Notice of the State Intellectual Property Office on Issuing Several Opinions on Promoting the Development of the Patent Agency Industry

Notice of the State Intellectual Property Office on Issuing Several Opinions on Promoting the Development of the Patent Agency Industry

Guozhifafazi [2014] No. 12

Intellectual Property Offices of all provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the Central Government, Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps; National Defense Intellectual Property Office; all departments of the Bureau, all departments of the Patent Office, all units directly under the Bureau, and all social groups:

In order to implement the spirit of the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, speed up the transformation of government functions, further improve the patent agency market system, expand the scale of the patent agency industry, improve service capabilities, and provide more and stronger support and guarantee for the development of the patent agency industry , and formulated the "Several Opinions on Promoting the Development of the Patent Agency Industry". It is hereby printed and distributed to you. All regions and relevant departments are requested to attach great importance to it, strengthen organizational leadership, coordination and cooperation, study and introduce relevant supporting measures, conscientiously implement them, and earnestly grasp the implementation work to ensure effective results.

hereby notified.

  State Intellectual Property Office 

February 28, 2014

Several Opinions on Promoting the Development of the Patent Agency Industry

The patent agency industry is an important support for the effective operation of the patent system. After nearly 30 years of development, the scale of the patent agency industry has continued to expand, its service capabilities have been steadily improved, and its business areas have continued to expand, which has effectively promoted the development of my country's patent industry. However, in general, the patent agency industry still has problems such as insufficient human resources, low service quality, and unbalanced regional development. In order to fully implement the spirit of the Third Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, thoroughly implement the national intellectual property strategy, expand the team of patent agents, improve the quality of patent agency services, give full play to the role of the main body of patent agency service innovation, and support innovation-driven development, it is hereby proposed that The following comments:

1. Expand the scale of the industry and stimulate the vitality of the market

(1) Attract outstanding talents into the industry. Graduate students with a science and engineering background who have been studying for more than one year are allowed to apply for the National Patent Attorney Qualification Examination. Do a good job in the publicity of the patent agency industry for college students, and organize targeted pre-examination training. Explore the establishment of a long-term mechanism for joint training of intellectual property practitioners with universities, introduce practical teachers, improve curriculum and teaching methods, and cultivate international, compound, and practical talents. 

(2) The advantages of gathering talents through multiple channels. Create an environment conducive to the smooth flow of talents, and widely gather qualified talents to enter the patent agency industry for practice and development. For a person who has both a patent agent qualification certificate and a legal professional qualification certificate, the lawyer's practice experience is regarded as a patent agent practice experience; The work experience in the unit's patent application work is regarded as the patent agency practice experience. 

(3) Promote the regional balance of resource allocation. Guide and encourage large and medium-sized patent agencies to open branches in areas with strong demand for patent agency services and areas with a shortage of patent agency talents. Under the premise of meeting relevant conditions, the number of full-time patent attorneys allowed to practice in branches is reduced from 2 to 1. Strengthen the management and supervision of branches and give full play to the positive role of branches. 

(4) Improve the exit mechanism of the patent agency industry. Simplify the change of the organizational form of the patent agency and the cancellation procedures, and enhance the operability and convenience of the approval process. Coordinate relevant departments to establish information exchange and resource sharing mechanisms, and guide and supervise patent agencies to earnestly perform legal procedures and legal responsibilities for organizational change and cancellation. 

2. Innovate service models and increase support

(5) Strengthen the industry development plan and improve the industry standard system. Research and formulate medium and long-term plans for the development of the patent agency industry, and further clarify the direction, goals, main tasks and policy measures of the industry development. Build an industry standard system supported by patent agency service standards, patent agency quality evaluation indicators, and patent agency management norms. 

(6) Promote the formation of a standardized and diversified patent agency service market. Strengthen the supervision of the patent agency industry, actively coordinate and cooperate with relevant departments to rectify and standardize the order of the patent agency market. Build various forms of docking platforms to guide and encourage patent agencies and patent attorneys to update service concepts and expand service scope. While continuously improving the service quality of basic patent application services, it provides innovative entities with patent rights protection, intellectual property custody, knowledge Property rights analysis and review, patent analysis and early warning, patent technology transfer and licensing and other services. 

(7) Stimulate the vitality of industry associations. Support industry associations to strengthen their own capacity building, encourage and support industry associations to play a self-discipline role, and comprehensively improve the level of industry integrity. Support industry associations to improve and perfect the training system for patent agents, expand the scope of training personnel, and meet the diverse needs of practitioners for training. 

This Opinion shall come into force from the date of publication. In case of inconsistency between the existing relevant provisions and this opinion, this opinion shall prevail.