On 4 January 2019, China's National People's Congress (NPC) released draft amendments to the Chinese patent law for public comments (English translation available upon request), proposing, inter alia, higher damages for patent infringement, more options for rewarding inventors under an employee invention remuneration scheme, and patent term extensions for design patents and pharmaceutical patents.
The current version of the law, which dates back to 2008, is generally seen as outdated and in need of significant amendment. The fact that this newest draft has been issued after over three years of deliberation, and that it is the fourth iteration of the draft submitted to the NPC, reflects the hotly debated nature of the new provisions of the Patent Law, and the many interests at stake.
Authored by Julia Peng, Kevin Xu and Stefaan Meuwissen
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