According to the Legislative Work Plan of the State Council in 2012, the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) announced the Draft of the Revisions to the Patent Law (the fourth amendment) for Public Comment (hereinafter as "Draft for Comment") on August 9, 2012, which is available on line: http://www.sipo.gov.cn/tz/gz/201208/t20120810_736864.html.
The background reason for the 4th amendment seems to be largely due to a motivation to strengthen the administrative enforcement of patent infringements.
Latest research data showed that 30% domestic patentees have encountered infringement dispute, but only 10% of them take measures to enforce their rights. Hence, patent right protection has become a weak area of the IP protection.
SIPO started the preparatory work of the Patent Law amendment since the end of 2011. Compared with the former three amendments, this revision is targeted at “strengthening patent protection and intensifying enforcement”.
It is said the following are reasons for further amendment of patent law:
1. Give more enforcement power to judiciary and administrative enforcement departments for investigation and evidence collection, and solve the problem of difficulty of the burden of proof regarding patent infringement. .
2. Strengthen the power of patent administrative department related to patent infringement compensation and effectively shorten the term of patent enforcement.
3. Enhance the punitive damage in Patent Law for deliberate patent infringement and improve the amount of compensation.
4. Give more responsibilities to patent administrative departments for investigation and stop the severe acts of infringement including deliberate, repeated and mass infringement of patent rights and improve the present situation of high cost and low effects of patent enforcement.
