Coming to terms with China’s utility model patent regime

Inventions, utility models and designs are the three major constituent parts of China’s patent regime. Among these, the number of filings for utility model patents has been increasing year on year, reaching 740,291 in 2012 and accounting for about 90% of the total filings for the same type of patent around the world, occupying an absolute dominant position.

With the large increase in filings for utility models and their increasing role in market economic activities, China’s utility model patent regime has drawn greater attention within China, as well as internationally. The author therefore wishes to give a brief introduction to these distinguishing features.

Term of protection

The Patent Law specifies that “the term ‘utility model’ means a new technical solution that is suitable for utilisation and that is put forward in respect of the form or structure of a product or a combination thereof”. That is to say that a utility model patent only protects a physical product with a specific form and/or structure that was manufactured by an industrial method, and does not accord protection to improvements in the method or the materials themselves. Furthermore, improvements in computer software embedded in hardware are, in examination practice, usually treated as an improvement in method.

Gao Peipei is a partner and patent attorney at China Sinda in Beijing