/>iOn March 14, 2023, the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) sanctioned 7 Chinese patent firms for filing over 20,000 abnormal (i.e., junk) patent applications. Sanctions included suspensions in accepting new business for 6 or 12 months and 1 revocation of a patent license. However, no fines were issued. Further crackdowns are expected this year per the 2023 Administrative Protection Work Plan, which stated that CNIPA would “severely crack down on abnormal patent applications and malicious registration of trademarks. “
On March 12, 2021, the CNIPA released the “Measures Regarding the Regulation of Patent Applications” (关于规范申请专利行为的办法), which defined irregular patent application behavior as follows:
(1) Simultaneously or successively submitting multiple patent applications that are obviously the same in invention-creation content, or are essentially formed by simple combinations of different invention-creation features or elements;
(2) The submitted patent application contains fabricated, forged or altered inventions and creations, experimental data or technical effects, or plagiarism, simple replacement, patchwork of existing technology or existing designs, etc.;
(3) The invention-creation of the submitted patent application is obviously inconsistent with the actual research and development capabilities and resource conditions of the applicant and inventor;
(4) The invention-creation content of multiple patent applications submitted is mainly generated randomly by computer programs or other technologies;
(5) The invention-creation of the submitted patent application is an invention deliberately formed for the purpose of circumventing patentability examination, which is obviously inconsistent with technical improvement or design common sense, or has no actual protection value, is inferior, piles up, or unnecessarily limits the scope of protection Creation, or content without any search and review significance;
(6) In order to evade the supervision measures against irregular patent applications, multiple patent applications that are substantially related to a specific entity, individual or address are scattered, submitted sequentially or in different places;
(7) Not buying or reselling patent application rights or patent rights for the implementation of patented technologies, designs or other legitimate purposes, or falsely altering inventors or designers;
(8) Patent agencies, patent agents, or other institutions or individuals, acting as agents, inducing, instigating, helping others, or conspiring with them to implement various types of irregular patent applications;
(9) Other irregular patent applications and related behaviors that violate the principle of good faith and disrupt the normal order of patent work.
Summaries of the administrative penalty decisions follow:
Beijing Jiuwei Law Firm 北京久维律师事务所
6-month suspension
In October 2022, our office determined that the 2,366 patent applications that your organization represented after March 12, 2021 belonged to the provisions of Article 2 of the “Measures on Regulating the Behavior of Applying for Patents” ( State Intellectual Property Office Announcement No. 411), which constitutes the act of acting as an agent of an abnormal patent application as stipulated in this article. At the same time, after we notified you and you voluntarily withdrew the applications, you again submitted 51 identical applications.
Beijing Zhongzheng Lianke Patent Agency (General Partnership) 北京中政联科专利代理事务所（普通合伙）
Practice license revoked
In October 2022, our office determined that the 4,042 patent applications that your organization represented after March 12, 2021 belonged to the provisions of Article 2 of the “Measures on Regulating the Behavior of Patent Application” (State Intellectual Property Office Announcement No. 411), which constitutes the act of acting as an agent of an abnormal patent application as stipulated in this article. At the same time, after notification and voluntary withdrawal, you again submitted 100 identical applications as an agent.
Beijing Quanzhi Tianxia Intellectual Property Agency (General Partnership) 北京权智天下知识产权代理事务所（普通合伙）
6-month suspension
In October 2022, our office determined that the 2014 patent applications that your unit represented after March 12, 2021 belonged to the provisions of Article 2 of the “Measures on Regulating the Behavior of Patent Application” (State Intellectual Property Office Announcement No. 411), which constitutes the act of acting as an agent of an abnormal patent application as stipulated in this article. At the same time, after notification and voluntary withdrawal, you again represented and submitted 48 identical applications.
Suzhou Guozhuo Intellectual Property Agency Co., Ltd. 苏州国卓知识产权代理有限公司
6-month suspension
In October 2022, our office determined that the 2,452 patent applications that your organization represented after March 12, 2021 belonged to the provisions of Article 2 of the “Measures on Regulating the Behavior of Patent Application” (State Intellectual Property Office Announcement No. 411), which constitutes the act of acting as an agent of an abnormal patent application as stipulated in this article. At the same time, after notification and voluntary withdrawal, you again represented and submitted 231 identical applications.
Beijing Keyi Intellectual Property Agency (General Partnership) 北京科亿知识产权代理事务所（普通合伙）
12-month suspension
In October 2022, our office determined that the 2,485 patent applications that your organization represented after March 12, 2021 belonged to the provisions of Article 2 of the “Measures on Regulating the Behavior of Patent Application” (State Intellectual Property Office Announcement No. 411), which constitutes the act of acting as an agent of an abnormal patent application as stipulated in this article. At the same time, after notification and voluntary withdrawal, you again submitted 21 identical applications as an agent.
Beijing Jilong Intellectual Property Agency Co., Ltd. 北京棘龙知识产权代理有限公司
6-month suspension
In October 2022, our office determined that the 2,369 patent applications that your organization represented after March 12, 2021 belonged to the provisions of Article 2 of the “Measures on Regulating the Behavior of Patent Application” (State Intellectual Property Office Announcement No. 411), which constitutes the act of acting as an agent of an abnormal patent application as stipulated in this article. At the same time, after notification and voluntary withdrawal, you again submitted 66 identical applications as an agent.
Dongguan Zhuoyi Patent Agency (General Partnership) 东莞市卓易专利代理事务所（普通合伙）
12-month suspension
In October 2022, our office determined that the 4,481 patent applications that your organization represented after March 12, 2021 belonged to the provisions of Article 2 of the “Measures on Regulating the Behavior of Patent Application” (State Intellectual Property Office Announcement No. 411), which constitutes the act of acting as an agent of an abnormal patent application as stipulated in this article.
