State notification. Number eight
Departments of the directorate, departments of the patent office, trademark office, other direct units of the directorate, and associations:
In order to follow up on the implementation of the programme for building intellectual property power (2021-2035), the opinion on strengthening intellectual property protection, the guidance of the state council office on the further improvement of confidence-based restraint systems to build long-lasting mechanisms for building integrity, the establishment of sound mechanisms for credit management in the area of intellectual property, the strengthening of intellectual property protection, the promotion of high-quality intellectual property work, and the national intellectual property authority's intellectual property credit management regulations, are being issued and are being implemented。
This information is being communicated。
National intellectual property agency
24 january 2022
The national intellectual property authority's intellectual property credit management provisions
Chapter i general provisions
In order to follow up on the implementation of the programme for the construction of intellectual property powers (2021-2035), the opinion on strengthening the protection of intellectual property rights, the guidance of the office of the state council on the further improvement of the confidence-construction system for building long-term mechanisms for building good faith, the establishment of mechanisms for the management of credit in the area of intellectual property rights, the strengthening of intellectual property rights protection and the promotion of high-quality development of intellectual property work, this provision is made in accordance with laws and administrative regulations such as the regulations on the application of the trademarks law of the people's republic of china and the regulations on the application of the trademarks law of the people's republic of china。
Article ii. This provision applies to the work of the national intellectual property authority in the performance of its statutory duties, in the provision of public services, in the performance of its credit commitments, in the evaluation of credit, in the encouragement of trust, in the correction of breach of faith, in the restoration of credit, etc。
Article iii. The management of intellectual property rights by the national intellectual property agency (inip) is governed by the principles of legal administration, co-management, proportionality and protection of rights and interests。
Article iv. The intellectual property protection division of the national intellectual property agency is responsible for coordinating the promotion of the credit administration of the national intellectual property agency
(i) coordinate efforts to build credit systems in the area of intellectual property and strengthen credit regulation in the area of intellectual property in accordance with the law
(ii) coordinate the promotion of credit commitments, credit evaluations, trust-keeping incentives, faith-debets and credit restoration in the area of intellectual property
(iii) undertake the work of the joint inter-ministerial meeting on building social credit systems and organize the preparation of specific entries on public credit information in the field of intellectual property
(iv) promote the development of a platform for information-sharing on credit in the area of intellectual property, which brings together credit information submitted by the various departments and units of the national intellectual property agency and which is shared and publicized in accordance with the law。
Article 5. The departments and units responsible for the design of patents, trademarks, geographical indications, integrated circuit maps and the supervision of agents shall perform the following duties:
(i) comprising credit information generated and obtained in the course of the performance of statutory duties and the provision of public services
(ii) to carry out, in accordance with the law, the determination of a breach of confidence and to submit the information thereof
(iii) implementation of regulatory measures against disbelieving subjects in accordance with the law
(iv) performing credit commitments, credit evaluations, trust incentives, breach of trust discipline, credit restoration, etc., as required by their duties。
Chapter ii. Recognition, management and credit repair for breach of trust
According to the law, the following acts are classified by the national intellectual property authority as acts of bad faith:
(i) irregular patent applications not aimed at protecting innovation
(ii) an application for registration of a malicious trademark
(iii) conduct of patenting, trademarking agents in violation of laws and administrative regulations and administrative penalties imposed by the state intellectual property agency
(iv) the submission of false information or the concealment of material facts to apply for administrative confirmation
(v) the application of acts where a credit commitment is found to be false or has not been fulfilled
(vi) failure to comply with, or evade the enforcement of, administrative penalties, administrative decisions, etc.
