Draft Amendments to China's Patent Examination Guidelines Approved
The China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) has recently reviewed and approved the draft amendments to the Patent Examination Guidelines, which have now been officially released. The revised Guidelines will take effect on January 1, 2026.
The amendments focus on three key areas: optimizing substantive examination standards, adjusting procedural rules, and addressing emerging fields and new business models. Key updates include clarifying requirements for inventor information, specifying obligations of patent agencies, refining procedures for handling same-day applications, clarifying the determination standards for inventiveness, and regulating bad-faith invalidation requests.
Furthermore, the Guidelines introduce new or updated case examples to help fill gaps in examination standards related to emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, and plant varieties. These updates, along with procedural improvements, are expected to enhance both the quality and efficiency of patent examination.
China’s Amended Anti-Unfair Competition Law Took Effect Oct. 15th, 2025
The newly amended China’s Anti-Unfair Competition Law has come into force as of Oct.15th, 2025.
This amendment introduces additional provisions, increased from 33 to 41, focusing on the determination and regulation of anti-unfair competition in the digital economy era. (Oct. 15th, 2025, IPRdaily)
State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR): Nearly 30,000 Sites Offering Trade Secret Protection Service Established Nationwide
Recently, the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) announced that China has comprehensively promoted trade secret protection in recent years, with nearly 30,000 sites providing trade secret protection service established across the country, continuously strengthening the trade secret protection service network.
Forty-six pilot regions for trade secret protection have released 434 institutional achievements, including regulations, guidelines, and standards. Eighteen pilot regions, including Fengxian District in Shanghai, Wenzhou City in Zhejiang Province, Wuhan City in Hubei Province, and Foshan City in Guangdong Province, have launched financial services such as trade secret pledge and insurance with a cumulative value exceeding CNY 220 million. (Oct. 22, 2025, CCTV News)
Statistics
China’s Patent Grants Saw a Decline in the First Nine Months of 2025: Invention by 16.56%; Utility Model by 25.9%
Recently, the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) released the Monthly Statistics Report on Intellectual Property Examination and Registration of September 2025. Compared with the same period in 2024, the number of invention patent grants from January to September 2025 decreased by 16.56% year-on-year, utility model patent grants fell by 25.92%, while design patent grants increased by 3.38%. (Oct. 24, 2025, IPRdaily)
China Holds Over 50% of Global Valid Patents in Marine Equipment Industry
The “Global Marine Equipment Industry Patent Development Report (2025)” was recently released. The report shows that as of now, the number of valid patents in the global marine equipment industry has reached 306,400. In terms of the ranking by country or region of technology origin, China leads with approximately 166,600 valid patents, accounting for 54.4% of the global total. The Republic of Korea, the United States, and Japan rank second, third, and fourth, respectively.
The report also indicates that China’s valid patents in the marine equipment industry are mainly distributed in fields such as special purpose vessel or floating platform design, underwater operation vehicles and supporting equipment, and components or equipment for ship external structures. In the recent ten years, patent growth in China has driven overall growth in both patent applications and grants in the global marine equipment industry. (Oct. 27, 2025, People’s Daily)
