What impact will the implementation rules of the new patent law have on court trials?

"The newly revised implementation rules were launched in March 2007. 16 topics were established and 21 research reports totaling 1.9 million words were completed. The Municipal High Court also participated in the research or demonstration of related topics.", Beijing Higher People's Court In an interview with a reporter from China Intellectual Property News, the President of the Tribunal stated that the new revisions to the Implementing Rules of the Patent Law involve patent application documents, patent application and approval procedures, patent right evaluation reports and invalidation declaration procedures, improvement of the compulsory licensing system, and the improvement of Patent rights. In many aspects such as application and protection, some of the modifications are directly related to the patent trial work of the People's Court and will bring changes to the patent trial work. Modifications to the detailed rules have brought about changes in patent trials. The newly revised Patent Law stipulates a brief description as a necessary document for a design patent application, and can be used to explain the scope of protection of a design. The newly revised Implementing Rules of the Patent Law regulate the content of the brief description. Specific provisions were made.

In previous patent trials, it was difficult to determine the scope of protection of design patent rights because the content expressed in the application documents was not clear enough. "In the future, a brief description will be an important basis for determining the scope of protection of design patent rights. Parties, litigation attorneys, and judges need to pay special attention to this." Chen Jinchuan said. The newly revised Patent Law allows applicants to file one application for multiple similar designs of the same product, that is, related designs can be filed. “The newly revised Implementing Rules of the Patent Law have refined this, requiring applicants to specify a basic design, and stipulating that no more than 10 similar designs should be included in one application.” Chen Jinchuan believes that before the revision of the Patent Law, , although there are related applications for designs in practice, they are not recognized by legal regulations and are different from the relevant systems in most countries. Many researchers have noticed this problem. According to reports, in terms of preventing repeated authorization, the newly revised Patent Law stipulates that "the same invention-creation can only be granted one patent right", and also provides an exception for the same applicant to apply for the same invention-creation on the same day. If you apply for both a utility model and an invention, you can be granted patent rights twice, that is, apply for protection by switching between utility models and inventions. This is a patent application system with Chinese characteristics.

In order to ensure the public interest while considering the interests of the applicant, the newly revised Implementing Rules of the Patent Law stipulate that the utility model must be declared separately when applying and abandoned when granting. Specific operating procedures. According to current law, after a patent right is granted, repeated authorization can be used as a reason to declare the patent right invalid. In past practice, public interests could not be effectively protected due to insufficient rigor in the specific operation of applying for protection for conversion between utility models and inventions.

The Patent Law and its Implementing Rules clearly stipulate this issue and specific operating procedures, and also provide a precise basis for the People's Court to hear duplicate authorization disputes in the future.

The evaluation report of utility model and design patent rights is an important part of the revision of the Patent Law and its implementing rules. The newly revised Patent Law expands the scope of the utility model patent search report system to include designs Patent, expand the scope of petitioners to interested parties, and change the name of the report to "Patent Rights Evaluation Report". In order to implement these provisions, the newly revised Patent Law Implementing Rules specifically stipulate that the patent rights evaluation report shall be in two within one month; in order to prevent conflicts, the Patent Administration Department of the State Council can only make one evaluation report for the same patent; the public can review and copy the evaluation report.

Regarding the patent right evaluation report system, it should be noted that the patent right evaluation report is a reference basis for the people's court to decide whether to suspend the trial when hearing civil cases of utility model patent and design patent infringement, but is not a basis for filing a case. The patentee or interested parties cannot If an evaluation report is provided, the case shall also be filed; in the trial of patent invalidation administrative dispute cases, the people's court independently determines the inventive step or authorization conditions of the patent right based on facts and law. The patent evaluation report does not confirm the inventive step or authorization conditions of the patent right. It has legal effect; in order to ensure the authority of the patent right evaluation report and ensure the public interest, it is necessary to stipulate that the patent administration department of the State Council can only make one evaluation report and allow the public to access and copy it.