"As of the end of June 2023, over 1,500 patentees from 22 provinces attended the trial program that has selected 35,000 patents with market potential and easy for promotion and commercialization, matched these patents' information with the specific need of 76,000 SMEs and pushed to them, leading to the conclusion of nearly 8,000 licensing deals eventually." The press conference on IP work in China for the first half of 2023 tells that with the expansion of the trial program on patent open licensing, an increasing number of patents have transformed from stock in the warehouse to growth in the market.

Multiple policies advance steadily

In an effort to ensure smooth execution and efficient operation of the patent open licensing system, China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) released a trial program on patent open licensing in May 2022.

In terms of enhancing coordination with other government policies and interaction between universities and enterprises, the CNIPA joined hands with the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Science and Technology and Ministry of Industry and Information Technology to wage Operation Thousand Universities Meeting Ten Thousand Enterprises to form an innovation partnership between them and Operation Hundred Schools Showcasing Thousand Patents to inspire commercialization of high-value patents. In a series of measures that aiding SMEs/startups with IPRs, encouraging universities and research institutes to open their patent licenses to SMEs were highlighted contents. In an effort to make the evaluation system fitting the market, the CNIPA published the Guidelines for Estimation of Patent Open License Royalties (Trial), released data of these royalties based on the classification of the national economic sectors for two years in a row, which can provide a toolkit and data reference for patentees to estimate royalties for their patent open licenses and shape reasonable market prices.

Gravitating towards intelligent connection and accurate matching, CNIPA has instructed local authorities to construct supply/demand databases, use artificial intelligence, big data to match the open license patents with SMEs' need and pushed to them, organize road shows, enhance post-licensing commercialization guidance, and upgrade connection efficiency and implementation effectiveness.

In addition, during the task deployment for the 2023 IPR Service Ten Thousand Kilometers Campaign, the CNIPA specifically mentioned a dedicated plan for advancement of patent commercialization and patent open licensing in the chapter of "IPR service facilitating commercialization".

Wide participation pays dividends

Lei Xiaoyun, Director General of CNIPA's IP Use and Promotion Department summarized the following features reflected since the start of the trial program. First, active participation of different types of market participants. Nearly 600 universities/research institutes and 900 enterprises including 110 national IPR trial model universities and many central enterprises attended the program as patentees. Second, the system works. During the trial, over 1,100 patents were licensed to more than one enterprise, piling up 40% of all the licenses generated under the program. One-to-Many, which has uplifted the licensing efficiency, is not a rare scene. Third, the effectiveness of the trial program has been widely acknowledged. According to a survey, 48.3% of patentees know of the patent open licensing system; 49.6% of patentees are willing to take this approach and even a dominant 90% of patentees with university background prefer to do so.

With the further advancement of the trial work and the IPR Service Ten Thousand Kilometers Campaign, the participating trial provinces have been gaining momentum. As of last mid-August, 2,636 licensing deals generating 3.751 million yuan had been done in Zhejiang, considering a total of 6,211 patents in the program. Shaanxi organized an exhibition designed for patent open licensing, spreading the word to more market participants and inviting them to attend the program. In the meantime, a growing number of regional cities and counties have been getting involved in the program -- a first trial attendant has appeared in Tieli City (county-level), Heilongjiang; Kunming City's first is in Wuhua District.

Lei added that CNIPA will continue summarizing experiences, enhance policy coordination with relevant agencies and propel the full execution of the patent open licensing system after the enactment of the Implementing Regulations of the Patent Law.