1. Improvement on Enforcement Mechanism

    In 2000, the Office continued to strengthen its role of coordination in the enforcement. In October, the Office, the Ministry of Public Security and the State Administration for Industry and Commerce jointly issued the "Notice on Strengthening Coordination in Prosecution of Intellectual Property Infringement" (the "Notice"). This laid a good foundation for establishing an initial enforcement coordination mechanism among concerned departments, ensuring the implementation of the revised Patent Law, enhancing the position of patent administrative authorities in enforcement, attacking the counterfeit products, maintaining the market order and meeting the requirements for the entry to WTO. The Notice was distributed to each province, autonomous region and municipality.

2.Coordination and Guidance for Local Enforcement

    The Office continued to strengthen its role of coordination and guidance in the enforcement by local patent administrative authorities. Upon research of the prominent problems occurred in the administrative enforcement, suggestions and resolution were raised. Some important enforcement activities were made through efficient organization and coordination. For example, before March 15(Consumers' Right Day), the Office issued a notice requiring nationwide patent administrative authorities to attack passing off patents and other intellectual property counterfeit activities, which achieved good results. In addition, the Office timely processed the materials referred to from some leaders and successfully accomplished the coordination task of enforcement.

3.Promotion on Local Legislation

    The Office continued to guide and promote the local legislation for patent protection. The Standing Committee of Henan People's Congress issued the "Regulations for Patent Protection"; the Standing Committee of Wuhan People's Congress reviewed the "Administrative Regulations for Patent" (which is to be promulgated and implemented at the beginning of 2001);Also in Shanghai, Hunan, Fujian and Gansu, the legislation of "Regulations for Patent Protection" was put on agenda.

    Up to the end of 2000,Guangdong, Sichuan, Hubei, Shandong, Liaoning, Hebei, Anhui, Zhejiang, Guangxi, Henan, Shanxi and Xiamen had promulgated their local "Regulations for Patent Protection".

4.Receiving and Settlement of Patent Disputes

    The statistics showed that in 2000, 925 cases of patent disputes were received by the local provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities under the control of central government, coastal cities and cities specifically designated in the state plan (54 local patent administrative authorities in total). 825 were closed, accounting for 89.2%. Of all cases received, 844 cases were related to infringement, representing 91.2%; 49 cases were related to patent ownership, representing 5.3%; 32 cases were related to other disputes, representing 3.5%. 84 cases were related to invention, representing 9.1%; 439 cases were related to utility models, representing 47.5%;402 cases were related to industrial design, representing 43.4%.Of all the cases closed, 154 were closed upon decisions of the competent authorities, representing 18.7%; 442 upon mediation, representing 53.6%; 229 upon the withdrawal of the parties and others, representing 27.7%.

    From 1985 to the end of 2000, the patent administrative authorities received a total of 6623 patent disputes, of which 5723 were closed, accounting for 86.4%.

5.Investigation and Seizure of Passing off Patents

    In 2000, the patent administrative authorities prosecuted and seized 29,000 cases of passing off patents, of which 349 were fined.