What is abnormal patent application behavior?

According to the Measures for Standardizing Patent Application Behavior (No. 411), "the abnormal patent application behavior referred to in these Measures refers to any unit or individual who, without the purpose of protecting innovation or based on real invention and creation activities, submits various types of patent applications, agency patent applications, transfers patent application rights or patent rights separately or in combination for the purpose of seeking illegitimate benefits or fabricating innovation and service performance.

 Forms of abnormal patent application behavior

1. Technical content violations
(1) Repeated or simple combination application

The invention and creation contents of multiple patent applications are clearly the same, or essentially formed by simple combinations of different invention and creation features and elements.

(2) Fabricating and fabricating technical content

The proposed patent application involves fabricating, forging, or altering the content of the invention or creation, experimental data, or technical effects, or similar situations such as plagiarism, simple substitution, or piecing together existing technology or designs.

(3) Randomly generated technical solutions

The invention and creation content of the proposed patent application is mainly randomly generated using computer technology and other techniques.

(4) Violating the common sense of technological improvement

The invention or creation proposed in the patent application is clearly not in line with technological improvement, design common sense, or has deteriorated, piled up, or unnecessarily limited the scope of protection.

2. Apply for abnormal behavior category

(5) Batch application without R&D support

The applicant has submitted multiple patent applications without actual research and development activities and cannot provide a reasonable explanation.

(6) Malicious dispersion or remote submission

Malicious dispersion, sequential or remote filing of multiple patent applications that are essentially associated with specific units, individuals or addresses.

(7) Unfair change of rights

Transferring or acquiring patent application rights for improper purposes, or falsely changing inventors or designers.

3. Other types of disturbances to order
(8) Other abnormal patent applications that violate the principle of good faith and disrupt the normal order of patent work.

(According to Article 3 of the "Regulations on Standardizing Patent Application Behavior")

The harm of abnormal patent application behavior

Waste of public resources: occupying a large amount of patent examination resources, affecting the truly valuable patent application process.
Disrupting market order: Obtaining undue benefits through false or low-quality patents, squeezing the living space of true innovators.
Impact on technological progress: directing innovation resources towards non truly innovative fields, which is not conducive to the overall improvement of technological level.
Harming the credibility of the patent system: raising public doubts about the fairness and seriousness of the patent system.
Misleading investment direction: Investors may make incorrect decisions due to false patent information, leading to resource misallocation.

Impact on international image: damaging the reputation of China's patent system and innovation internationally.

 The impact of abnormal patent application behavior on applicants

Article 8: Units or individuals who engage in abnormal patent application activities shall be subject to administrative penalties in accordance with the Patent Law of the People's Republic of China and the Implementing Regulations of the Patent Law of the People's Republic of China.

Article 9: The following measures may be taken for abnormal patent applications:
（1） No reduction of patent fees shall be made for the abnormal patent application; For applicants who have repeatedly engaged in abnormal patent applications within five years and other serious circumstances, their patent applications submitted during this period will not have their patent fees reduced; Those who have already reduced their contributions are required to make up for the relevant reduced fees;
（2） Announce on the government website of the patent administration department of the State Council and relevant media, and incorporate relevant information into the national credit information sharing platform;
（3） Those who engage in abnormal patent application activities that harm the public interest and are subject to severe administrative penalties by market supervision and management departments shall be included in the list of serious violations and breaches of trust in market supervision and management in accordance with relevant national regulations;
（4） Deducting the number of patent applications related to abnormal patent application behavior from the statistics of patent applications by the State Council's patent administration department;
（5） Not providing funding or rewards to applicants and relevant agencies; Those who have already been sponsored or rewarded shall be fully or partially recovered.

(According to Article 8 and Article 9 of the "Regulations on Standardizing Patent Application Behavior")

 How to deal with abnormal patent application notifications after receiving them
1. Investigate the cause and collect evidence

Check the specific violations in the notification (such as duplicate applications, technical patchwork, etc.), and collect supporting materials such as research and development records and experimental data.

2. Choose to withdraw or appeal
Withdrawal: Proactively withdraw upon confirmation of violation to avoid further punishment.

Appeal: Provide materials such as technical comparison and proof of research and development capabilities. (During the appeal period, the applicant's priority review and expedited pre-trial channels will be temporarily closed.)

3. Strictly follow the deadline

Withdrawals or appeals must be completed within the specified deadline, as exceeding the deadline may affect credit and subsequent eligibility for application.

4. Avoid duplicate submissions

After withdrawal, the same content cannot be resubmitted, otherwise it will be dealt with strictly.

5. Improve follow-up management

Establish a rigorous enterprise patent application system to standardize the entire process from creative generation to application submission; Organize R&D, legal and other related personnel to participate in patent regulations and policies training to strengthen compliance awareness.

6. Utilize professional expertise

Consult with experienced patent agencies and law firms specializing in the field of intellectual property to obtain professional guidance.

 Avoiding 'abnormal' possible means

1. Integrity principle, seeking truth from facts

2. Keep complete R&D records

Retain technical disclosure documents, R&D project approval documents, experimental data, prototype photos and other supporting materials to ensure that patent applications are based on real R&D activities.

3. Collaborate with reliable agencies

Entrust professional institutions to guide patent layout and ensure case quality.

4. Conduct technical searches in advance

Before applying, conduct professional searches to exclude solutions that are similar or simply replace existing technologies, in order to avoid duplicate applications.

5. Reasonably plan the number of patent applications

Avoid submitting too many similar proposals in the short term, and cross disciplinary applications should be related to the business to reduce suspicion of piling up.

6. Standardized writing and communication with agents

Multiple similar applications are written by different agents to avoid word repetition; The technical features and beneficial effects need to correspond to the background technology.

7. Pay attention to the matching of inventor qualifications

Ensure that the number of inventors, professional background, and research and development content match, and avoid a large number of applications from the same inventor in a short period of time.

8. Apply for a "whitelist"
Some provinces and cities have organized precise management lists for patent applications.