As reported by 知识产权界, the Sichuan Patent Agents Association is publicly boycotting the Zigong Hospital’s (in Sichuan Province) public bidding for patent agency services because the hospital’s proposed fees were too low. The Sichuan Patent Agents Association has issued a document entitled “Proposal to Boycott the Bidding of Zigong First People’s Hospital” that stated the service procurement project issued by Zigong First People’s Hospital (project number: N5103012024000334) set flat fees that were unreasonably low. Reportedly, all members of the Association agreed to the boycott.

The procurement document is for patent agency services totaling 200,000.00 RMB with flat fees of 2980 RMB (about $420 USD) for an invention patent, 1100 RMB for a utility model and only 100 RMB for a design patent! These fees also include a patentability search. Further, if the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) does not grant the patent application, the hospital will not pay the patent agency service fee. If CNIPA deems an application abnormal, the purchaser will not pay the patent agency service fee. In addition, the bidder must compensate the purchaser at 20% of the patent agency service fee!

In conclusion, the Sichuan Patent Agents Association stated:

 We firmly believe that only by adhering to the principles of quality-oriented and reasonable pricing can we ensure the professionalism and effectiveness of patent agency services, promote the prosperity and development of intellectual property rights, and serve new quality productivity. Let us work together to resist low-price bidding and contribute to building a healthy, orderly and sustainable development environment for the patent agency industry! 

A Chinese patent attorney that wishes to remain anonymous told me:

This is the reason why most patent agents are struggling to survive. ‘THEY’ say we respect IP and take great efforts to improve the IP protection in China! Ridiculous! We patent agents hate this phenomenon but it is very hard to change.

As of the time of writing, no response was received from the Silicon Valley Intellectual Property Law Association on whether they plan to launch any boycotts.

The original text is available here (Chinese only).