Chamber of Commerce Report Recommends Changes to China’s Utility Model Patents

The Chinese government’s push for innovation, exemplified by an “overemphasis on quantitative patent targets” fulfilled by utility model patent grants, “has the potential to undermine key innovation policy objectives, give rise to patent trolls, and substantially increase unproductive litigation in the Chinese system,” according to a Nov. 30 report published by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

The report, China’s Utility Model Patent System: Innovation Driver or Deterrent, made 10 recommendations for restructuring the Chinese system to incorporate best practices in other jurisdictions that allow utility model patents (UMPs).

In a keynote speech the same day at a conference held ...