Chinese Patent System

The increasing submission of patent applications is a sign of the country’s innovativeness that is transforming China in to an innovation country by 2020 is causing a stir in the government and will make China a world leader in Science and technology by 2050. The present Science and Technology Development Plan of China recognizes the creation of indigenous inventiveness as a means to control in advancing China’s innovation capability and a factor in advancing China’s economic growth in the future. The patent system is plays a major role in the general process where the standard structure of the patent system is being criticized.


3 sets of amendments were carried out in the years 1992, 2000, and 2009 after the first patent law was implemented in 1984. The first amendment was an answer to external pressure to enhance patent protection, and the 2nd amendment was based on the requirements of the China for commitments to the World Trade Organization; The third amendment was encouraged by China’s ambition to further clarify its laws on patenting and the enforcement of judicial and administrative decisions while securing China’s interests in terms of national security. The end result is a patent system that comes closer to the system practiced in European countries, and to the United States patent system as well but maintains its uniqueness.
The last amendment in 2001 was a requirement from the World Trade Organization as obligated to China, The adoption of the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement and the synchronization of China’s patent system with International Standards. The first amendment of TRIPS is the computation of statutory damages and guaranteeing that state and nonstate enterprises obtain patent rights. After those two amendments, China had been consistent with its Patent system onward.


The latest amendment took place in 2009. This item is geared on the more transparent judicial decisions for judicial interpretation and enforcement. Other revisions were enforced too. Past versions require Chinese individuals and foreign invested companies registered in China to file the application in China, in case it had been completed in China before filing it in other countries but those applicants in China has to report to the State Intellectual Property Office for an examination before filing the patents in another foreign country.

American Patent System

History of American Patent System

The first president of the United States of America signed the bill which implemented the modern American Patent System. The intrinsic patent right of the inventor to gain from what he invented is put into law. In the past, it was the discretion of a monarch or a special act of legislature to grant this benefit to the inventor. The first grantee of such benefit was Samuel Hopkins who developed Potash derived from ash of burnt plant life used to make soap and other items.


Thomas Jefferson was the reviewer of this patent, Secretary of State; inventor of gadgets then passes them to the Secretary of war for his review and then signed by the attorney general and the final signature for the President Washington. The first year saw two more applications for patents which were later granted after due deliberation and examination, collection of signatures and implementation. Jefferson later realized that there is just too much work being done for the process of patent application. The very busy cabinet members’ time were just eaten up by the laborious process of deliberation for as little as four dollars. An American inventor could apply for a patent protection for their inventions for this amount under the provisions act of 1970.

The First American Patent Born

The Secretary of State was overwhelmed by the number of American inventors seeking to have their patents approved; so in 1793, the overwhelming work of patent examination was handed over to a State Department Clerk until the formation of the Patent office in 1802. As of today, more than five million patents were issued by the US Patent and Trademark Office to Americans and other nationals.


Before the Patent Act of July 4, 1836 was implemented, names and dates were issued to identify patents instead of numbers. Almost 10,000 patents were already in force by the Patent Office when it was caught on fire and destroyed a lot of original patent applications and their original documentations last December 1836. Utilizing private records, the office staff managed to restore and recover 2,845 patents. The remaining patents were then issued a number beginning with an X consequentially called the X-Patents. Henceforth, the first patent was assigned the patent X1. The non-recovered patents were canceled.