China Clarifies Principles and Rules of Patent Protection

New legislation was promulgated recently following the recent revision of the PRC Patent Law ("New Patent Law"). "Matching rules" will affect the initiative of patent right holders in patent infringement actions in China. More litigation is expected to be initiated by inventors in civil and labour disputes. Foreign invested companies have to negotiate their contract with their employees to mitigate the risk of litigation.

These new legislation includes the Interpretation on the Application of Law Concerning Several Issues in Handling Patent Infringement Disputes ("Interpretation") (effective on 1 January 2010) published by the Supreme People's Court, and more importantly, the revisions of the Rules for the Implementation of the Patent Law of PRC ("Implementation Rules") (effective on 1 February 2010).