Per news reports from China’s Legal Daily and Xinhua, the 22nd meeting of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People’s Congress completed the revision of the Patent Law on October 17, 2020. The newly amended patent law will come into effect on June 1, 2021. As of writing, the text of the amended patent law has not been released so it is unknown exactly what changes have been made from the most recent draft for comments. However, the reports …
Category: Patents
Chinese Patent Prosecution Flow
Update: The 15-day mail delay used in calculating deadlines will be removed effective January 20, 2024 in electronically filed (i.e., most) patent applications. During prosecution of a Chinese invention patent application (as distinct from a utility model application), the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) will issue over 10 notices over the typical course of the prosecution process. Most of these notices require responses with varying deadlines, which will be discussed further below.
China Releases Report on Development Status of the National Patent Agency Industry (2019)
On September 30, 2020, the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) released a report on the Development Status of the National Patent Agency Industry (2019) (全国专利代理行业发展状况(2019年)). 2019 highlights include China having 2,691 patent agencies compared to 796 agencies in 2010; 20,192 practicing patent agents compared to 6,437 in 2010; and 43,702 people registered for the patent agent qualification examination with 5,381 people passing.
China Announces Completion of Their Third Generation Nuclear Reactor Backed by Over a Thousand Patents
As reported by the South China Morning Post on September 28, 2020, China’s State Power Investment Corporation Limited (SPIC) has announced the completion of the development of their third generation nuclear reactor referred to as CAP 1400 or 国和一号. Based on AP1000 technology from Westinghouse, “the CAP1400 has two primary coolant loops that transfer the heat generated by the fission reaction of 235U in the reactor core to the steam generator (SG). Each loop consists of a hot leg, two cold …