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In preparation for the entry into force (expected 1 July 2004) of the amendments to the Patent Law promulgated on 6 February 2003, the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) is drafting amendments to the Patent Law Enforcement Rules. In the sec-ond half of July 2003 the IPO held public hear-ings to solicit opinions from various quarters. The expected main points of the amendments include the following:
To allow filing patent applications electroni-cally.
To define disclosure requirements for inven-tion and new utility model patent specifica-tions and claims.
To define disclosure requirements for new design patent specifications and drawings.
To set forth rules to determine the filing date in the event that pages are missing from a patent specification, or items are missing from the drawings.
To clarify that if a divisional application has been filed, the original application may not be converted to a different type.
To relax requirements for reporting the as-signment, licensing, or pledging of patent rights.
To define the required form of applications for new utility model technical reports.
To define the required content of new utility model technical reports.
To define the disclosure requirements for publication of an invention in the official patent gazette.
The amended rules are expected to take effect on 1 July 2004. We will closely follow the progress of the amendments and keep readers updated.
