China's Patent Law will soon undergo the third round of amendments. According to the official in charge at the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO), the draft of the revised version has been completed and public views are being sought.

The proposed amendments contained in the consultation paper cover five major areas:

First, the ownership, transfer and joint ownership of patent rights. According to the official, the definitions of service invention-creation and non-service invention-creation as well as the rights and responsibilities of joint patent owners are clearly set out in the proposed draft. The procedures for invention-creations completed in China to apply for patents overseas will also be regulated.

Second, the criteria for granting patent for utility models. "Current technology" is given a definition, and issues concerning the protection of inherited resources are also addressed.

Third, the system for protecting design patent. The consultation paper outlines six proposed changes as follows: revising the criteria for granting design patent; expanding the scope of banned subject matters for design patent applications; allowing joint application of associated design patents; making it mandatory to file a brief description with a design patent application; expanding the search and reporting system for design patent; and clearly defining the standards for determining infringement of design patent.

Fourth, the system of compulsory licence. In the consultation paper, "patent not exploited without reasonable grounds or patent not fully exploited" is added as one of the justifications for seeking a compulsory licence. It is proposed that a compulsory licence should be granted in national emergency situations such as public health crises caused by the outbreak and spread of infectious diseases. The proposed amendment will stipulate that drug makers in China may be authorised to manufacture designated patented drugs and export them to developing countries under the compulsory licence system, provided that certain criteria are met in accordance with the new rules of the World Health Organisation in this respect.

Fifth, protection of patent rights. It is proposed that administrative enforcement of patent right protection should be stepped up and amendments made to the criteria in determining infringement of patent rights. These include: adding the doctrine of equivalents to the criteria in determining infringement of invention or utility model patent; and adding to the criteria in determining infringement of design patent the doctrine of estoppel and the use of current technology as counterargument. With regard to the exceptions to the validity of patent rights, it is proposed that parallel imports should be explicitly permitted, the scope of patent rights more clearly defined, exception granted to the infringement of patent rights for the purposes of research and scientific experiment, as well as exception granted in relation to drugs and medical equipment.

It is also proposed that the litigation validity period should be stipulated in the event of successive infringing acts, and the delay on the part of the patentee to exercise his rights should also be regulated.

The Patent Law of China was first implemented on 1 April 1985. Amendments were subsequently made in 1992 and 2000 respectively.