China (SIPO) Proposed Amendments Patent Examination Guidelines

On October 27, 2016, the Chinese Patent Office – State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) published Revised Patent Examination Guidelines draft to remove the software and business method patents hurdles in Chinese Jurisdiction. The published draft will be open for public comments till November 27, 2016.

Chinese Patent Law, under Article 25(2) mandates that patent rights shall not be granted for "rules and methods for mental activities". Such provision under Article 25(2) is frequently resorted to by patent examiners during examination for rejecting computer implemented business method patents. SIPO spotted the concern that although many patents are related to technical subject matter but they are concluded as "rules and methods for mental activities", and hence not a patent eligible subject matter. To address the concern, SIPO proposed to amend the patent examination guidelines that relates to software patents as well as business method patents.