From June 25 to 26, 2019, the All China Patent Attorneys Association (ACPAA) and the Telecommunications Examination Department of National Intellectual Property Association (CNIPA) co-held an exchange forum gathering the examination experts and the patent attorneys in the field of telecommunication at Fuzhou of Fujian province. The forum was aimed at promoting the communications between the patent agencies and the related departments of CNIPA, strengthening the business exchanges between the patent attorneys and the examiners, giving feedback on issues of representations, and listening to the advices and opinions from the agencies and the attorneys.
Jiang Tong, Minister of the Telecommunications Examination Department, led a team, composed of the directors and backbones from the Department, the Examination Affairs Administration Department, the Reexamination and Invalidation Examination Department, and the local Examination Collaborating Centers, to attend the forum. Minister Jiang conveyed CNIPA’s new trends and principles of examining patent applications, pointing out that the examination departments at all levels would take the tasks of improving quality and efficiency of examination, powering the national IP work as their duties. They would fully implemented General Secretary Xi’s instructions of improving the IP examination quality and efficiency through such a series of new measures as enhancing the linkage and strengthening the communications between the examination departments and the agencies, and optimizing the examination process.
Zhang Yang, Manager of the Electronics Department of NTD, a senior IP attorney in the field of communications, was invited to attend this meeting. Mr. Zhang delivered a speech themed “Analysis on Issues concerning Application Examination in Sight of Intellectual Property Attorneys”, which resonated with many attendees and was widely recognized by the experts. Multiple examination experts analysed and explained in detail such hot IP topics as “How to Write a 5G-related Application”, “How to Improve the Efficiency of Invalidation Examination”, “Technical Facts in Legal Thinking”, “How to Write an Application of Business Methods, and How to Write a Patent Application related to Computer Programs”.
The senior IP attorneys all around the country benefited a lot from the two-day intensive discussions, and proceeded to share their thoughts and comments with each other on current hot issues during the meeting.
The experts from the examination departments and the agencies held face-to-face debates to conduct open interactions with each other on the afternoon of June 26. The senior IP attorneys took the focuses of dispute through with the examination experts, including “How to Define Common Knowledge”, “How to Define Scope of Business Methods”, “Principles to Distinguish and Examine Abnormal Applications”, “How to Write and Examine Patents of Emerging Technologies (5G/NR, Blockchain, etc.)”, “Principles to Identify Business Methods”.
After the forum, the examiners and the patent attorneys reached a consensus on the practices of examinations and representations at all levels, but also had a profound understanding of their important missions to protect the national intelligence. The examination departments and the agencies need to interconnect with each other to accomplish the historical missio of building China into an intellectual property power.
