China patent flood stifles foreign filer freedom

Eight in-house lawyers from medical device, telecoms, manufacturing, confectionery and automotive companies say the increasing number of design patents and utility models being filed at China’s National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA, formerly known as SIPO before a restructure last year) by Chinese companies is making it difficult to keep up with potentially important prior art in the region. According to figures reported by the China government’s Science and Technology Daily last week, 1.6 million domestic invention patent applications were filed with the CNIPA in 2018, compared to just 55,000 Patent Co-operation Treaty international applications. Xuting Huang, patent counsel for the ZF Group, points out that the less familiar companies are with the Chinese language, the more heavily dependent they will be on Chinese law firms and the more expensive the process will tend to be.