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.