On May 17, the Office of the China National Intellectual Property Administration ("CNIPA") issued the Work Plan for the Pilot Program of Patent Open License (the "Plan").

The Plan points out that the pilot program of patent open license is an initiative of provincial intellectual property authorities under the pilot program to promote the "one-to-many" fast patent licensing, with reference to the concept and method of open license. The pilot provincial bureaus of intellectual property will organize relevant prefectures and cities, enterprises and public institutions, and service platforms to participate in the pilot program, and promotes the fast licensing regime in which the patentee's willingness and conditions of licensing are clearly defined in advance and publicly released by the pilot provincial bureaus, in an effort to achieve the purposes of stimulating supply and demand and reserving projects, and paving the way for the smooth implementation of the patent open license system. The Plan states that the first batch of eight provinces, including Beijing, Shanghai, Shandong and Jiangsu, that are given priority support under the special plan for patent commercialization, as well as the newly determined provinces being offered priority support in 2022, should formulate specific plans according to this Plan, and other provinces may decide on their own whether to make specific plans.

(Source: China National Intellectual Property Administration)