31 August, 2012
Legal News & Analysis – Asia Pacific – China – Intellectual Property
On August 9, 2012, the State Intellectual Property Office issued a draft amendment to the PRC Patent Law. The public is allowed to submit comments on the draft until September 10, 2012. The amendment proposes to strengthen the protection of patent rights and crack down on patent infringement activities. The draft amendment grants patent administration departments the power to investigate patent infringement activities suspected of “disturbing the market order”. Upon recognition of such conduct, the patent administration departments may order the infringer to stop the infringement, forfeit the illegal earnings, destroy the infringing products, or impose penalties on the infringer. According to the draft amendment, the plaintiff in a patent rights litigation case may request the people’s court to investigate and collect evidence of infringement in the control of the accused. In case the accused refuses to provide or transfer such proof or counterfeits or destroys such proof, the people’s court may take action against the defendant including compelling it to produce proof or imposing fines or detention for counterfeiting or destroying proof. In addition, the amount of compensation imposed on infringers who deliberately infringe patent rights has been increased.
The full Chinese text of the notice is available here.
For further information, please contact:
Elizabeth Cole, Partner, Orrick
Thomas Man, Partner, Orrick