The State Intellectual Property Office Order of the Director of the State Intellectual Property Office No.30 In order to regulate management and supervision of the patent agency industry, the Measures for Management of Patent Agencies are The Measures on Approving the Establishment of Patent Agencies (for Interim Implementation) promulgated by No.23 Order of the State Director of the State Intellectual Property Office Wang Jingchuan June 6, 2003 Measures for Management of Patent Agencies Chapter I General Provisions Article 1 In order to perfect the system of patent agencies, maintain the normal order of patent agency industry and guarantee the practice Article 2 The State Intellectual Property Office and the intellectual property offices of the provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities All China Association of Patent Agents shall organize and guide patent agencies and patent agents to perform the Patent Law, the Regulations Chapter II Establishment, Modification, Close-up and Revocation of Patent Agencies and their office Article 3 the organization form of patent agencies shall be a partnership patent agency or a limited liability patent agency. A partnership Partners of the partnership patent agency shall bear unlimited joint liability for the debts of the patent agency; partners of the Article 4 The establishment of a patent agency shall meet the following conditions: (1) having the agency name in compliance with Article 7 of the measures; (2) having a partnership agreement or Articles of association; (3) having partners or shareholders stipulated by Articles 5 and 6 of the measures; (4) having necessary funds, which shall be no less than RMB50,000 if a partnership patent agency is to be established, or which shall (5) to have fixed offices and necessary working facilities; Where a law firm applies to run the patent agency services, there shall be at least 3 full-time lawyers in this law firm, each of Article 5 Partners or shareholders of a patent agency shall meet the following conditions: (1) having the patent agent qualification; (2) having over 2 years experiences on the practice of patent agencies (3) engaging in the full-time the patent agency services; (4) being under the age of 65 when applying for establishing a patent agency; (5) having good behavior. Article 6 a person who has one of following circumstance shall not be the partner or shareholder of a patent agency: (1) having no complete capacity of civil disposition (2) working in state organs or enterprises and institutions and not formally go through formalities of resignation, dismissal or retirement; (3) less than 2 years as a partner or shareholder of the other patent agency (4) less than 3 years circulated a notice of criticism stipulated by Article 5 of Rules on Disciplinary of Patent Agencies or reprimanded (5) punished by criminal penalty (except for committing crimes by negligence) Article 7 A patent agency shall only have and use one name. The name of a patent agency shall be composed of the name of the city, font size and “Patent Agency Firm”, “Patent agency Co., Ltd.” Where a law firm runs the patent agency services, it may use the name of this law firm. Article 8 Whoever applies to establish a patent agency shall submit the following application materials: (1) application form for the establishment of the patent agency; (2) partnership agreement or articles of association of the patent agency; (3) asset evaluation certificate; (4) duplicates of the patent agent qualification certificates and ID cards; (5) resumes and certification on the personnel file and duplicates of the retirement certification; (6) certification of offices and working facilities; (7) other evidentiary material. A law firm that applies to run the patent agency services shall submit the following application materials: (1) the application form for running the patent agency services; (2) a letter issued by the competent administrative organ of justice on approving the applicant to run the patent agency services; (3) partnership agreement or the articles of association of the law firm; (4) duplicate of the practice permit of the law firm and attestation of funds; (5) duplicates of lawyer licenses of the patent agents, duplicates of the patent agent qualification certificates and duplicates of the (6) certification of offices and working facilities; (7) other evidentiary materials. The above-mentioned evidentiary materials shall be those issued within 6 months before applying for establishment of a patent agency Article 9 The procedures for approving the establishment of a patent agency are as follows: (1) whoever applies to establish a patent agency shall apply to the intellectual property office of the province, autonomous region or (2) The State Intellectual Property Office shall, within 30 days upon receipt of the submitted documents, make a decision on approving A law firm that applies to run the patent agency services shall be approved with reference to the above-mentioned provisions Article 10 In case of modifying registration matters on name, address, articles of association, and partner or shareholder, the patent agency Article 11 In case of winding up or revocation, the patent agency concerned shall after properly handling with various matters not settled apply Article 12 In case of establishing office in the province, the patent agency concerned shall apply to the intellectual property office of provinces, In case of cross province establishment of office, the patent agency concerned shall after obtaining consent of the intellectual property Article 13 A patent agency applying to establish an office shall be compliance with following conditions: (1) the time of establishment more than two years; (2) having over 10 patent agents; (3) having gone through the annul examination of the previous year. Article 14 A patent agency shall be compliance with following conditions: (1) having over 2 full-time patent agents assigned or engaged by the patent agency; (2) having fixed offices and necessary funds; (3) The name of the office shall be composed of the full name of the patent agency, the name of the city at the office locality and “Office”. Article 15 The intellectual property office of provinces, autonomous regions or municipalities directly under the Central Government can additionally Article 16 The offices of the patent agencies shall be not handle with the patent agency services with the their solitary name, and their personal In case of cross province establishment of offices, their offices shall accept the instruction and supervision of the intellectual Article 17 In case of winding up or revocation, the office concerned