Recently, SIPO issued the newly amended Guidelines for Patent Examination (hereinafter the guidelines), which will become effective on April 1st, 2017. The guidelines are aimed at implementing the strategy of innovation-driven development, accelerating the building of intellectual property power and improving patent examination system.
It is noted that with the rapid development of internet technology, there was a growing demand for clear definition of patent system and protection of technology innovations. Therefore, the guidelines made amendments relating to the experimental data submitted after the date of filing, restrictions to manners of amendment, examination criteria of invention applications relating to computer software and patent application procedures.
