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       2020年10月17日，全国人大常委会通过了第四次修改《专利法》的决定，修改后的新法将于2021年6月1日起实施。以下是修改涉及到的三大方面以及相关具体内容：

On 17 October 2020, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPCSC) approved the 4th amendment of the Chinese Patent Law, which will come into effect on 1 June 2021. Here below are the three major amendments with respective details:

1. 加强对专利权人合法权益的保护
a. 提高专利侵权赔偿
- 对故意侵权行为实行1至5倍的惩罚性赔偿；
- 将法定赔偿额上限由100万元提高到500万元；

b. 完善举证责任
- 明确为确定赔偿金额，法院可责令侵权人提供侵权获利的相关证据；

c. 完善专利行政保护
- 对于专利侵权纠纷，加强了行政保护的措施和手段；
- 对于专利假冒行为，提高违法所得的罚款最高倍数为5倍，对无违法所得或违法所得不足5万元的，罚款的法定上限由20万元提高到25万元；

d. 新增专利权期限补偿制度
- 对发明专利申请在审查过程中出现的不合理延迟，经权利人请求，可给予专利权期限补偿；
- 对于创新药，最多可以延长5年专利权期限，新药批准上市后总有效专利权期限不超过14年；

e. 新增关于药品专利纠纷早期解决程序的规定
- 如果在药品审批过程中出现专利纠纷，相关当事人可以向人民法院提起诉讼，或者请求国务院专利行政部门（即国知局）作出行政裁决；

1. Strengthening the protection of the legitimate rights and interests of patent holders
a. Increasing compensation for patent infringement by
- Introducing 1 to 5 times punitive damages for willful infringement;
- Raising the maximum statutory cap on damages from RMB 1 million to RMB 5 million;

b. Redistributing the burden of proof
- The courts may order the infringer to provide evidence for determining the amount of damages;

c. Improving patent administrative protection
- For patent infringement disputes, strengthening the enforcement powers of the patent administrative authorities;
- For patent counterfeiting, increasing fines of up to five times of illegal profits and the statutory cap on fines from RMB 200,000 to RMB 250,000 for those with no illegal profits or with profits less than RMB 50,000;

d. Introducing the patent term compensation system
- Compensation on patent terms of invention patents could be granted upon requests for the Office’s unreasonable delays during prosecution;
- For innovative drugs, a maximum of 5 years patent term extension will be available, and the total effective patent period after marketing shall not exceed 14 years;

e. Adding provisions on early settlement procedures for pharmaceutical patent disputes
- In case there is any patent dispute during the drug-approval process, the relevant parties can file a lawsuit before the people's court, or request an administrative ruling from the Patent Administrative Department of the State Council (i.e., CNIPA);

2. 促进专利实施和运用
a. 完善职务发明制度，明确单位对职务发明创造的处置权，鼓励实施产权激励制度，促进技术创新；
b. 引入开放许可制度，允许专利权人公开寻求普通许可（该制度不适用于独占或排他许可），在许可实施期间，可减免专利年费；

2. Promoting the use and exploitation of patents
a. Improving the system of employee inventions by confirming the employers’ disposal of rights and encouraging the implementation of incentive plans to motivate more outputs;
b. Introducing an open licensing system that allows patentees to publicly seek non-exclusive licenses (not applicable for exclusive or sole licenses). A reduction or exemption of the patent annuity fees may be applied during the implementation period of the license;

3. 完善专利授权制度
a. 外观设计专利
- 将外观设计专利的保护期从10年延长到15年；
- 引入局部外观设计保护制度；
- 接受本国优先权（自在国内首次申请之日起6个月内）；

b. 增加适用新颖性宽限期的情形
- 在国家出现紧急状态或非常情况时，为公共利益目的首次公开的发明创造可以享受6个月的新颖性宽限期。此项修改是由新冠疫情引发的，这也将为今后在其他紧急状态或特殊情况下的适用提供空间。另外三种享有新颖性宽限期的公开情形是：1）在中国政府主办或承认的国际展览中首次展出；2）在规定的学术或技术会议上首次发表；3）他人未经申请人同意而泄露其内容。

3. Improving the system for grant of patents
a. Design patents
- Extending the protection period of design patents from 10 years to 15 years;
- Introducing partial design protection;
- Accepting domestic priority claims (within 6 months from the date of first filing in China);

b. Adding the circumstances in which the novelty grace period applies
- Inventions first disclosed in the public interest in times of national emergency or exceptional circumstances can enjoy a 6-month novelty grace period. This amendment was triggered by the COVID-19 which would also make room for the future application in other emergencies or exceptional circumstances. The other three types of circumstances that still enjoy the 6-month novelty grace period are 1) first exhibition at an international exhibition sponsored or recognized by the Chinese Government; 2) first publication at a prescribed academic or technological meeting; and 3) disclosure by a third party without the consent of the applicant.

这些实质性的变化体现了中国知识产权制度在不断完善中。如果您有任何关于中国知识产权保护的问题，欢迎随时与我们联系，嘉权将竭诚为您提供优质的知识产权服务。

All these substantial changes reflect China’s improving IPR system. Jiaquan will remain at your disposal and please feel free to let us know if you have any questions on IP protection in China.