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Patent Law of the People's Republic of China

(expo2010.cn)
Updated: 2009-04-14 18:45

Article 44. [*14]

Any patent right which has been revoked shall be deemed to be nonexistent from the beginning.

Chapter V DURATION, CESSATION AND INVALIDATION OF PATENT RIGHT

Article 45. [*15]

The duration of patent right for inventions shall be twenty years, the duration of patent right for utility models and patent right for designs shall be ten years, counted from the date of filing.

Article 46.

The patentee shall pay an annual fee beginning with the year in which the patent right was granted.

Article 47.

In any of the following cases, the patent right shall cease before the expiration of its duration:

(1) where an annual fee is not paid as prescribed;

(2) where the patentee abandons his or its patent right by a written declaration. Any cessation of the patent right shall be registered and announced by the Patent Office.

Article 48. [*16]

Where, after the expiration of six months from the date of the announcement of the grant of the patent right by the Patent Office, any entity or individual considers that the grant of the said patent right is not in conformity with the relevant provisions of this Law, it or he may request the Patent Reexamination Board to declare the patent right invalid.

Article 49.

The Patent Reexamination Board shall examine the request for invalidation of the patent right, make a decision and notify the person who made the request and the patentee. The decision declaring the patent right invalid shall be registered and announced by the Patent Office.

Where any party is not satisfied with the decision of the Patent Reexamination Board declaring the patent right for invention invalid or upholding the patent right for invention, such party may, within three months from receipt of the notification of the decision, institute legal proceedings in the people's court.

The decision of the Patent Reexamination Board in respect of a request to declare invalid the patent right for utility model or design is final.

Article 50. [*17]

Any patent right which has been declared invalid shall be deemed to be nonexistent from the beginning.

The decision of invalidation shall have no retroactive effect on any judgement or order on patent infringement which has been pronounced and enforced by the people''s court, on any decision concerning the handling of patent infringement which has been made and enforced by the administrative authority for patent affairs, and on any contract of patent license and of assignment of patent right which have been performed, prior to the decision of invalidation; however, the damages caused to other persons in bad faith on the part of the patentee shall be compensated.

If, pursuant to the provisions of the preceding paragraph, no repayment,by the patentee or the assignor of the patent right to the licensee or the assignee of the patent right, of the fee for the exploitation of the patent or the price for the assignment of the patent right is obviously contrary to the principle of equity, the patentee or the assignor of the patent right shall repay the whole or part of the fee for the exploitation of the patent or the price for the assignment of the patent right to the licensee or the assignee of the patent right.

The provisions of the second and third paragraph of this Article shall apply to the patent right which has been revoked.

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