The Greater China IP Updates ¡V September 2024

By Lyndon 

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CNIPA Releases Fee Information for Requesting Patent Term Adjustments and Extensions

China’s National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) released fee information for requesting patent term compensation and annuities for the term of any granted compensation.  The announcement, dated August 6, 2024, means that CNIPA will now charge a fee of 200 RMB to process requests for patent term compensation including patent term adjustments for CNIPA delay and patent term extensions for pharmaceutical patents.  Annuities during the extended period will be 8000 RMB/year.  CNIPA also confirmed the 15% reduction in annuities for open licensing that was announced earlier by the Ministry of Finance and the National Development and Reform Commission.  Under Chapter 5 of the Implementing Regulations of the Patent Law, patent term adjustment (PTA) must be applied for within 3 months of patent grant.  For patent term extensions (PTE), patentees must request PTE within 3 months of grant of marketing authorization in China.

China Releases Report on IP Developments

China’s National Intellectual Property Administration released a report on August 16, 2024, about the National Intellectual Property Agency Industry Development Status.   Following are some of the highlights:

1. At the end of 2023, there were 5,269 patent agencies, a year on year increase of 16.6%.
2. At the end of 2023, there were 35,712 registered trademark agencies – a year on year drop from 71,446.
3. At the end of 2023, a total of 76,230 people had obtained patent agent certificates, a year on year increase of 20.4%.
4. The number of practicing patent agents reached 34,396, a year on year increase of 9.7%.
5. 3,448 people were practicing patent agents for the first time in 2023.
6. In 2023, a total of 47,649 people registered for the examination nationwide (a decline of 8% from 51,511 in 2022), and 6,150 people passed the examination (a 12.9% pass rate versus a 46% pass rate for the US patent bar exam).

One notable statistic is the large drop in the number of trademark agencies.  This happened because many agencies failed to reregister in 2023 under the stringent new conditions.