(Adopted at the 22nd Meeting of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People's Congress on October 17, 2020)

The 22nd meeting of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People's Congress decided to amend the "Patent Law of the People's Republic of China" as follows:

1. The fourth paragraph of Article 2 is amended to read: "Appearance design refers to the overall or partial shape, pattern or combination of the product, as well as the combination of color, shape and pattern, which is aesthetically pleasing and suitable for industrial applications. new design."

2. The first paragraph of Article 6 is amended to read: "Inventions and creations that perform the tasks of the unit or are mainly completed by using the material and technical conditions of the unit are service inventions. The right to apply for a patent for service inventions and creations belongs to the unit, and the application After approval, the unit becomes the patentee. The unit can dispose of the right to apply for patents and patent rights for service inventions and creations in accordance with the law, and promote the implementation and use of related inventions and creations."

3. Change Article 14 to Article 49.

4. Change Article 16 to Article 15 and add one paragraph as the second paragraph: "The state encourages units granted patent rights to implement property rights incentives, adopting equity, options, dividends, etc., to enable inventors or design People reasonably share the benefits of innovation."

5. One article is added as Article 20: "Applying for patents and exercising patent rights shall follow the principle of good faith. Do not abuse patent rights to harm public interests or the legitimate rights and interests of others.

"Where the abuse of patent rights to exclude or restrict competition constitutes monopolistic behavior, it shall be dealt with in accordance with the Anti-Monopoly Law of the People's Republic of China."

6. Delete "and its Patent Reexamination Board" in the first paragraph of Article 21.

Amend the second paragraph to read: "The Patent Administration Department of the State Council shall strengthen the construction of a patent information public service system, publish patent information in a complete, accurate and timely manner, provide basic patent data, publish patent bulletins regularly, and promote the dissemination and utilization of patent information."

7. One item is added to Article 24 as the first item: "(1) When a state of emergency or an emergency occurs in the country, it is first disclosed for the purpose of public interest".

8. Amend the fifth item of paragraph 1 of Article 25 to: "(5) Nuclear transformation methods and substances obtained by nuclear transformation methods".

9. The second paragraph of Article 29 is amended to read: "The applicant has filed the first patent application for the invention or utility model within twelve months from the date of the first patent application in China, or since the first patent application for the design in China Those who file a patent application on the same subject with the Patent Administration Department of the State Council within six months from the date of application may enjoy priority."

10. Amend Article 30 to read: "If the applicant claims priority for invention or utility model patents, he shall submit a written statement at the time of application, and within 16 months from the date of filing the first application, submit the A copy of the patent application document filed once.

"If the applicant claims priority for a design patent, it shall submit a written statement at the time of application and submit a copy of the first patent application file within three months.

"If the applicant fails to submit a written statement or fails to submit a copy of the patent application document within the time limit, it shall be deemed that the priority has not been claimed."

11. Article 41 is amended to read: "A patent applicant who is dissatisfied with the decision of the Patent Administration Department of the State Council to reject the application may request a review from the Patent Administration Department of the State Council within three months from the date of receipt of the notification. Patent Administration of the State Council After review by the department, a decision is made and the patent applicant is notified.
"A patent applicant who disagrees with the review decision of the Patent Administration Department of the State Council may bring a suit in the People's Court within three months from the date of receipt of the notification."

12. Amend Article 42 to read: "The term of invention patent right is 20 years, the term of utility model patent right is 10 years, and the term of design patent right is 15 years, all counted from the date of filing .

"If the invention patent has been granted four years from the date of application for a patent for invention and three years have passed since the date of the request for substantive examination, the patent administration department of the State Council shall, at the request of the patentee, consider the unreasonableness of the patent for invention in the granting process Delay in granting compensation for the patent right period, except for unreasonable delay caused by the applicant.
"In order to compensate for the time occupied by the review and approval of the new drug market, the patent administration department of the State Council shall, at the request of the patentee, grant compensation for the duration of the patent right for the new drug-related invention patents that have been approved for marketing in China. The compensation period shall not exceed five years and the new drug shall be approved for marketing. After that, the total effective patent right term shall not exceed 14 years."

