On October 17, the decision on amending the Patent Law of the P.R.C. of China was voted and passed at the 22nd Standing Committee Meeting of the 13th National People's Congress. The newly revised Patent Law will come into force on June 1, 2021.

This revision of the Patent Law mainly includes three key areas:

First, to strengthen the protection of the legitimate rights and the interests of patentees, which includes increasing patent infringement indemnity, such as one to five times of punitive damages for deliberate infringements, as well as raising the statutory compensation limit to five million yuan; the improvement in provisions concerning burden of proof and the administrative protection for patent; the addition of provisions concerning principle of good faith, the patent right period compensation system and the early settlement procedures for drug patent disputes, etc.

Second, to facilitate the implementation and application of patents, including improving the service invention system, adding a new patent open licensing system, and strengthening patent conversion services.

Third, to improve the patent authorization system, including further improving the system for industrial design protection, extending the grace period for the application of the novelty, and perfecting the patent right evaluation reporting.

(Source: www.nipso.cn)