(vii) other acts that are included in a specific entry on public credit information in the field of intellectual property and that should be considered as breach of trust。
Article 7. The existence of an irregular patent application under article 6 (1) of this provision, provided that the consequences can be corrected in a timely manner and eliminated on its own initiative, may not be considered a breach of confidence。
Article 8. The authorities responsible for the design of patents, trademarks, geographical indications, integrated circuit maps and the supervision of agents, and the units, on the basis of such instruments as administrative sanctions, administrative decisions and administrative confirmations as have the force of law, determine that there is a breach of trust:
(i) dismissal on the basis of an irregular patent application
(ii) on the basis of a review decision of the malicious trademark application, it was found that the malicious trademark registration application was a breach of faith
(iii) a finding of breach of trust on the basis of an administrative penalty decision on a patent or trademark agent
(iv) failure to submit false material or to conceal material from the application for administrative confirmation in the course of an application for the registration of an application for the protection of geographical indications products, an application for identification of a trademark by name, an application for registration of a trademark, an application for a patent, an application for the exclusive right to register an integrated circuit chart
(v) misbelief, on the basis of an administrative confirmation, of the application of a credit commitment in the process of approval of a patent agent and registration of the pledge of the patent and trademark, reduction of the cost of the patent, etc., where the commitment is found to be false or failure to honour it
(vi) failure to comply or evade the performance of a breach of faith determined by administrative decision, administrative penalty decision。
Article 9 the national intellectual property agency (inip) applies the following regulatory measures to persons who have lost their trust:
(i) strict approval of applications for financial financing projects
(ii) strict approval of preferential policies and facilitation measures such as patents, trademark-related fee deductions, priority reviews, etc.
(iii) disqualification of the national intellectual property agency from first-instance evaluation
(iv) disqualification of national intellectual property demonstration and niche enterprises and of awards such as the china patent award
(v) prioritize monitoring, increase the frequency of inspections and ensure strict regulation in accordance with the law
(vi) not applicable to credit commitments
(vii) other regulatory measures to be taken in accordance with the law, administrative regulations and policy documents of the party centre and the state council。
Article x. The department responsible for patenting, trademarks, geographical indications, the design of integrated circuit maps and the supervision of agents, and the unit's determination of a breach of trust, shall complete a summary of the information on the breach, accompanied by the relevant letter of breach, and shall submit it to the department of intellectual property protection within five working days。
The department of intellectual property protection, upon receipt of relevant material, such as the missing information matrix, from the relevant department or unit, informs, within five working days, the departments of the agency, the patent office, the trademark office, etc., and simultaneously publicizes it on the website of the government of the national intellectual property office. The departments and units implement one-year regulatory measures for the subject of the breach, calculated from the date of the declaration of breach, and terminate the corresponding regulatory measures and suspend the publicity。
Article 11 the administration and publicity period for the breach of trust shall be extended for a period of up to three years from the date on which the administration and publicity period for the previous breach of trust has ended。
On the same day, the subject of a breach of trust, determined by various departments and units of the national intellectual property agency, was subject to an extended period of management and publicity of up to three years。
Laws, administrative regulations and party central and state council policy documents provide for a longer period of time for the implementation of regulatory measures。
Article 12. If the relevant department or unit determines that the documents underlying the breach of trust have been revoked, found illegal or invalid, the relevant information shall be submitted within five working days to the department of intellectual property protection, which shall, within five working days of receiving the relevant information, notify the departments of the department, the departments of the patent office, the trademark office, etc., and stop publishing and the departments and units shall lift the corresponding regulatory measures。
Subjects who have been found to have acted in breach of trust may apply for correction of the relevant information in a timely manner after they have found that the documents on which the relevant breach of confidence is based have been revoked, found to be contrary to the law or were invalid。
Article 13 when the subject has been found to have committed a breach of confidence for six months, has corrected the breach, has fulfilled the relevant obligations, has voluntarily eliminated the consequences and has not been found to have committed a further breach of confidence, he or she may apply for a credit restoration application and the related supporting material to the department that found the breach of confidence。
The department found that the breach of confidence had carried out a review and verification within 10 working days of the date of receipt of the application, and that the decision whether to restore the credit should be made, that the decision should be communicated to the intellectual property protection division; and that the applicant should be informed of the reasons for not restoring the credit。
