An overview of revised Chinese Patent Law 2008

01-12-2011

Sandy Tam

Though China's new patent law came into force in 2009, companies are still working through its ramifications. Sandy Tam explains.

China is the biggest country in the world with a population of more than 1.3 billion, and it continues to experience rapid economic growth. This makes China a jurisdiction in which intellectual property rights protection is a growing issue for foreign companies. China has established itself as one of the world’s leading nations in terms of the number of annual patent applications, with a year-on-year increase of about 20 percent.

With the increase in the number of patent applications, China revised its Patent Law in 2008 and the revised Patent Law entered into force in October 1, 2009. The revised Patent Law updates and improves some of the deficiencies of the previous law, in order to better align with foreign patent systems.

Secrecy Examination


Chinese Patent Law, revision

WIPR