On January 26, the China National Intellectual Property Administration ("CNIPA") issued the Circular on Continuing to Strictly Regulate Patent Applications (the "Circular").

Centering on continuously improving the working mechanism, and establishing a sound long-term mechanism, the Circular calls for severely cracking down on abnormal patent applications and regulating the order of patent application, with efforts to be made in eight aspects, namely, continuously improving the information communication mechanism, strengthening the precise management of patent application behavior, establishing sound mechanism for proactive verification and reporting, enhancing governance in categorization and grading, strengthening the regulation of major violations, strengthening inter-departmental collaborative governance, strengthening credit regulation in patent application, and tightening regulation of patent agencies' behaviors. Among others, the Circular requires intellectual property administration in each locality to, in the process of reviewing project application, granting subsidies and awards, providing preliminary review services, conducting prioritized examination and in other key processes, pay attention to the entities and individuals within its respective jurisdiction who submit abnormal patent application, and to carry out category-based governance according to different situations.

(Source: China National Intellectual Property Administration)