Patent Amendments ©(Part II of II)

The Greater China IP Updates ĄV January 2025

By Lyndon

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China Has Amassed 5 Million Invention Patents

In an announcement by China’s top intellectual property regulator, it was disclosed that China had reached the level of 5 million valid domestic invention patents, a milestone that no other country has surpassed. The announcement, made by the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) in December 2025, also mentioned that its international patent applications submitted via the Patent Cooperation Treaty have led globally for six consecutive years. By June 2025, the number of high-value invention patents per 10,000 people in China had reached 15.3, overtaking the goal of 12 per 10,000 people set out in the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) ahead of schedule, according to CNIPA. The technology transfer rate among universities and research institutions has risen steadily. Notably, the industrialization rate of enterprise invention patents increased from 44.9% in 2020 to 53.3% in 2024. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, China’s IP landscape has undergone a strategic shift from emphasizing quantity accumulation to pursuing quality enhancement. Likewise, this transition has accelerated the commercialization of high-value patents, illustrating the country’s innovation-driven development and laying a solid foundation to achieve greater self-reliance and strength in science and technology over the upcoming 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030).

China Releases Revision to the Patent Examination Guidelines

The China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) has updated the guidelines on how an inventive step is assessed and how it should be presented in the application. The Assessment of Inventive Step (part 2, Chapter 4, Section 6.4) came into force on January 1, 2026. The aim of the revised guidelines is to put increased emphasis on the direct correlation between the subject matter described in the claims and the actual technical contribution of the invention. This clarification underscores that, when evaluating the inventive step, examiners must consider the combination of all technical features and their synergistic effects as a whole, rather than assessing any single feature in isolation. The rule states: Technical features that constitute the invention’s contribution over the prior art – such as those that give rise to unexpected technical effects or those that demonstrate the overcoming of technical prejudice – must be written in the claims. Otherwise, even if such features are disclosed in the specification, they shall not be considered when evaluating the inventive step of the invention. Also, the revised guidelines introduce restrictive provisions concerning irrelevant features, stating: Features that do not contribute to solving the technical problem will generally not affect the assessment of inventive step, even if they are written into the claims.

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