China Announces The End of All Patent Subsidies by 2025
Following USPTO Report on Impact of Non-Market Factors on Filing Trends and IP Systems in China, the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) announced in the “Notice of the CNIPA on Further Strictly Regulating Patent Application Behavior” the end of all patent subsidies by 2025.
On Jan. 13, 2021, the USPTO published a new report that discusses how the high rate of Chinese patent and trademark filings may be influenced by government subsidies and other non-market factors. The volume of trademark and patent applications filed in China has outpaced that of global competitors in recent years. In China, however, non-market factors, including subsidies, government mandates, bad-faith trademark applications, and resulting countermeasures, substantially contribute to trademark and patent application activity. Absent consideration of the role of non-market factors, cross-border comparisons based on the raw number of trademark and patent applications risk overstating brand creation and innovation activity in China. These non-market factors are also undermining domestic and foreign registries, stretching the capacity of China’s patent and trademark examiners and review authorities, and narrowing the scope of available protection for legitimate rights holders, according to the USPTO. The report is published at https://www.uspto.gov/sites/default/files/documents/USPTO-TrademarkPatentsInChina.pdf.
On Jan. 27, 2021, whether by coincidence or not, the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) announced in the “Notice of the CNIPA on Further Strictly Regulating Patent Application Behavior” the end of all patent subsidies by 2025. In addition, subsidies for patent application filings and other stages of the patent prosecution process (e.g., requesting exam) will end by June 30, 2021. The CNIPA announcement is published at https://www.cnipa.gov.cn/art/2021/1/27/art_545_156433.html?xxgkhide=1.
