Newsletter
IPO DRAFTING AMENDMENTS TO PATENT ACT
The Patent Act was last amended in 2003. Since then the Intellectual Property Office has been considering various issues for further amendment of the Act, including the following:
‧Expansion of patent protection to animal and plant inventions, with provisions to expressly regulate the extent of rights, exhaustion of rights, non-profit use by individuals, exemptions from liability for farmers, compulsory licensing, and cross-licensing.
‧In consideration of the relevant WTO rules, new provisions will be added to allow compulsory licenses of patents under conditions of national emergency, other circumstances of extreme urgency, or for non-profit purposes to safeguard public interests, for the production of needed pharmaceutical products.
‧Amendments to the provisions governing exemption for research and experimentation, to make it clear that the effect of a patent does not extend to personal activities for non-commercial purposes.
‧The IPO has proposed reforms to new design patent system, including changing the name of "new design patent" (phonetic translation: "xin shiyang zhuanli" to "design patent" (phonetic translation: "sheji zhuanli"); allowing protection for (1) design related to a part of an object, (2) computer icon designs, (3) graphical user interface designs, and (4) design covering a set of articles, etc
‧An overhaul of new utility model patent scheme. The IPO may also be authorized to revoke new utility model patents through ex officio actions.
‧The IPO also plans to relax certain procedural requirements, and provide remedies for late payments of patent annuities.
‧The IPO is also reviewing whether to introduce new rules governing patent infringement, including contributory/indirect infringement.
We will closely monitor the progress of the amendment process and keep our readers informed.