Patent Law

In a follow-up to my June 6, 2008 post entitled, "Chinese Patent Statistics," I was contacted by Evalueserve with a link to the study cited in their press release (free, but registration required).  These additional observations were provided:

The article ?Patenting Landscape in China? depicts the change in patent filing trends by Chinese companies and its impact on the Chinese IP legal system.

Our research shows that Chinese companies have started realizing the importance of protecting their Intellectual Property. China has developed its legal structure to resolve issues related to patent infringement. The year-on-year increase in patent filings in the past 20 years is 25.1 percent for domestic companies and 4.5 percent for international companies. This indicates the increasing awareness towards patents in domestic Chinese companies. In 2007, 62.4 percent of all 20-year patent applications were filed by domestic companies.

In our study we have also looked at patent-related lawsuits involving international companies. According to the No. 1 Intermediate People?s Court of Beijing, foreign parties have won 60 percent of these cases. We have also analyzed the famous Chint vs. Schneider case, pointing out some important considerations that international companies filing patents in China should take into account.

Evalueserve has also released a new study entitled, "Patenting Landscape in India."  The following is excerpted from a June 11, 2008 Evalueserve press release announcing the study's availability:

Approximately 35,000 patent applications (those with a validity of 20 years from their filing date, once granted) were filed at the Indian Patent Office (IPO) during the 2007-08 fiscal year, which indicates a 21 percent growth over the previous year. In contrast, the State Intellectual Property Office of China (SIPO) received a total of 245,161 20-year patent applications in 2007. This made China the third most prolific patent-filing country in the world after the United States and Japan. Patent filing has been growing both in India and China at approximately 20 percent per year. However, the SIPO received approximately the same number of 20-year applications in 1997 as the IPO did in 2007-08. This implies that India is approximately 10 years behind China.