[speaker: Mavis WANG]
Hello everyone. Today I’d like to talk about the Patent Marking in China.
[Take-Away] Different from US, in China, the patent marking is not a requirement for collecting damages for patent infringement. China's regulations on patent marking mainly stipulate how to mark correctly, not to mislead the public, not to make false publicity, etc. There is NO compulsory provision stating that the patentee must mark the patented product either physically or virtually.
Generally, it is believed that marking the patent virtually in China may be helpful for the promotion (attracting Chinese investment) and protection of patent rights by informing visitors that improper use of the content on the website may constitute infringement.
China's regulations on patent marking mainly stipulate how to mark correctly, not to mislead the public, not to make false publicity, etc.
To affix patent marking and application marking on product packaging, the following requirements should be met:
First, the marked patent should be valid and the types of patent right should be labeled in Chinese, i.e. 中国发明专利 (Chinese invention patent), 中国实用新型专利 (Chinese utility model patent), or 中国外观设计专利 (Chinese design patent).
Second, regarding the patent number of a granted patent issued by CNIPA, aside from the necessary information mentioned above, other characters, pattern marks can also be added. But the characters and pattern marks and the way to mark them should not mislead the public.
When affixing patent marking on a product which is manufactured directly by patented method, and on its packaging, its instructions as well as its other elements, the text should clearly indicates that the product is obtained by patented method in Chinese rather than only marking the patent of the method.
To mark a pending patent application, it should be marked in the following manner: the types of the Chinese patent, patent application number, and marked with “Patent pending”. Moreover, any misleading information or text such as “international patent” should not be marked.
Please note that there is NO compulsory provision stating that the patentee must mark the patented product either physically or virtually.
And China’s regulation stipulates how to display patent marking on patented products, its instructions, and other carriers. Although the virtual ones are not covered or applied to any specific regulations, the current regulations can be considered as the reference of the virtual patent marking.
Different from the US, in China, the patent marking is not a requirement for collecting damages for patent infringement. Generally, we think that marking the patent virtually in China may be helpful for the promotion (for example, attracting investment) and protection of patent rights by informing visitors that improper use of the content on the website may constitute infringement.
That’s all for today’s topic. Thank you for listening.
If you have any questions, please contact us via office@lindapatent.com.
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