On March 25, China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) released a brief review on domestic administrative adjudication of patent infringement from 2019 to 2021, to highlight some significant facts and figures in its services.

 

Administrative adjudication is one of the methods for solving patent disputes in China. Unlike another disputes solution civil litigation, the important subject in the judging process is not the court but the administrative authorities for patent affirmation, which are CNIPA and its local branches.

 

According to the review, during this period, efforts of administrative adjudication have been continuously intensified. From 2019 to 2021, a total of 38,600, 42,400 and 49,800 patent infringement cases were filed, with growth of 13.7%, 9.9% and 17.4%, respectively year-on-year ; 36,600, 40,700 and 49,500 patent infringement disputes were concluded, with growth of 5.8%, 11.2% and 21.5%, respectively year-on-year. Patent infringement dispute cases were mainly concentrated in the east-central region, the top ten provinces (or municipality) are Zhejiang, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Sichuan, Fujian, Hubei, Anhui, Hebei, Shandong and Shanghai, altogether accounting for 87.4% of the total case number, among which the Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta regions were the most concentrated ones, as Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Guangdong and Shanghai alone accounted for 61.7%.

 

Moreover, the quality and efficiency have been continuously increased. 90% of the infringement disputes were settled by issuance of infringement opinions or reaching of mediation agreements. The disputes were substantially resolved and the rights of the parties were effectively protected with adoption and promotion of diversified methods. With simple procedures, the average period for adjudication is around 10 days, and the average period for administrative ruling decisions making is about 2 months, being shrunk to 2/3 compared to the statutory time limit.

 

Remarkable effects have emerged. 101,200 online cases have been concluded with the collaboration of different regions, powerfully promoting the standardized and healthy sustainable development of the platform economy. In cases where the requestor is an enterprise, private requestor reached 71.5%, protecting legal rights of private enterprises and alleviating their difficulties, especially for the small and medium-sized ones. And the protection of intellectual property rights of foreign-invested enterprises has been strengthened, as nearly 13,000 cases of patent infringement disputes involving foreign-invested enterprises have been solved.