July 1 was the first anniversary of the implementation of the newly revised patent law.  One-year practice impressed the society and the public with its legislative principle.  The law relied itself upon the actual practice and provided for the right and obligations of citizens, legal entities and other entities as well as that of state agencies. 

 

In the first half of 2002, the statistics from SIPO indicated that 35.4% of the patent applications for inventions are on-the-job inventions, a slight increase over 33.1% over the previous year.  This is the direct result of the new law in dealing with the relationship between patent and innovation, and it is also directly related to the establishment and enhancement of the status of the enterprises as an entity of technology innovation.

 

The law also provides judicial remedies for the patentee of utility model and industrial designs.  This means the decision made by the Patent Reexamination Board in terms of the utility model and industrial designs are not longer final. This is in compliance with TRIPS agreement which further protects the legal rights of the rightholders.  Now there are nearly 150 cases.

 

After the implementation of the provisions, Nanjing Intermediate People's Court issued the first pretrial preliminary injunction.  According to incomplete statistics, there are now over 10 such cases, and this has played an important role for the protection of the intellectual property after the entry to WTO. In addition, the law received significant effect in terms of the convenience for PCT applicants and protection of legal rights of the applicants.

2002-08-16

2002-08-16