On August 9, 2012, the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) published a draft amendment to the Patent Law, soliciting public comments.
The draft amendment relates to seven articles, all of them directed to enforcement.
A unique aspect of the Chinese patent system has been the administrative route for enforcing patent rights. In other words, a patentee does not necessarily need to go to court to enforce its patent rights. Instead, the Patent Law offers the option of going to local administrative bodies to file a complaint against the alleged infringers.
Currently the local administrative bodies are called local IP offices, spread across China in many cities. However, until now, apart from issuing an order to stop infringement and mediating possible damages among relevant parties, local IP offices have not been given the power to take action against infringement. The draft amendment aims at strengthening the power of the local IP offices.
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SIPO, China Patent Law