13. Amend the "Patent Reexamination Board" in Articles 45 and 46 to "Patent Administration Department of the State Council".

14. The title of Chapter 6 is revised to "Special License for Patent Implementation".

15. One article is added as Article 48: "The patent administration department of the State Council and the administrative department of patents of the local people's government shall, together with relevant departments at the same level, take measures to strengthen patent public services and promote the implementation and application of patents."

16. One article is added as Article 50: "Where the patentee voluntarily declares in writing to the Patent Administration Department of the State Council that he is willing to license any entity or individual to exploit his patent, and clarify the method and standard for payment of license fees, the State Council shall The patent administration department shall make an announcement and implement open licensing. If an open licensing statement is made for utility model and design patents, it shall provide a patent right evaluation report.

"If the patentee withdraws the open license statement, it shall be filed in writing and announced by the Patent Administration Department of the State Council. If the open license statement is withdrawn by announcement, the validity of the open license granted earlier shall not be affected."

17. One article is added as Article 51: "Any unit or individual who wishes to implement an open-licensed patent shall notify the patentee in writing and pay the license in accordance with the announced licensing fee payment method and standard. After the fee, the patent implementation license is obtained.

"During the implementation period of the open license, the annual patent fee paid by the patentee will be reduced or exempted accordingly.
"Patent holders that implement open licensing can grant ordinary licenses after negotiating with the licensee on licensing fees, but they shall not grant exclusive or exclusive licenses for the patent."

18. One article is added as Article 52: “Where the parties have disputes over the implementation of an open license, they shall be resolved through negotiation; if they are unwilling to negotiate or the negotiation fails, they may request mediation from the Patent Administration Department of the State Council, or ask the people Court action."

19. Article 61 is changed to Article 66, and the second paragraph is amended to read: “Where a patent infringement dispute involves a utility model patent or a design patent, the people’s court or the patent administration department may request the patent right The patent right evaluation report issued by the patent administration department of the State Council after the search, analysis and evaluation of the relevant utility model or design is used as evidence for the trial and settlement of patent infringement disputes; the patentee, the interested party or The accused infringer may also take the initiative to issue a patent evaluation report."

20. Change Article 63 to Article 68 and amend it to read: "Anyone who counterfeits a patent shall, in addition to assuming civil liabilities in accordance with the law, be ordered by the department responsible for patent enforcement to make corrections and make an announcement. The illegal gains shall be confiscated and may be punished. A fine of less than five times the illegal income; if there is no illegal income or the illegal income is less than 50,000 yuan, a fine of less than 250,000 yuan may be imposed; if a crime is constituted, criminal responsibility shall be investigated in accordance with the law."

21. Article 64 is changed to Article 69 and amended to read: "The department responsible for patent enforcement shall, based on the evidence it has obtained, investigate and deal with suspected patent counterfeiting, it shall have the right to take the following measures:

"(1) Inquiring the relevant parties and investigating the circumstances related to the suspected illegal act;
"(2) Conduct on-site inspections of the premises where the parties are suspected of illegal acts;
"(3) Consult and copy contracts, invoices, account books and other relevant materials related to the suspected illegal act;
"(4) Inspection of products related to suspected illegal acts;
"(5) Products that have evidence to prove that they are counterfeit patents may be sealed up or seized.
"When the administrative department of patents handles patent infringement disputes at the request of the patentee or interested parties, it may take the measures listed in items (1), (2), and (4) of the preceding paragraph.
"When the department in charge of patent enforcement and the department in charge of patent work exercise the functions and powers stipulated in the preceding two paragraphs in accordance with the law, the parties concerned shall provide assistance and cooperation, and shall not refuse or obstruct."

22. One article is added as Article 70: "The Patent Administration Department of the State Council may handle patent infringement disputes that have a significant national impact at the request of the patentee or interested parties.

