Inventions Defined under PRC Patent Law

Recently, an increasing number of opinions from the State Intellectual Property Office ("SIPO") indicate that applications for patent protection for some inventions do not fall under the scope provided in Paragraph 2 of Article 2 of the PRC Patent Law, which defines an "'invention' as any new technical solution relating to a product, a process, or improvement thereof." Thus, to understand what inventions can be patented, numerous terms such as "technical solution" must be properly defined.

The terms "technology," "technical problem," "technical effect," and "technical feature" are clearly defined in the Patent Law, or the Regulations and the Guidelines. Further to Paragraph 1 of Article 2 of the Patent Law, Part II, Chapter 1 of the Guidelines for Patent Examination (2010 Edition by the SIPO) ("Guidelines") further provides that "'[i]nvention in the Patent Law means any new technical solution relating to a product, a process, or improvement thereof. ...technical