The department of intellectual property protection shall, within five working days of receiving a decision for the restoration of credit, notify the departments, departments and units of the agency, the patent office, the trademark office, etc., and at the same time suspend the publicity and remove the corresponding regulatory measures。
Article 14 no credit shall be awarded for repair of:
(i) less than one year from the last credit restoration
(ii) in the course of applying for credit restoration, there were falsifications and wilful concealments
(iii) reconfirmation of a breach of faith during the application for credit restoration
(iv) the laws, administrative regulations and party central and state council policy documents clearly stipulate that they cannot be repaired。
Article 15 the intellectual property protection department may transmit the missing information to the intellectual property authorities of the provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government for information purposes。
Chapter iii. Identification and management of serious breach of the law
Article 16 the national intellectual property agency (inip) is responsible for placing persons who have committed the following violations on the list of serious breaches of trust:
(i) has engaged in serious violations of patents, trademark agents and is subject to more severe administrative penalties
(ii) the ability to comply with administrative decisions, such as administrative penalties, administrative decisions and refusals to comply with them and to evade their enforcement, which seriously affects the credibility of the national intellectual property agency。
Procedures for the inclusion, notification, hearing, service delivery, challenge, credit repair, removal of serious breach of the letter list are governed by the act on the management of serious violations of the trust list (decree no. 44 of the general directorate of state market supervision)。
Article 17: the departments and units of the national intellectual property agency apply for a period of three years administrative measures to subjects included in the list of serious breaches of the law, and to subjects removed from the list of serious breaches of the law is lifted in a timely manner。
Article 18. The department of intellectual property protection shall, within five working days of receiving information from the relevant authorities on the subject of serious breach of the law, inform the departments of the agency, the departments of the patent office, the trademark office, etc., and simultaneously publicize it on the website of the national intellectual property office and on the national system for the dissemination of information on business credits, during the same period as the administrative period。
Article 19 the national intellectual property agency (inip) is required to share information on the list of serious breach of the law with other relevant authorities and to impose joint penalties for serious breach of the law, administrative regulations and party central, state council policy documents。
Chapter iv confidence incentives, credit commitments and credit evaluation
The following incentives may be taken, as appropriate, by the departments and units of the national intellectual property agency for subjects with good compliance for three consecutive years:
(i) provide facilitation services such as simplified and expedited processing in administrative approvals, project approvals, etc.
(ii) prioritize the use of government earmarked funds, etc., under equal conditions
(iii) prioritization under the same conditions, for example, in patent priority reviews; guidance to the intellectual property protection centre on priority approval in patent pre-trial cases
(iv) appropriately reduce the frequency of inspections in routine and specialized inspections
(v) other incentives that may be taken in the course of carrying out statutory duties and providing public services。
Article 21. The national intellectual property agency (inip) implements credit commitments in patent, trademark pledge registration, loss of patent fees and licensing of patent agencies, produces a form of notification of promise and is available on the state intellectual property agency's government website。
Under article 22, the national intellectual property authority promotes the formation of credit evaluation systems and regulations for the relevant sectors, the development of credit evaluation, the definition of indicators, evaluation systems, information gathering standards, etc., and the implementation of classification management for credit holders。
To encourage the active use of the results of credit evaluations in the area of intellectual property by relevant departments and agencies, financial institutions, trade associations, third-party services, etc.; to encourage market owners to actively and proactively apply the results of credit evaluations in the area of intellectual property in such activities as production operations, certification of qualifications, project declarations, etc。
Chapter v: oversight and responsibility
Article 23 the relevant departments and staff of the national intellectual property agency shall protect the legitimate rights and interests of the subject under the law in the management of credit, and shall protect the confidentiality of state secrets, commercial secrets or personal privacy, as they become known at work。
Article 24. The relevant departments and staff of the national intellectual property agency are held accountable for negligence, abuse of authority and fraud in the administration of credit。
Chapter vi
Article 25 this provision is interpreted by the national intellectual property authority. The intellectual property authorities of the provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government may make specific provisions taking into account the situation in the region。
Article 26 this provision shall apply from the date of its publication. The administration of joint sanctions lists for serious distrust in the patent field (pilot) (2019) was abolished。
Related link: national intellectual property authority (inip) intellectual property credit regulation
