4. Re-examination and Invalidation

4.1 Requests for Re-examination Received and Cases Resolved

In 2006, 2,894 requests for re-examination were received, which were 336 less than that of 2005 or 11.6% decrease. Of all the above received, 2,824 cases were related to invention patent, including requests for re-examination of decisions on rejection of invention patent applications and those against decisions on request for revocation of patent rights, accounting for 97.58% of the total. 53 were related to utility models, including requests for re-examination of decisions on rejection of utility model applications and those against decisions on request for revocation, accounting for 1.83% of the total. And 17 were related to designs, including requests for re-examination of decisions on rejection of design applications and those against decisions on request for revocation, accounting for 0.59% of the total. In 2006, altogether 2,667 re-examination cases were resolved.

Since 1985, a total of 14,882 requests for re-examination have been received by the Patent Re-Examination Board, and 4,442 re-examination cases were being dealt with by the end 2006.

4.2 Requests for Invalidation Received and Cases Resolved

In 2006, 2,468 requests for invalidation were received, which were 381 more than that of 2005, representing an increase of 18.26%. Among requests received in 2006, 356 cases were related to requests for invalidation of invention patent, accounting for 14.42% of the total; 1,136 were related to requests for invalidation of utility model, accounting for 46.03% of the total; and 976 were related to design, making up 39.55% of the total. In 2006, 2,022 cases requesting for invalidation were resolved.

Since 1985, the Patent Re-Examination Board has received totally 16,866 requests for invalidation. Until the end of 2006, 2,707 requests for invalidation were being processed.

4.3 Administrative Litigation on Patent

In 2006, 615 cases were brought with the Beijing First Intermediate People's Court or appealed to the Beijing High People's Court, of which 61 cases were against the re-examination decisions on rejection of invention patent applications or on requests for revocation of patent rights, 119 were against the decisions on requests for invalidation of patent rights, no case was against decisions on requests for re-examination of rejecting utility model, 256 were against the decisions on requests for invalidation of utility model, 178 were against the decisions on requests for invalidation of design and 1 was against other notifications.