State Intellectual Property Office Actually Only Be in Charge of Patent Matters in China

The Introduction to the IPR Administrations in China

We find that it remains unclear to most foreign friends that the division among the administrations managing IPR in China. Actually, it also puzzles local people for it’s hardly to judge the specific function of the administration from its name, for example, the State Intellectual Property Office is in charge of patent management, the industry and commerce administration for trademark, and the Copy Right Office, the managing organ for copyright, is also known as the administration of press and publication. (the image above is the logo of the administrations mentioned in this post)

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The Patent Prosecution Highway is Piloting in China

—introduction on PPH programs between China and USA, Japan

Recently, China government has speeded up the process of international patent cooperation. Currently, the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) Program between China and several other countries has started or prepared to start. Among the cooperations, the Sino-Japan PPH is piloting from 1st November, 2011, the Sino-America PPH will be carried out on 1st December, 2011, and Sino-Korea program will start from March, 2012.

PPH allows applicants to obtain corresponding patents faster and more efficiently, avoids unnecessary repeated works of the OSF, simplifies the prosecution procedure and benefits the applicant as well as the industry. PPH was first tried out by and between U.S.A and Japan in 2006, and officially operated from 2008. So far, South Korea and some European countries have participated in the program.

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