Notice of China National Intellectual Property Administration on continuously and strictly regulating the behavior of patent application
Guo Zhi Fa Bao Zi [2022] No.7

Intellectual property offices of all provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the Central Government and Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, Sichuan Intellectual Property Service Promotion Center and relevant local centers; All departments of China National Intellectual Property Administration Bureau, all departments of the Patent Office, other directly affiliated units of the Bureau and various social organizations:

High-quality development is the theme of China’s economic and social development in the 14 th Five-Year Plan and even in a longer period, which is related to the overall situation of China’s socialist modernization. Cracking down on abnormal patent applications is not only an important measure to implement the decision-making arrangements of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, but also an inevitable requirement to maintain the stable operation of the intellectual property system, strengthen intellectual property protection and promote high-quality development. In 2021, local intellectual property management departments optimized the patent assessment index system, cleaned up and improved various patent-related incentive policies and qualification assessment policies, and severely cracked down on abnormal patent applications, achieving phased results. However, there are still some problems in some places, such as insufficient attention to standardizing patent applications, insufficient understanding of the dangers of abnormal patent applications, limited supervision of agencies, imperfect relevant working mechanisms, and outstanding abnormal patent applications. In order to further solve the pain points in work, establish and improve a long-term mechanism, promote the formation of joint efforts of up-and-down linkage and collaborative governance, eliminate abnormal patent application behavior that does not aim at protecting innovation, standardize the order of patent application, and effectively promote China’s transformation from a big country that introduces intellectual property rights to a big country that creates it, and from pursuing quantity to improving quality, relevant matters are hereby notified as follows:

First, continue to improve and improve the information communication mechanism.China National Intellectual Property Administration regularly reports information about abnormal patent applications, withdrawals, complaint handling, the proportion of high-quality patent applications and abnormal patent applications, the proportion of authorization in the closing of invention patents and the proportion of invalidation after only paying the annual fee for the first year after authorization. The abnormal patent application problem is outstanding, depending on the circumstances in the China National Intellectual Property Administration municipal government website and related media public, to be informed. Support business environment innovation pilot cities to study and establish a linkage mechanism for rapid disposal of abnormal patent applications, smooth information exchange channels, and realize the first-time notification, first-time treatment and first-time feedback of abnormal patent applications. The provincial intellectual property management departments should regularly summarize the reported cases, clues of key issues, the handling of active verification and reporting clues, the formulation and adjustment of funding policies, etc., and submit them to China National Intellectual Property Administration in a timely manner. Local intellectual property management departments should take the initiative to inform the departments of science and technology, education and health about abnormal patent applications.

Second, strengthen the precise management of patent application behavior.Improve the efficient and accurate investigation mechanism for abnormal patent applications and promote the establishment of a precise management system for patent applications. The provincial intellectual property management departments clearly define the conditions, procedures and exit mechanism for inclusion in the list of precise management, strictly verify the R&D situation and innovation ability of relevant units and individuals, and submit them to China National Intellectual Property Administration for review and publicity. China National Intellectual Property Administration will reduce the frequency of abnormal patent applications for listed applicants. If the applicant on the list has an abnormal patent application, China National Intellectual Property Administration will remove it from the list, and the local intellectual property management departments will deal with it severely according to the law.

Third, improve the active verification and reporting mechanism.All local intellectual property management departments should continue to increase the active verification of abnormal patent applications. All intellectual property protection centers, fast rights protection centers and patent agencies should establish working mechanisms in patent acceptance, pre-trial and enterprise filing, and actively investigate abnormal patent application behaviors. Local intellectual property management departments should set up special lines, strengthen the role of special lines, and encourage the public to report abnormal patent application behavior, illegal index setting and funding incentive policies.

Fourth, strengthen hierarchical and classified governance.The local intellectual property management departments shall focus on the units and individuals that submit abnormal patent applications within their respective jurisdictions, such as project declaration, funding incentives, pre-trial services, priority review, etc., and carry out classified rectification according to different situations. If there is no objection to the applicants, they shall urge them to withdraw voluntarily; If there are objections to the applicant, guide the timely submission of complaint materials and follow up the handling of the complaint; For those who refuse to withdraw and submit the complaint materials and sufficient written evidence, the local intellectual property management departments shall strictly deal with them according to the circumstances, cancel the qualification of enjoying the relevant local preferential policies, cancel the qualification of declaring the national intellectual property demonstration and advantageous enterprises, the enterprises registered in the intellectual property protection center, and the qualification of declaring, participating in or winning the China Patent Award.

Five, strengthen the governance of key violations.All local intellectual property management departments should focus on the key clues of suspected violations of laws and regulations, such as an unusually large number of applications, fraudulent use of other people’s information, repeated applications for abnormal patents, profiteering and selling abnormal patent applications, and patent applications by "three noes" shell companies with no R&D investment, R&D personnel and no production and operation, continue to overcome difficulties, increase disposal efforts, dig deep into the root causes of the problems, and strengthen comprehensive rectification.

Sixth, strengthen departmental collaborative governance.It is necessary to cooperate with and support the departments of science and technology, education and industrial informatization to further improve and perfect the evaluation standards related to patent work, strengthen the evaluation of patent quality in the evaluation and identification of work management, effectively use the patent evaluation report, and highlight the quality orientation. It is necessary to cooperate with market supervision, science and technology, finance and other departments to gradually reduce all kinds of financial support for patent authorization by at least 25 percentage points every year until it is completely cancelled before 2025. The number of patent applications and authorizations shall not be directly regarded as the main conditions for enjoying the reward or qualification evaluation policy. Resolutely put an end to repeated funding, over-funding, zero-clearing incentives, disguised funding, and large-scale incentives. All local intellectual property management departments should cooperate with market supervision, public security, credit supervision and other departments to check the clues of key issues suspected of violating laws and regulations in the field of abnormal patent application and deal with them strictly according to law.

Seven, strengthen the credit supervision in the field of patent application.Promote the revision of relevant laws, regulations and rules such as the detailed rules for the implementation of the patent law, and provide a strong legal guarantee for effectively cracking down on abnormal application behavior and strengthening the credit supervision of intellectual property rights. We will implement the Measures for the Administration of the List of Serious Violations of Laws and Trustworthiness in Market Supervision and Management and relevant policy documents, and list the submission of abnormal patents and engaging in illegal patent agency acts as acts of dishonesty according to laws and regulations, and manage and publicize them.

Eight, strengthen the supervision of agency behavior.Deepen special rectification actions, and constantly increase the crackdown on the agency of abnormal patent applications and unqualified patent agents. Strengthen the sharing of regulatory information on abnormal patent application agency behavior between regions, and improve the efficiency of cross-regional supervision. Strengthen cooperation with relevant regulatory authorities, give full play to the advantages of comprehensive supervision, strengthen supervision over illegal activities such as engaging in abnormal patent application agency, and improve supervision efficiency. Strengthen the performance appraisal of local agency supervision work, compact local supervision responsibility, promote local supervision power allocation, and strengthen the guarantee of working conditions.

All local intellectual property management departments should further unify their thinking and understanding, strengthen their sense of responsibility, give full play to the vertical linkage between provinces and cities and the horizontal synergy of departments, establish a long-term governance mechanism, and promote the continuous and in-depth implementation of the work; It is necessary to actively publicize the progress and effectiveness of the work, interpret policies and measures, expose typical cases, popularize useful experiences, guide the public to consciously resist abnormal patent applications, and protect and use intellectual property rights legally, reasonably and fully.

I hereby inform you.

China National Intellectual Property Administration
January 24, 2022