China Draft Law Proposes New Patent Standards

A new set of patent regulations involving standards has been proposed by China’s Standardization Administration, which represents the country to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and which organises national and international standardisation projects, according to GTW Associates, a US-based international standards consultancy.

The original documents, available here [pdf] and here, have not been officially translated.

The Standardization Administration of China are welcoming comments to the document until 30 November in order to “fairly handle the issue of patents involved in national standards, regulate the process in coping with patents when formuting [sic] standards, encourage indigenous innovation,” according to the United States Information Technology Office, which acts as a liaison between Chinese and US IT industry stakeholders. GTW Associates said the SAC proposal contains articles describing free licenses for patents on standards if the patent holder has failed to disclose a patent, as well as compulsory or free licensing for national standards.