On November 12, 2012, the Consultation Draft of Regulations on
Service Inventions ("Draft Regulation") was released by
the State Intellectual Property Office of China for public comments
with immediate effect. The Draft Regulation was formulated for the
purpose of protecting the legal rights and interests of the
inventor-employee and the employer, to stimulate and improve the
ability to innovate. For those pharmaceutical companies which have
Chinese service inventions in China, they should be aware of this
Draft Regulation as it places additional pressures on
employers.
The Draft Regulation addresses the following topics: the
employer's obligation to establish an internal intellectual
property management system; ownership and reporting of the
inventions/creations; the reward and remuneration of the service
inventions/creations; the utilization and implementation,
supervision and inspection, and legal liability of the intellectual
property rights of the service