shall after properly handling with various matters not settled apply to In case of winding up or revocation, the office shall terminate at the same time. Chapter III The Professional Practice of the Patent Agents Article 18 The professional practice of the patent agents shall accept the engagement and appointment of the approval established patent agency Article 19 When engaging patent agents, the patent agency shall reach an engagement agreement with the patent agents in the principle of free Article 20 The issuance for the professional practice certificates of patent agents shall be compliance with following conditions: (1) having the patent agent qualification; (2) being able to full-time engage the patent agency services; (3) the person who have no experiences of the patent agency or patent inspection continually practiced over a year and participated in (4) engaged by the patent agencies; (5) being under the age of 70 when issuing the certificate; (6) having good behavior. Article 21 A person who has one of following circumstance shall not be issued the professional practice certificate of the patent agent: (1) having no complete capacity of civil disposition (2) prior to application working for other patent agency, not formally be dismissed by the patent agency and not go through revocation (3) less than 1 year after collecting the professional practice certificate of the patent agent, transforming to other patent agency (4) less than 3 years reprimanded by the certificate reclamation of patent agent stipulated by Article 5 of Rules on Disciplinary of (5) punished by criminal penalty (except for committing crimes by negligence) Article 22 Whoever applies for issuing a patent agency shall submit the following materials: (1) application form for the professional practice certificates of the patent agents; (2) duplicates of the patent agent qualification certificates and ID cards (3) certification on the personnel file or duplicates of the retirement certification (4) employment agreement issued by the patent agencies; (5) prior to application working for other patent agency, shall submit dismissal certification of the patent agency (6) in case of applying for issuing the professional practice certificates of the patent agents for the first time, shall submit the practice Article 23 The State Intellectual Property Office authorize All China Association of Patent Agents to take charge of the specific matters relating Article 24 Upon reviewing, All China Association of Patent Agents hold that the issuance and application of the professional practice certificates Article 25 If the patent agencies want to dismiss the patent agents, they shall notify the patent agents30 days in advance; If the patent agents If the patent agencies want to discharge the employment relationship with the patent agents, they shall withdraw the professional Article 26 In case of close-up or revocation, the patent agencies shall withdraw all the professional practice certificates of their patent agents Article 27 All China Association of Patent Agents shall keep filing with The State Intellectual Property Office and submit the relevant materials Article 28 The person who holds no the professional practice certificate of the patent agent shall not engage the patent agency services for Article 29 In case of undertaking the patent services, the patent agents shall accept the authorization in the name of the relevant patent agencies, Chapter IV The Annul Examination of the Patent Agencies and the Patent Agents Article 30 The State Intellectual Property Office is responsible for the organization and instruction on the annul examination of the patent All the lawyer firms upon approval to establish the patent agencies and run the patent agency services shall participate in the annul All China Association of the Patent Agents shall coordinate and participate in the annul examination of the patent agencies and the Article 31 The annul examination of the patent agencies and the patent agents shall carry out once a year, from September 1 to October 31. Article 32 The content on annul examination of the patent agencies and the patent agents shall include: (1) whether the patent agencies are or not compliance with the conditions for establishment stipulated by the measures; (2) whether the partners or shareholders of the patent agencies are or not compliance with the conditions stipulated by the measures; (3) whether the patent agents who work in the patent agencies hold the professional practice certificates of the patent agents and participate (4) whether the patent agencies and the patent agents have the violation of laws and disciplines stated by Articles 6, 7 and 8 in Rules (5) the quantity of the patent agency services since the patent agencies completed the last annul examination; (6) the condition on the finance of the patent agencies; (7) other content shall be examined each year. Article 33 The patent agencies shall submit the following materials for the annul examination: (1) the registration forms on the annul examination of the patent agencies and the patent agents; (2) the working reports of the patent agencies; (3) a copy of registration certificate of the patent agencies; (4) the professional practice certificates of the patent agents (5) the financial statements; (6) other required documents. The working reports of the patent agencies shall fully reflect various contents stipulated by Article 32 of the measures. Article 34 In case of any no compliance with the provisions of the measures upon annul examination, the intellectual property offices of the In case of violation of laws and disciplines of Articles 6, 7 and 8 in Rules on Disciplinary of Patent Agencies (tentative) by the Article 35 In case of qualification upon annul examination, the intellectual property offices of the provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities In case of failing to participate in the annul examination or disqualification of the annual examination, the patent agencies shall Article 36 The intellectual property offices of the provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government shall The State Intellectual Property Office will publish to the public the results of the annual examination of the patent agencies and Article 37 The workers of the State Intellectual Property Office, the intellectual property offices of the provinces, autonomous regions and Chapter V Supplementary Provisions Article 38 The interpretation of the Measures will be vested with the State Intellectual Property Office. Article 39 These Measures shall come into force as of July 15, 2003. |
The State Intellectual Property Office
2003-06-06