Xinhua News Agency Beijing, October 17, 2008Title: severe punishment of intentional infringement awakens "sleeping" patent

The 22nd session of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People's Congress completed the revision of the Patent Law on the 17th. This is the fourth amendment to the patent law of our country. A series of amendments have been made to strengthen the protection of the legitimate rights and interests of patentees, promote the implementation and application of patents, and improve the patent authorization system, which will provide a strong legal guarantee for further stimulating the innovation vitality of the whole society.

Increase the cost of infringement and let the infringer pay a heavy price

To protect intellectual property is to protect innovation. Over the years, China has continued to strengthen the protection of intellectual property rights, but there is still a gap between the effect of patent protection and the expectation of patentees. There are some problems in patent protection, such as difficult proof, high cost, low compensation and so on.

In this regard, the patent law amendment adds a new punitive damages system, that is, for intentional infringement of the patent right, if the circumstances are serious, the people's court can determine the amount of compensation within 1 to 5 times of the amount calculated according to the losses suffered by the obligee, the interests obtained by the infringer or the multiple of the patent license fee. At the same time, the statutory amount of compensation has been increased, with the upper limit of the statutory amount of compensation raised to 5 million yuan and the lower limit to 30000 yuan.

"This shows China's attitude and determination to strictly protect intellectual property rights in accordance with the law, raise the cost of infringement, let the infringers pay a heavy price, and give full play to the deterrent power of the law." Wang Ruihe, director of the economic law office of the law working committee of the NPC Standing Committee, said.

In order to solve the problem of difficult proof in patent cases, the amendment of the patent law further improves the rules of evidence. In the case that the obligee has tried his best to provide proof, and the account books and information related to the infringement are mainly in the possession of the infringer, the people's court can order the infringer to provide, so as to reduce the burden of proof of the obligee.

In addition, the amendment of the patent law also improves the relevant administrative protection system and adds the principle of good faith to further improve the effect and efficiency of patent protection.
Promote transformation and application, wake up "sleeping" patent

"At present, quite a number of patent applications in China have not been well transformed and applied after being authorized, and are still in the" sleeping "stage. Promoting the transformation and application of patents can give full play to the role of patent intangible assets, realize the market value of patents, and provide strong support for the innovation and development of the real economy. " Song Jianhua, director of the law department of the State Intellectual Property Office, said.
In order to reduce the transaction cost and improve the efficiency of patent transformation, the patent open license system is newly added in this revision of the patent law, which stipulates the open license declaration and its effective procedural elements, the procedures, rights and obligations of the licensee to obtain the open license, and the corresponding dispute resolution path, so as to solve the problem of asymmetric information between the supply and demand sides of patent technology through government public services.

"The open license system is an important legal system to promote the transformation and implementation of patents. Its core lies in encouraging patentees to open their patent rights to the society, promoting the docking of supply and demand and patent implementation, and truly realizing the patent value." Song Jianhua said.

According to the opinions of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress and the voices of all parties, the amendment of the patent law also emphasizes that during the period of open license implementation, the annual fee paid by the patentee shall be reduced accordingly, so as to encourage the patentee to voluntarily implement open license and promote the implementation and application of patent.

The revised Patent Law also adds relevant provisions that units dispose of the rights related to service invention according to law, and the State encourages the units granted patent rights to implement property rights incentive, so as to further encourage the production and popularization of invention and creation; clarify the responsibilities of the Patent Administration Department of the State Council in charge of the construction of patent information public service system, stipulate that it provides basic patent data, and clarify the local conditions The administrative department of patent shall strengthen the public service of patent and promote the implementation and application of patent.
Stimulate the innovation vitality of the pharmaceutical industry and better protect the life and health of the people

In order to compensate for the time spent in the review and approval of new drugs on the market, the patentee shall be compensated for the patent term of new drugs related invention patents that have obtained the marketing license in China at the request of the patentee. The compensation period shall not exceed 5 years, and the total effective patent period shall not exceed 14 years after the approval and marketing of new drugs.

"Drugs are special products, which are closely related to people's life and health, and their accessibility needs to be ensured. At the same time, due to the huge investment in drug research and development, we need strong intellectual property protection. Only by continuous innovation in the field of drugs, can we continuously obtain new safe and effective drugs and overcome diseases. " Song Jianhua said.

At the same time, the patent law has been amended to add an early settlement mechanism for drug patent disputes, so as to solve potential patent disputes as soon as possible before the relevant drugs are put on the market.

"To provide alternative dispute resolution channels for relevant parties can better balance the interests of patentees, generic drug enterprises and the public, improve drug accessibility and protect public health. It should be noted that even if the dispute is not resolved through this mechanism within the statutory time limit, another patent infringement lawsuit can still be filed. " Song Jianhua said. (reporter Zhang Quan)