IMPLEMENTATION OF AMENDED PRC PATENT LAW – NOTIFICATION CONCERNING RELEVANT PATENT MATTERS

11/01/2009

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The amended PRC Patent Law took effect on 1 October 2009. On 29 September 2009, the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) announced the "Notification Concerning Relevant Patent Matters after Amended Patent Law Takes Effect." The major contents of the Announcement are as follows:
	l	Where the same applicant files on the dame day an invention patent application and a utility model patent application covering the same invention, he shall fill in "Declaration on Filing Invention and Utility Model Patent Applications on the Same Day" as used by SIPO, so as to explain the additional patent filing for the same invention.
	l	Where one applies for patent abroad for an invention completed in China, he shall apply for secrecy examination with the State Intellectual Property Office beforehand, and shall fill on the "Petition for Secrecy Examination Needed for Filing Patent Abroad" as used by SIPO.
	l	Where an patent application is filed for an invention which is completed based on use of genetic resources, the applicant shall fill in the "Registration Form for Disclosing Sources of Genetic Resources" as used by the SIPO, to disclose the direct source and the original source of the genetic resources. If the applicant cannot disclose the original source information, he shall explain the reason.
	l	When filing a design patent application, the applicant shall submit, among others, a Brief Description. If the Brief Description is not submitted, the design patent application shall not be accepted. Disclosure regarding a Brief Description shall be concrete and brief, and it shall comply with the "Notice Regarding Disclosure of Brief Description" dated October 2009.
	l	For utility model patent applications and design patent applications with filing dates on or after 1 October 2009 (where priority claims are made, it shall be based on the priority dates), the SIPO shall, upon request, issue Patent Right Evaluation Reports. For utility model patent applications and design patent applications with filing dates prior to 1 October 2009 or afterwards (where priority claims are made, it shall be based on the priority dates), the SIPO shall, upon request, issue Utility Model Patent Search Reports.