State Intellectual Property Office, Administration of the Record Filing of Patent Licensing Contracts Measures

Promulgated: December 17 2001
Effective: January 1 2002
Interpreting authority: State Intellectual Property Office

Main contents: The Measures provide that the parties to a patent licensing contract shall complete their record filing procedure within three months following the effective date of the contract (Article 5). If a foreigner, foreign enterprise or other foreign organization that has no ordinary residence or business office in China wishes to file such a contract in China, they shall appoint a patent agency designated by the State Intellectual Property Office to act on their behalf (Article 11). All documents to be filed shall be in Chinese or Chinese translations (Article 14). If the filing complies with the requirements, a filing certificate will be issued to the parties concerned (Article 17). The relevant contents of a filed licensing contract shall be published by the State Intellectual Property Office (Article 20). The licensee of a patent licensing contract that has been filed may petition a people's court to issue a pre-litigation injunction to cease infringement on its patent rights that, if not stopped immediately, would cause its legitimate rights and interests to suffer injury that is difficult to repair. In the case of a sole licensee, it may submit the petition by itself, and in the case of an exclusive licensee, it may submit the petition if the patent proprietor does not do so (Article 6).
Related legislation: PRC, Patent Law (2nd Revision), Aug 25 2000, CLP 2000 No.8 p7; PRC, Patent Law Implementing Rules (Revised), Jun 15 2001, CLP 2001 No.7 p53 and PRC, Contract Law, Mar 15 1999, CLP 1999 No.4 p19
Repealed legislation: PRC Patent Office Announcement No. 12