The Chinese Patent Office, formally known as the State Intellectual Property office (SIPO) has announced the expected implementation of its patent law amendment sometime in early 2009. The amendment was approved by the State Council and is being sent to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress for final approval.
The Amendment to Patent Law (in its present draft) is intended to increase the threshold of patent grant, thereby raising the bar as to what is considered patentable, to add new provisions encouraging the promotion and utilization of patented technologies, to strengthen the protection of patent rights, and to prevent rights abuse by patent owners by balancing the patent owner's and public interests.
Some proposed changes have been fought by foreign companies doing business in China. For example, the amended law will treat inventions made in China by foreign companies conducting research in China as having been locally invented, thereby requiring a first filing in China for all such inventions, irrespective of the ownership or foreign citizenship of the company or its parent. The United States has similar provisions for US inventions, which require a license before any foreign or PCT counterpart applications can be filed.
Vol. 53, June 2010