"The administrative department of patents of the local people's government shall handle patent infringement disputes at the request of the patentee or interested parties, and may handle the cases of infringement of the same patent right within the administrative area; for cross-regional infringement of the same patent right The case can be handled by the higher-level local people’s government administrative department of patent work."

23. Change Article 65 to Article 71 and amend it to read: "The amount of compensation for patent infringement shall be determined based on the actual loss suffered by the right holder due to the infringement or the interest gained by the infringer due to the infringement; If the loss of the right holder or the benefit obtained by the infringer is difficult to determine, it shall be reasonably determined with reference to the multiple of the patent license fee. For the intentional infringement of the patent right, the circumstances may be serious, it can be determined at more than one time and less than five times the amount determined according to the above method The amount of compensation.

"If it is difficult to determine the losses of the right holder, the benefits obtained by the infringer, and the patent license fee, the people's court may determine to grant more than 30,000 yuan and less than 5 million yuan based on factors such as the type of patent right, the nature of the infringement, and the circumstances. Compensation.

"The amount of compensation should also include reasonable expenses paid by the right holder to stop the infringement.

"In order to determine the amount of compensation, the people's court may order the infringer to provide the account books and information related to the infringement when the right holder has tried its best to provide evidence and the account books and information related to the infringement are mainly in the hands of the infringer; Where false accounting books and materials are provided or provided, the people's court may refer to the claims of the right holder and the evidence provided to determine the amount of compensation."

Twenty-four. Article 66 is changed to Article 72 and amended to read: "The patentee or interested party has evidence to prove that another person is committing or is about to commit an act that infringes the patent right and hinders the realization of the right, such as If failing to stop in time will cause irreparable damage to its legal rights and interests, it may apply to the people’s court for property preservation, ordering or prohibiting certain actions before the lawsuit.”

25. Article 67 is changed to Article 73, and amended to read: "In order to stop patent infringements, the patentee or interested parties may file a lawsuit in the event that evidence may be lost or difficult to obtain in the future. Before applying to the people’s court for evidence preservation.”
Twenty-six. Article 68 is changed to Article 74, and amended to read: "The statute of limitations for patent infringement is three years, and the patentee or interested parties know or should know about the infringement and the infringer’s Calculated from date.

"After the publication of the application for a patent for invention and before the grant of the patent right, if the appropriate royalties are not paid for the use of the invention, the statute of limitations for the patentee's request for payment of royalties is three years from the date when the patentee knows or should know that others use the invention However, if the patentee knew or should have known before the date of grant of the patent right, it shall be calculated from the date of grant of the patent right.”

27. One article is added as Article 76: "During the drug marketing review and approval process, the drug marketing authorization applicant and the relevant patentee or interested party have disputes over patent rights related to the drug applied for registration , The relevant parties may file a lawsuit with the people’s court, requesting a judgment on whether the drug-related technical solution applied for registration falls within the scope of protection of the patent rights of others’ drugs. The drug regulatory department under the State Council may decide whether or not according to the effective judgment of the people’s court within the prescribed time limit. The decision to suspend the approval of the marketing of related drugs.

"Applicants for drug marketing authorization and relevant patentees or interested parties may also request administrative rulings from the Patent Administration Department of the State Council for disputes over patent rights related to the drugs applied for registration.

"The drug regulatory department of the State Council, in conjunction with the patent administration department of the State Council, shall formulate specific linkages between the approval of drug marketing authorization and the resolution of patent disputes at the stage of drug marketing authorization application, which shall be implemented after the approval of the State Council."

28. Article 72 is deleted.

29. Change Article 73 to Article 79, Article 74 to Article 80, and amend "Administrative Sanction" to "Sanction".
This decision will come into effect on June 1, 2021.
The "Patent Law of the People's Republic of China" shall be revised accordingly and the order of the provisions shall be adjusted accordingly and re-announced in accordance with this decision.