Recently, a circular "Concerning the Progress of the Special Action on Cracking Down Illegal Criminal Acts of Patent Fraud" was issued by the State Intellectual Property Office to the country's intellectual property system and the IP pioneering / demonstration cities.  Hubei Province was commended for its special action against the illegal criminal acts of patent fraud and safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of the patent applicants, patent owners and inventors.

It was pointed out in the Circular that the Hubei Provincial IP Administration had successfully cracked a criminal clique involved in the engagement of patent fraud.  This was done because the Administration had enhanced its organization and leadership and actively coordinated and collaborated with the public security organs. Consequently, a joint force against the illegal criminal acts of patent fraud was formed.  This special action safeguarded the legitimate rights and interests of the patent applicants, patent owners and inventors. At the same time, publicity work was used as an important tool for cracking down and safeguarding illegal crimes of patent fraud.  Powered by the media, the importance of protection for intellectual property was widely publicized.  Hence, the enhancement of the self-guarding consciousness and the guarding capability of the social public.

It is learned that in September, 2006, the State Intellectual Property Office provided the Hubei Provincial IP Administration with some clues on 3 illegal criminal cases of patent fraud having big impacts throughout the country.  After getting the clues, the Hubei Provincial IP Administration immediately called for a joint working conference together with the Provincial Public Security Department and the Public Security Sub-brueau of Hongshan District, Wuhan City, at which, special study and analysis were carried out.  It was found out that the 3 illegal criminal cases of patent fraud were characterized by having different cover units, different fabricated awards and scattered contact addresses.

After careful investigation which lasted nearly three months, criminal suspect Ding Hongxia was eventually caught in January, 2007, and another criminal suspect Ye Guohua was also caught in the train from Shanghai to Hangzhou on April 3, 2007.  With the pseudonym Chen Bin, Ye collaborated with Ding and passed off as functionaries of the "Appraisal Committee of the National Patent Invention Award" and the "Administration Committee of the National Science and Technology Achievements".  They obtained the information about the patentees from SIPO's "Invention Patent Bulletin" and employed some students to write the envelops and mailed the "Notice for Patent Award" to the patentees and asked the patent owners to pay the so called "experts evaluation fees" in order to obtain money by fraud.

To verify the facts about their crimes, investigation groups were formed by the Hubei Provincial IP Administration and the Hongshan Economic Investigation Brigade.  These groups went to Zhanjiang City and Meizhou City of Guangdong Province, Beihai City of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Hangzhou City of Zhejiang Province and met with the victims for verification and evidence- taking.  As a result, most of the illegal criminal evidences were obtained.  After further verifying the facts about their crimes, the public security organs will lodge public prosecutions against Ye Guohua and Ding Hongxia.  The investigation and the clearing up of this case is a mark of entry of the important progress made by the Hubei Province in the special action on cracking down illegal criminal acts of patent fraud.

The Circular aspires that the Hubei Provincial IP Administration will make un-relaxed efforts and learn from the spirit of the public security organs for daring to fight hard battles and daring to win and to continuously seek the support from the public security organs and constantly push forward and deepen the special action on cracking down the illegal criminal acts of patent fraud making use of such means as patent evaluation awards and further intensify the efforts in crackdown and obtain even greater achievements in order to make new contribution to maintaining the normal economic order in China.