CNIPA Releases 2019 China Patent Investigation Report

Recently, China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) publicly released the "2019 China Patent Investigation Report". The Report shows that China has achieved new results in increasing the cost of infringement and optimizing conditions for doing business, and enterprises' strong demand in hardening the groundwork for IP protection; patent use is running smoothly and the awareness of patent landscaping is generally sharp; More than 90% of the patentees recognize the legal role and significance of the patent invalidation procedure; more than 80% of the patentees believe that the implementation of the national IP strategy has improved China's comprehensive competitiveness.

The Report also pointed out that China's IP development has faced difficulties such as more introduction of patented technology than export by enterprises, regional concentration of foreign patented technology transactions and the difficulty in introducing strategic emerging industries' patented technology. In order to promote the transfer and transformation of China's patented technology and effectively gather international innovation resources, the Report proposes three aspects: Firstly, to further open up to the outside world, enforce stringent IP protection in accordance with the law, create a world-class business environment, laying a solid foundation for a sound flow of elements of scientific and technological innovation in international market; Secondly, based on China's compliance with international commitments on prohibiting compulsory technology transfer, strictly regulate the conduct clearly defined in the TRIPs Agreement such as restricting competition and possibly constituting IP abuse, prohibiting opposition to the validity of IP, setting conditions for exclusive grants; thirdly, while strengthening innovation capabilities, enterprises should also enhance IP utilization, further improve the ability to predict and negotiate on international patent technology transactions, and minimize the impact brought by restrictions on competition.

CNIPA has organized patent investigations for 12 consecutive years. The scope of patent investigation in 2019 covers 25 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government in China, involving patent holders and three kinds of patents such as invention, utility model and industrial design held by enterprises, universities, research institutes, and individuals with valid patents as of the end of 2018. A total of 13,500 questionnaires on patentees and 42,500 ones on patent information were sent out respectively, 12,800 (94.7%) and 37,300 (87.8%) of which respectively responded. In the future, CNIPA will continue to publish annual patent investigation report to provide data support and services for relevant government decisions and policy research.