Newsletter
PATENT ACT UNDER AMEND-MENT
The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) is cur-rently preparing amendments to the Patent Act, including amendments to the provisions on de-sign patents. The amendments thus far under discussion are outlined below:
The Chinese term for a design patent is to be changed from xin shiyang zhuanli to sheji zhuanli.
The subject of a design patent is to be defined as a creation directed toward visual appeal in respect of the shape, pattern, color, or a com-bination thereof, of all or part of an article, including computer graphics and graphical user interfaces.
If the same person or entity has two or more similar designs, it should apply for an original design patent and one or more derivative de-sign patents. An application for a derivative design patent may not be filed after the origi-nal design patent is published. The same person may not apply for a derivative design patent for a design that is not similar to the original design, but is only similar to its de-rivative design.
A separate patent application should be filed for each design. But if two or more designs embody the same design concept or belong to the same category, and the articles concerned are habitually sold or used as a set, the designs may be made the subject of a single applica-tion.
On the date when the amended Act takes ef-fect, if no examination decision has yet been rendered on a previously filed application for an associated design patent, the relevant pro-visions of the old Act will continue to apply to that application. But if the application was filed before the original design patent appli-cation was published, the applicant may apply within three months after the amended Act takes effect to convert the application into an application for a derivative design patent, to which the provisions of the amended Act will apply.
We will continue to follow the progress of the amendments closely, and keep readers updated.