Latest Judicial Practice On "Significant Difference" For Chinese Design Patents

I. Background

Since the revision of the Patent Examination Guidelines in 2023, the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) has strengthened its preliminary examination of design patents by adding a more stringent review of whether, “compared with an existing design or a combination of existing designs, the claimed design shall have a significant difference.” The examination standard has clearly become stricter.

In invalidation proceedings for design patents, the lack of a “significant difference” has long been one of the main grounds for invalidation since the implementation of the third amendment to the Patent Law of the P.R.C in 2009. How to determine “significant difference” is directly related to the stability of patent rights.