State Intellectual Property Office
Recent news suggests that the State Intellectual Property Office had revised and released the Patent Examination Guidelines, which also involve the emergence of areas such as the blockchain.
As per the reports, these revised guidelines will come into effect from the 1st of February 2020.
The given announcement points out towards the invention of patent applications. This also involves artificial intelligence, “Internet +”, big data, and blockchain. It will include rules as well as method features of intellectual activities. These include algorithms or business rules, along with different methods. The implementation rules which will provide are for the unique nature of the examination of such applications.
As stated by them, the announcement includes a method as well as a device for communication between blockchain nodes. This was given out as an example to make their point come out better.
The application content, claims and analysis are various and are available to everyone online in Chinese only.
The analysis of these guidelines by the European Patent Office (EPO) and others indicates that these new guidelines represent an exact inverse of what the current patent examination environment seen in the United States.
Various other reported changes in the new Chinese patent examination guidelines include changes in the prospects for software and computer program inventions in the country more promising than it is.
Additionally, Invention applications directed towards business methods are also going to view in a friendlier light in the new Chinese patent examination guidelines.
If the new patent examination guidelines draft gets adopted, then China may become friendlier to software patents specifically. This will be done generally by reducing the complexity of prosecution procedures. This will result in the availability of more information publicly available.
Given the massive number of patent applications filed with China’s Patent and Trademark Office Database, a high percentage of which don’t seem to be registered with foreign offices also, and therefore the growing preference for China as a violation litigation venue, it’s likely that these new guidelines are further proof of the increasing divide of IP regimes within us and China which, if left unchecked, will probably be to the detriment of the U.S. and its economic prospects in future years.