China E-ventions
Selected Software-Related Invention Patents
Vol. 1 , No. 3 - October 15, 2001
Welcome to China E-ventions. Keeping up with technology is difficult enough, but learning about new trends in patent examination methods and policies in different countries is a monumental task. One area of keen interest these days involves a particular classification of patent that goes by many names: business method patent, Internet patent, software patent, and so on - in China, "software-related invention patents". To be clear, many of these names have distinct definitions in certain jurisdictions; however, their similarity has caused great confusion for international practitioners.
The purpose of this newsletter is to provide the foreign patent practitioner with China patent news as well as a regular snapshot of how China's State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) is approaching these kinds of inventions.
Time for Filing a Divisional Application
As applicants have experienced, patent applications are sometimes rejected, usually by way of the first Office Action issued by the Patent Office, for not possessing 'Unity', which means that the applications fail to satisfy Article 31 of the Patent Law of the People's Republic of China. Article 31 of the Patent Law stipulates that an application for a patent for an invention or utility model shall be limited to one invention or utility model. Two or more inventions or utility models belonging to a single general inventive concept may be filed as one application. Rejected applications that do not possess 'Unity' are those that involve inventions or utility models that do not belong to a single general inventive concept.
In order to comply with Article 31 and avoid a rejected application, the inventions or utility models must be of a 'single general concept', which means that they must be technically inter-related and contain one or more identical or corresponding special technical feature(s). According to Chinese patent practice, to include two or more inventions belonging to a single general inventive concept in one application, the relationship of the two or more independent claims should be one of the following:
1: claims, belonging to the same category (such as product claims or method claims), for two or more inventions, which cannot be included in one claim;
2. product claim and method claim, wherein the method is special for producing the product;
3. product claim and the product's use claim;
4. product claim, the product's use claim and the claim for the special method for producing the product;
5. product claim, the claims for the special method for producing the product, and the claim for a device, which is especially designed for implementing the method;
6. method claim and the claim for device, which is especially designed for implementing the method.
If there are two or more independent claims in the application, and the claims do not fall into any of the above categories, the examiner will require the applicant to restrict the claims to one invention, or two or more inventions satisfying the Unity requirements. If the applicant is not willing to limit the application, he shall have to delete one or more of the independent claims from the original application. As to the unelected invention, it may remain by being filed as a divisional application. However, in most circumstances, the decision on whether or not to file a divisional application can not be made at the time of filing a response to the Office Action, for economic and other reasons. Before the second revision to the China Patent Law and its Implementing Regulation, a divisional application could have been submitted at any time before the receipt of the Notification of the granting a patent right from the Patent Office. Since the date of sending out the Notification is uncertain, the decision to submit a divisional application was often made after the notification was issued. Of course, in such cases, the divisional application could not be accepted by the Patent Office. Thus the unelected invention had to be abandoned and became part of the public domain.
However, in the light of this problem, the Implementing Regulations of the Patent Law have been revised, and Rule 42 clearly stipulates that''where an application for a patent contains two or more inventions, utility models or designs, the applicant may, before the expiration of the time limit specified in Rule 54, paragraph 1 of these Implementing Regulations, submit to the Patent Administrative Organ under the State Council a divisional application." That is to say the divisional application may be submitted before receiving the Notification to grant the patent right or within two months from the receipt of the Notification. Thus the applicant will not miss the opportunity of filing a divisional application.
Firms Prepare for WTO Entry with Patent Applications
Chinese enterprises are taking an aggressive approach towards applying for patents, as the country is awaiting entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Statistics show that by the end of July, the State Intellectual Property Office had accepted 99,550 patent applications from home and abroad, up 24 percent from a year ago.
Domestic applications increased by 26.8 percent, up 15 percentage points from that of overseas applications.
China National Petrochemical Corp (Sinopec), had applied for over 2,470 patents in China and 294 patents in other countries, and currently owns 1,270 patents.
Shanghai Joint Gene Technology Co Ltd, the largest gene technology company in China, has applied for more than 3,700 gene patents including patents for medical research into genes causing cancer, obesity and hypertension.
Experts predict that by the end of this year, the total number of patent applications by Chinese enterprises will surpass that of last year, a good sign before entry into the WTO.
With China's entry to the WTO being close to finalization, a large number of multinational companies will enter the Chinese market to compete with Chinese counterparts. Their rich experience in patent application will be a threat to domestic firms. Many Chinese enterprises have realized the challenge and are preparing for it.
Chinese enterprises will have to fight a defensive intellectual property war with their international counterparts in accordance with the common rules formulated by WTO, and will have to work hard to win.
Ma Lianyuan, deputy commissioner of the State Intellectual Property Office, said that China's intellectual property organizations should not only focus on improving the ability of protecting intellectual property of Chinese enterprises, but also stress the creation of a favorable environment in which international enterprises can do the same.
(Source: Xinhua News Agency)
A Selection of Software-related Invention Patents Published in China
Application Number : 95197483
Publication Number : 1174619
Application Date : 95.02.17
Publication Date : 98.02.25
Title : Integrated circuit controlled transaction management system
Intl. Class. Nr. : G07F 7/10; G06K 19/07
Country & City Code: BE
Applicant(s) Name : Europay International S. A.
Inventor(s) Name : Guido Heyns; Peter Johannes
Legal Status : Publication
Abstract : An integrated circuit controlled transaction management system using an interpreter which deals with the execution of an application, either on an ICC, or on a terminal or on both, which is particularly able to execute an application between the ICC and the terminal and can be connected to a central unit. The interpreter in the terminal is able to access and use part of the terminal memory and the terminal peripherals while an optional interpreter in the ICC is able to access and use part of the ICC memory and the ICC peripherals.
