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ARTICLE · 18 DECEMBER 2017

Patent Issues For Life Science Companies In China

Liu Shen & Associates
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Scientific discoveries are not patentable. Naturally existing materials without involvement of any technical treatment belong to scientific discoveries.

ChinaIntellectual Property
Wenhui Zhang
Wenhui Zhang
Stephen Zou
Stephen Zou

China has become one of the most important markets for life science companies, not only because it has the largest population in the world and its economy has grown rapidly in the past three decades, but also because the Chinese government has been encouraging innovation and strengthening patent enforcement.

This chapter discusses hot topics such as unpatentable subject matter, post-filing data and double patenting, using recent case studies to help foreign applicants and practitioners to understand existing patent practice in China.

Unpatentable subject matter

The Patent Law specifies certain types of subject matter as unpatentable, as follows.

Scientific discoveries

Scientific discoveries are not patentable. Naturally existing materials without involvement of any technical treatment belong to scientific discoveries.

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