| The third revision of Chinese Patent Law regarding the design: an introduction (third) Friday, Mar. 27, 2009 The third modification of Chinese Patent Law is passed already by the legislature, and will begin to be put into effect on October 1, 2009. For the part of design concerned, we will introduce and explain it successively. Revised Article One item is inserted in paragraph 1 of Article 25 as subparagraph (6): "the design, which is used primarily for the identification of pattern, color or the combination of the two on printed flat works." Revision explanations The amendment excludes protection for design of printed flat works, so the two-dimensional design, such as bottle paste will not be protected by the law. The second clause of Article 31 has been amended as "An application for a patent for design shall be limited to one design. Two or more similar designs for the same product, or more products which fall into the same class and are sold or used in sets, an application for one design may be filed."” Revision explanations The amendment has changed the previous practice that one application could be filed for one design only, which makes it possible to file one application for more than two similar designs of the same product. This can effectively avoid the questioning of double granting for similar design applications. News origin: multi-source Edited and Translated by Lung Tin |