As of March 1, 2015, the Measures for Deposit of Microorganisms for the Purposes of Patent Procedure came into force (hereafter as the Measures) have come into force.
The Measures define the rights and obligations of the relevant parties, the depositary institutions and the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) in the deposit and sample extraction of the biological materials, including the responsibility, the term of confidentiality and the situations where the depositary institution shall not be responsible for the deposit. Other matters related to the deposit of biological materials should be announced to the public or submitted to SIPO for records after publication by the institution. The Measures also formulated the procedural rules regarding the disposition of the biological materials after providing samples to the external units and the expiration of the confidential terms.
