By Xinhua,
Beijing : China Monday tabled draft amendments to the patent law in the State Council or parliament, raising application standards and suggesting heavier fines for piracy in a bid to curb mounting violations.
The draft, into its second reading, raises the threshold for patent applications, accepting only those for inventions that are known to the public either in China or abroad.
Under the draft amendments, applicants could apply for foreign patents even before obtaining Chinese patents.
But the applicants are supposed to go through a check held by patent authorities of the State Council, China’s Cabinet, for the sake of state security, said Tian Lipu, director of the State Intellectual Property Office, at the current session of the Standing committee of the National People’s Congress.
The draft amendments also suggested harsher penalty for piracy.
Violators of patent laws would be fined four times the amount they have illegaly gained from the pirated product or would face a fine of up to 200,000 yuan (about $29,200) if the have no such illegal gains. The current figure for the penalty is three times and 50,000 yuan respectively.