Under current judicial practice in China, it is almost inevitable that a patent owner will receive a patent invalidation action from an accused during a patent infringement proceeding. The main purpose of the invalidation action is to uproot the entire patent right or at least have some of the essential claims in the patent that can cover the accused invalidated so that threats from this patent can be eliminated once and for all.
According to official statistics announced by the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) for the year 2021, the rate of a patent right being entirely invalidated is 31.6 percent for invention patents, 48.9 percent for utility model patents and 58.4 percent for design patents. Further, the rate of a patent right being partially invalidated is 23.6 percent for invention patents and 22.6 percent for utility model patents. This implies that a patent owner may suffer half the chance of losing his entire patent or the essential claims in this patent if he wants to enforce this patent right in China. Therefore, how to maintain a patent or at least keep some of the claims in the patent that can cover the accused is always the focus of attention. Read more