▍ Patent practice - Presentation of China's Patent Law Amendments

China's Patent Law has gone through four revisions. The latest revision was made in 2020 and has come into effect since June 01, 2021. The amendments are mainly as follows.

First, enhancing protection for legitimate interests of patentees. It includes increasing the amount of damages by introducing punitive damages between one and five times for willful infringement, and raising the upper limit of statutory damages to five million Yuan. It has improved burden of proof system, enhanced administrative protection for patent right, added principle of good faith, patent term extension or adjustment and early settlement mechanism on drug patent disputes to this Revision.

Second, promoting implementation and utilization of patents. It has improved on-duty invention regulations, introduced patent open licensing system, and improved patent commercialization services.

Third, improving patent grant system. It has further improved design patent protection system, increased applicable situations for grace period of novelty, and improved patent assessment system.  

The fourth revision of China’s Patent Law has attracted extensive attention worldwide. We have received inquiries about amendments of the Patent Law from our clients and partners at home and abroad. To answer those questions, we have designed a course to share with clients and partners and have received positive feedback. Today, we uploaded a video of our course with our client’s feedback to Youtube. If you are interested, click on the link and watch it.

The lecturer of this course is Dr. Jason XUE, the vice-president of Jiaquan IP Law. He is a former patent examiner, re-examiner and PCT examiner of the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA). He has worked in the Patent Examination Cooperation Beijing Center of the Patent Office of CNIPA for 7 years. 

Dr. XUE will explain the amendments in four aspects.

- 1. PTA and PTE

- 2. Punitive Damages and Open License

- 3. National Phase of PCT Application

- 4. Other Changes and Developments 

We hope this sharing will be helpful for you to further understand the revision of China's Patent Law. If you have any questions, please feel free to leave your comments for discussion.