1. Revision of the Patent Law

    The second revision of the Patent Law took years of work. The Office began the preparation as early as in 1996. The work was officially launched when the revision of the Patent Law was listed into the 1999 legislation plan by the Legislative Affairs Office of the State Council and planned to be completed within the tenure of the Standing Committee of the Ninth National People's Congress (NPC). On the basis of research and debate on related issues as well as collection and analysis on related opinions, the first draft of the revision was made to solicit opinions from all sides. After repeated modifications, the Office worked out the Draft Revision of the Patent Law and submitted it to the State Council. Upon review, the State Council approved and submitted the Draft to the NPC Standing Committee. During the review period by the Standing Committee, the Office organized and accompanied the departments concerned to various provinces for field studies so as to examine how the Patent Law had been implemented and what were the problems occurred therein. This provided adequate research in formation for the review, and the questions raised by the members of the Standing Committee were also answered.

    After three reviews by the Standing Committee, the " Decision on the Revision of the 'Patent Law of the People's Republic of China' " was passed on August 25,2000 by the 17th Session of the Standing Committee of the Ninth National People's Congress. On the same day, President Jiang Zemin signed the President Order No.36 for publication. The new Patent Law will take effect on July 1,2001. Since 1984 when the Patent Law was first issued, this was the second time it had been revised, which was of significant meanings to the development of the patent system and was an important milestone in the history of the development of the patent system in China.

    For the revision of the Patent Law, the Office had successfully combined the world common practice in then patent system with the concrete needs of China as a developing socialist country. The revision not only complied with the requirements set in the " Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights" (TRIPS), but also comprehensively took into account the national situation in China, therefore creating more favorable conditions for the development of technical innovation. It ensured adequate space for the play of the patent system, improved the ability of Chinese enterprises and institutions in utilizing patent protection in technical innovation, further accelerated the technical innovation and promoted the prosperity and development of economy and technology in China.

2. Revision of the Rules for the Implementation of the Patent Law

    The revision of the Rules was timely initiated to accord with the implementation of the Patent Law, which is to be effective on July 1, 2001. Following the work in 1999 and the feedback from all sides of the society, the draft Rules were worked out after repeated research and debate. In addition, the Office held meetings to listen to and collect opinions and advice from patent agencies, local patent administrative authorities, departments concerned of the State Council, scientific research institutions, large and medium-sized enterprises, experts and scholars and departments within the Office. The Office also extended to the whole nation for collecting opinions and received dozens of written responses. Through further research and discussion and after repeated revision, the draft "Revision of the Rules for the Implementation of the Patent Law" was completed and submitted to the State Council for review.

    The revised Rules are expected to be issued in the first half of 2001 and implemented on July 1,2001.

3. Check-up on other Regulatory Documents

    Currently we are in the critical moment of negotiations for accession to WTO. In order to ensure China's favorable position in the negotiation and the early entrance into WTO, the Office timely provided concerned documents needed in the negotiation. According to the WTO regulations, the laws in force of a country shall subject to review before its entrance. Therefore, the Office made check-up of the patent laws, rules and regulations in force. Those not in compliance with the TRIPS were either modified or annulled.

    According to related regulations by the State Council, all departments shall report to the State Council for record within the prescribed period starting from the issuance of the regulations. The Office completed the work in 2000. Since the Legislation Law to be officially implemented on July 1,2000 has clear regulations, the Office will accordingly follow the requirement in the Legislation Law.

4.Strengthening the Guidance on Enforcement

    The Office strengthened its role in the settlement of patent disputes and seizure of passing-off patents. In 2000, the Office responded to more than a dozen local patent administrative authorities and People's Courts with regard to the legal issues on patent disputes.

    The" Statistics Year Book on Patent Dispute Resolution and Seizure of Passing off patents by Patent Administrative Authorities", which is edited and issued every year by the Office, provided adequate information to departments concerned for study and investigation, and it is also a channel for the administrative authorities to communicate on the issue of enforcement.

    The Year Book contains data of patent dispute resolutions and seizure of passing off patents by 54 local patent administrative authorities in 1999 and the total cases from 1985 to 1999. As of 2001, it will be included in the"State Intellectual Property Office Statistics Year Book".

5. Administration of Patent Agencies

    In 2000, the Office approved 10 new patent agencies, designated 8 new foreign-related patent agencies and issued over 1,000 certificates for qualified patent agents.

    In October, the fifth patent agent examination was held in 7 places over the country. A total of 1,926 people signed up for the exam and 1,440 attended, which was equal to the number of the previous years. The exam took into account the previous experience and made reform on such aspects as scope and volume of questions, referential materials and exam form. Approved by the Patent Agent Exam Committee, the line was 240 above. 370 people passed the line. The work is to be completed in the first quarter of 2001.

    In July, the State Council started the reform of restructuring the social intermediary service institutions. This had profound significance for furthering the reform and open-up policy and for adapting to the circumstance after China's accession to WTO. In order to carry out the spirit by the State Council, the Office, together with the State Council Clearance Leading Team, conducted field investigation in two provinces in the west part of China. Then, the Office worked out and started to implement the" Implementing Opinions for the Restructuring of Patent Agencies", which was approved by the Social Intermediary Leading Team on Economic Certification Class under the State Council Currently this project is at the beginning stage and there will be much hard and painstaking work in the future.

6.Administrative Reconsideration

    In 2000, the Office received 56 requests for administrative reconsideration, of which 17 related to patent applications deemed to have been withdrawn, 5 related to the patent rights deemed to have been terminated, 5 related to patent applications deemed to have been rejected, 4 related to the change of bibliographic data, 6 related to the patent fee not be refunded, 4 related to the right of priority deemed not to have been claimed, 2 related to the decision on suspending the examination procedure, 2 related to patent applications deemed not to have been submitted, 9 related to patents that could not be restored, 1 related to the starting date when the waiver of the annual fee is calculated, 1 related to the patent rights deemed to have been revoked. Among 56 cases for administrative reconsideration, 26 requested for modification of the original administrative decision.

    In 2000, 2 cases were brought against the Office before court, one of which related to the registration for the transfer of patent application. It was terminated due to the withdrawal by the plaintiff. The other related to the administrative reconsideration of the Office to uphold the decision on the right of priority deemed not to have been claimed, which was revoked by the court.

    In 2000, 2 cases related to the administrative reconsideration were appealed to the State Council, one of which related to the approaches of calculation by the Office on the annual year and the amount of annual fee. It is still pending in the State Council. The other related to the decision by the office on upholding the right of priority deemed not to have been claimed. However, the Office took an initiative to modify the decision.