Playing On Words? Dancing Between "gaming" And "gambling" Inventions

Article 5, paragraph 1 of the Patent Law of the People's Republic of China stipulates that no patent right shall be granted for any invention-creation that is contrary to the laws. In China, gambling is a criminal act. Article 303 of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China provides for the crime of gambling. Article 70 of the Law of the People's Republic of China on Administration and Penalties of Public Security also specifies penalties for certain gambling behaviors. Therefore, where the subject of a patent application is in relation to gambling, the patent application is hard to be granted a patent right.

On the other hand, gambling related games are popular with numerous players. With the growing scale of the games market, the importance of protecting gaming creativities has become increasingly prominent for obtaining monopolistic competitive advantages. Therefore, there are more and more patent applications related to such kind of games as well.