foster a legal environment that supports and safeguards innovation.

These high level statements reflect China’s overarching goals for strengthening both IP protection as well as public awareness of IP protection in China. We look forward to seeing the details of the Regulations.

As always, we keep an eye out for updates such as these and will inform you as soon as more details come out. 

Other Articles

Tapentadol.svg

Polymorph Patents in China: What is the Standard for Inventiveness for New Crystal Forms?

14 July 2020
This case is focused on polymorphs, namely what are the standards for novelty and inventiveness when it comes to new crystal forms of a known drug? A recent Supreme People’s Court decision in China is illustrative of the way Chinese courts are thinking about polymorph patents in China. Grünenthal is a German pharmaceutical company and […]

Introducing the New USPTO Cancer Moonshot Expedited Examination Pilot Program

10 January 2023
Starting from February 1, 2023, the USPTO will begin the new Cancer Moonshot Expedited Examination Pilot Program that advances out-of-turn applications that are directed to oncology or smoking cessation. This new program will replace the Cancer Immunotherapy Pilot Program that has been in place since 2016, and covers more technologies than only cancer immunotherapies. Applications […]

First ever Invalidation decision on an RNAi Invention patent in China

4 December 2023
Decision on Examination of Request for Invalidation (No. 58530) In one of China’s Top 10 Patent Re-examination / Invalidation cases of 2022, an invalidation decision on a patent claiming Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) RNAi compositions (No. 58530) by the Patent Re-examination Board (the “Board”) sheds light on the standard for post filing data for rejections […]

Inventive Step for an Enantiomer over a Racemate: “L-ornidazole” Patent Invalidation Case

27 November 2023
Each year, China’s Supreme People’s Court (SPC) issues its annual “Judgment Digests”, which includes a list of “48 typical cases” highlighting representative SPC decisions in the previous year. The Judgment Digests help us understand more about the SPC’s judicial ideology, trial concepts, and adjudication methods in dealing with difficult and sophisticated legal issues as well […]

Our Past Events

Top crossarrow-right