Application Number : 96109204
Publication Number : 1172305
Application Date : 96.07.29
Publication Date : 98.02.04
Title : Method and system for management of exhibitions
Intl. Class. Nr. : G06F 19/00
Country & City Code: HK
Applicant(s) Name : He Zhuohui
Inventor(s) Name : He Zhuohui
Legal Status : Substantial Examination
Abstract : The present invention relates to a simple and efficient management method and system for displays and sales as well as exhibitations. It is characterized by that said invention and provides a read/write device for every exhibitor, and uses a read/write device connected with a central control center to create an information card on which the personal information of every visitor, personal data of every exhibitor and data of all exhibitors' service informations are stored so as to benefit the management and operation of display venues during an exhibition.
Application Number : 96116047
Publication Number : 1152152
Application Date : 96.11.12
Publication Date : 97.06.18
Title : Seven-element code identifying and protecting method for branded commodities
Intl. Class. Nr. : G06K 7/00
Applicant(s) Name : Li Linhai
Inventor(s) Name : Li Linhai
Legal Status : Substantial Examination
Finishing result : Deemed withdrawn
Abstract : By utilizing the characteristics of a computer, which stores a large amount of data and has fast search capabilities, the present invention sets up a management and sales data bank and search system by using seven commodity codes. These are: its commodity code, distributor code, seller code, distributing code, selling code, warning code and checking code. Using a computer to search a database, a commodity can be traced so as to determine whether or not it is genuine, and fake sources may be thus be discovered. The present invention makes it possible to combat forged goods and protect famous branded commodities.
Application Number : 96118936
Publication Number : 1186989
Application Date : 96.12.30
Publication Date : 98.07.08
Title : Identification system for anti-forgery marks
Intl. Class. Nr. : G06K 9/00; G06F 17/60
Applicant(s) Name : Luan Zongyi
Inventor(s) Name : Luan Zongyi; Wu Shulian
Legal Status : Publication
Finishing result : Deemed withdrawn
Abstract : The present invention adopts the attestation method for the serial number of goods, and serves to identify imitation goods. Each anti-forgery mark is assigned a unique goods serial number. The security of the goods serial number is ensured by way of the IC card. The anti forgery mark attestation is identifed by a computer and communication system. The system consists of an anti-forgery mark, IC card, read out equipment for IC card sale affirming card, computer, communication system. Said system is used to prevent the sale of imitation goods and also to prevent the sale of goods which have not yet passed through customs formalities.
Application Number : 96119522
Publication Number : 1181559
Application Date : 96.10.30
Publication Date : 98.05.13
Title : Sales statistical management fee-collecting system
Intl. Class. Nr. : G06F 17/60
Applicant(s) Name : Yang Jiang
Inventor(s) Name : Yang Jiang
Legal Status : Publication
Finishing result : Deemed withdrawn
Abstract : A payment receipt system for sales, statistics and management includes 5 functions: sales management, browsing of commodities, statistics analyser, inventory management and print-out capability. The sales management includes 3 sub-functions. The browsing of commodities includes 6 sub-functions. The statistics analyser includes 5 sub-functions. The inventory management includes 5 sub-functions. The print-out capability includes 3 sub-functions. It uses inquiry and sub-window techniques.
Application Number : 97105758
Publication Number : 1195832
Application Date : 97.04.09
Publication Date : 98.10.14
Title : Anti-forgery selling method
Intl. Class. Nr. : G09F 3/00
Applicant(s) Name : Peng Yufang
Inventor(s) Name : Peng Yufang
Legal Status : Publication
Finishing result : Deemed withdrawn
Abstract : The present invention relates to an anti-forgery commodity sales method. Its main technique is characterized by the fact that a manufacturer can set a unique unchangeable code for every commodity according to its minimum packing unit, said code digits can be randomly selected, and applied to any commodity, and when the commodity is sold, said invention adopts a code documentation method, so that the consumer can conveniently recognize whether or not said commodity code is correct according to the code range printed in the documentation so as to effectively distinguish the genuine from the false.
Application Number : 97110423
Publication Number : 1177780
Application Date : 97.04.17
Publication Date : 98.04.01
Title : Method for checking fraudulent number-mark of piece-product and piece-product number read/write device
Intl. Class. Nr. : G06F 19/00; G06K 7/00
Applicant(s) Name : Luan Zongyi
Inventor(s) Name : Luan Zongyi
Legal Status : Publication
Finishing result : Deemed withdrawn
Abstract : The present invention relates to a method for inspecting unlawful package serial number marks and a package serial number reading/ writing device. It is an anti-forgery technique which can be used for various commodities, in particular, it is applicable to goods with large product quanties and which are extensively distributed. Said invented method is characterized by its use of a package-numbering process to uniquely number every unit of commodity, so that unlawful packages will not be mixed with lawful packages. Said invention can effectively prevent sale of unlawful publications and other imitated goods. Said invention also includes a special-purpose package serial number reading/writing device.
Application Number : 97111878
Publication Number : 1204099
Application Date : 97.06.28
Publication Date : 99.01.06
Title : Anti-forgery bar code and producing and distinguishing method
Intl. Class. Nr. : G06K 19/06; G06K 7/00
Applicant(s) Name : Hengmao Commerce & Trade Co., Ltd., Beijing
Inventor(s) Name : Lu Dongxia; Wang Yao; Liu Boying
Legal Status : Publication
Abstract : The anti-forgery bar code consists of three portions: the first portion is a commodity classification code, formed with 6-8 digits, the second portion is a unique and random commodity code, formed with 9-12 digits, and the third portion is a check code, formed with 1 digit. Said invention offers the following advantages:: one can know the characteristics of every commodity from the invented bar code, one can distinguish the genuine from the forged and one can reflect the characteristic details of every commodity, such as place of production, date of production, date of sale and storage life, etc..
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