Patent in China first or lose IPR protection

If proposed changes to China's patent law come into force this year, foreign companies run the risk of losing legal protection for their intellectual property if they don't patent local inventions in the nation first.

The changes would also make it harder to secure Chinese patents for inventions that are already being used overseas under an “absolute novelty” standard, a report in the Financial Times said.

Rival companies could challenge the validity of any patent that has not been first registered in China and potentially block sales in the local market.

The changes “will make it more challenging for foreign companies inventing in China,” Elliot Papageorgiou, a patent law expert in the Shanghai office of Rouse & Co., an intellectual property consultancy, told the Financial Times.

Foreign companies, however, will be able to challenge Chinese “rogue patents” more easily if the proposal is adopted, he said.

The Financial Times report said that most foreign companies operating in China usually file for patent protection in the country where they are based, even sending Chinese inventors to work temporarily in their home country to prevent early disclosure to Chinese rivals.

Another cause for concern regarding the changes is the lack of lawyers who are experienced in rules concerning Chinese patents as they only came into effect in the early years of the century, the report said.

Foreign companies and chambers of commerce have submitted comments on the draft proposal to Beijing but declined to discuss their feedback, the Financial Times said.