On April 26, 2021, the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) released the Top Ten Cases of Patent Reexamination for 2020 (2020年度专利复审无效十大案件发布). The cases cover a variety of technologies including pharmaceuticals, wireless communications, business methods, and more. Multiple foreign companies’ patents were challenged including Bayer, Sharp, and others. Brief summaries with links to the patents and decisions follow.
Category: Patents
Director of China’s National Intellectual Property Administration: Speed Up Patent & TM Prosecution; Crack Down on Irregular Applications
At the 2021 High-Level Forum on China IP Protection (2021年中国知识产权保护高层论坛) held April 23, 2021, SHEN Changyu, the Director of the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) gave a keynote speech stating CNIPA will speed up patent and trademark application examination and also crack down on both irregular patent and trademark applications.
Chinese Patent Grants Up 77% in First Quarter of 2021
In recently released data from the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA), invention patent grants have increased 77% in the first quarter of 2021 year-on-year. Utility model patent grants are up 72% and design patent grants are up 14%. There is no filing data as CNIPA has ceased releasing patent application filing data since December 2020 but CNIPA has budgeted for a potential 50+% drop in the coming years.
China Releases Interpretation of the Measures Regarding the Regulation of Patent Applications That May Prevent Some IP Holding Companies from Successfully Prosecuting Patent Applications
The China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) released the “Measures Regarding the Regulation of Patent Applications” (关于规范申请专利行为的办法) on March 11, 2021. China is continuing the transition from quantity to quality in patent applications and one method is to reject ‘abnormal’ or ‘irregular’ patent applications as defined in the Measures. These measures and the concurrent elimination of monetary incentives for patent filings should decrease the total number of applications filed in China as quality increases. CNIPA itself is budgeting a potential …