On April 26, CNIPA announced the top 10 patent reexamination & invalidation cases in 2020 at the Open Day event.

At the 25th Group Study Session of the Political Bureau of the 19th CPC Central Committee, General Secretary Xi Jinping stressed strengthening IP protection comprehensively, stimulating the innovation vitality of the whole society, and promoting the construction of a new development pattern. As a procedure of administrative granting and confirmation of right, patent reexamination and announcement of invalidation is an important link in the whole IP protection chain and directly influences the protection of patent right. CNIPA selects the top 10 cases among those received and announces them to the public every year. In doing so, it can give full play to the demonstration effect of the typical cases and has a positive impact on publicizing patent protection system, encouraging innovation and maintaining public interests.

The top 10 cases of 2020 are:

1. Request for invalidating invention patent "use of a beta blocker for the manufacture of a medicament for the treatment of hemangiomas". Decision: maintain patent right on the basis of amendment. This is a typical case of invention of new uses of drugs, which has demonstration effect on the inventive step judgment of "conventional drug in new use".

2. Request for invalidating invention patent "distributed power harvesting systems using DC power sources". Decision: patent right declared invalid. This patent involves the photovoltaic field. The decision emphasized that the understanding of technical terms should be based on the patent's public content and the ordinary meaning in this field in the position of the technical staff skilled in this field, and technical terms should not be over-interpreted.

3. Request for invalidating utility model patent "Sheet material handling equipment and mobile phone glass machining center". Decision: maintain patent right. The decision emphasizes that, during creativity evaluation, it is necessary to examine whether there is technical inspiration from the existing technologies as a "whole", instead of simply piecing up the existing technologies.

4. Request for invalidating utility model patent "a kind of voice coil motor and its lens group of driving liquid lens". Decision: maintain patent right on the basis of amendment. This patent involves liquid lens. The decision believes that novelty examination should pay attention to the integrity of the technical scheme to accurately grasp its essence.

5. Request for invalidating invention patent "wireless communication system". Decision: patent right declared invalid. This case interprets the application of the examination criteria for the amendment of claims in the patent invalidation procedure.

6. Request for invalidating design patent "a graphical user interface for a mobile communication device". Decision: part of the patent right declared invalid. The case involves the determination of the scope of protection for the graphical user interface. The decision emphasizes that the determination of the interface view and the interaction mode should be accurately judged in combination with pictures and brief introduction.

7. Request for invalidating invention patent "butylbenzene phthalein cyclodextrin or cyclodextrin derivative clathrate, its preparation method and application". Decision: maintain patent right. This case can be used as reference to evaluate the creativity of the improvement inventions of known compounds. The decision emphasizes mining of the technical information reflected in the experimental data and the technical contribution of appropriate identification of the experimental data in the position of the technician staff in this field.

8. Request for invalidating invention patent "power bank renting method, system, and renting terminal". Decision: maintain patent right. This is a typical case of patent examination in new fields and new business forms. The decision emphasizes that the interaction between technical characteristics and non-technical characteristics should be considered when judging whether business method inventions are creative.

9. Request for invalidating invention patent "flat-knitting machine". Decision: maintain patent right. This case provides an idea for examining how to accurately understanding the meaning of specific technical terms, and clarifies the role of the "internal evidence" of the related patent in accurately understanding the technical terms.

10. Request for invalidating invention patent "substituted oxazolidinones and their use in the field of blood coagulation". Decision: maintain patent right on the basis of amendment. This case has demonstration effect on judging the inventive step of chemical compounds. The decision emphasizes that it is necessary to judge whether the existing technologies provide technical inspiration for structural modification based on the examination of the structure-activity relationship.(Translated from CNIPA Website Chinese Version)