NEWS

The Intellectual Property Offices of all provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the Central Government and Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, the Sichuan Provincial Intellectual Property Service Promotion Center; all departments of the State Intellectual Property Office, all departments of the Patent Office, the Trademark Office, other units directly under the State Intellectual Property Office, and all social groups:

In recent years, the State Intellectual Property Office has thoroughly implemented the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important instructions on “improving the intellectual property service system”, conscientiously implemented the decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, focused on creating a healthy and orderly development environment for the intellectual property service industry, and continued to The "Blue Sky" special rectification campaign for the intellectual property agency industry has been launched across the country, and various outstanding illegal and illegal agency behaviors have been effectively curbed, and the special rectification has achieved positive results. With the rapid development of the intellectual property agency industry, some new situations and new problems have gradually emerged, and the supervision of intellectual property agencies still needs to be continuously strengthened.

In order to further strictly regulate intellectual property agency behavior, effectively promote the healthy development of the industry, provide better intellectual property services to stimulate the innovation vitality of the whole society and promote high-quality economic development, the State Intellectual Property Office has decided to further develop the intellectual property agency industry in 2023 The "Blue Sky" special rectification action is hereby notified of the relevant matters as follows:

1. Strictly implement the new trademark agency regulations and crack down on all types of outstanding illegal agency behaviors

(1) Thoroughly implement the "Regulations on the Supervision and Administration of Trademark Agents". In October 2022, the State Administration for Market Regulation issued the "Regulations on the Supervision and Administration of Trademark Agents" (hereinafter referred to as the "Regulations"), which comprehensively details the relevant provisions of the "Trademark Law of the People's Republic of China" and the "Regulations on the Implementation of the Trademark Law of the People's Republic of China", in order to effectively crack down on It provides institutional support for the agency of various illegal and illegal trademarks and further standardizes trademark agency behavior. All localities must fully understand the importance of implementing the "Regulations", perform the various responsibilities specified in the "Regulations" in accordance with the law, increase publicity and training, continuously improve the effectiveness of trademark agency supervision in the region, and form a compliance system for agencies and practitioners as soon as possible. Good law-abiding situation.

(2) Crack down heavily on outstanding violations of trademark agency laws and regulations. All localities must comply with the requirements of the "Regulations" and use agents to preemptively register and hoard hot-word trademarks, act as agents for trademarks with major adverse social impacts, have collusion with personnel engaged in trademark registration and management, act as agents for cross-border e-commerce business and engage in trademark agency through the Internet. There are violations of laws and regulations in the business process, such as impersonating the names of state agencies and state agency staff, forging and altering legal documents, seals, and signatures, accepting entrustments from both parties with conflicts of interest in the same trademark agency, and other violations of laws and regulations as key targets for rectification in 2023. Together with Relevant departments have effectively stepped up their crackdowns. If the circumstances are serious, the case shall be promptly reported to the State Intellectual Property Office for processing; if the case is suspected of committing a crime, the case shall be transferred to the relevant departments for investigation of criminal liability in accordance with the law.

(3) Strengthen record-filing management and highlight source governance. In accordance with the requirements of the "Regulations", the State Intellectual Property Office issued the "Announcement on the Re-filing of Trademark Agencies", organized trademark agencies and practitioners to re-register, established employee files, and realized linked management of agency and review. Related work will be carried out in April 2023 Completed within the month and provided timely feedback to various locations. All localities should compile a directory of trademark agencies and practitioners in their region based on the latest filing information, update the "double random, one public" inspection list in conjunction with relevant departments, improve the list of inspection items, and strengthen daily supervision of trademark agencies and practitioners.

2. Continue to strengthen the rectification of patent agencies and consolidate the good trend of strictly regulating the industry

(1) Continue to rectify abnormal patent application agency behavior. The State Intellectual Property Office continues to report abnormal patent applications and agency information to various localities, and strengthens positive guidance to further standardize patent agency behavior. All localities must fully fulfill their local regulatory responsibilities in the place where agency behavior occurs, intensify the investigation and punishment of abnormal patent application agency behavior in accordance with laws and regulations, increase cross-regional joint supervision, and actively cooperate and support other provinces' requests for assisted investigations. If the circumstances are serious or obviously malicious, such as repeated representation, resubmission after withdrawal, or representation of foreign-related abnormal patent applications, etc., they will be severely dealt with in accordance with the law; if the circumstances are particularly serious and have a large social impact, they will be reported to the State Intellectual Property Office for processing in a timely manner.

(2) Continue to crack down hard on unqualified patent agents. The State Intellectual Property Office continues to strengthen patent data analysis, regularly screens for clues about the behavior of unqualified patent agents and forwards them to various locations for investigation and punishment. In the process of case investigation, all localities must focus on using applicants as a breakthrough point, promptly collect and retrieve key evidence materials such as agency contracts and transaction information, and avoid unqualified agents from transferring and destroying evidence by deceiving, threatening, inducing applicants, etc. Illegal gains must be strictly identified in accordance with relevant regulations, and behaviors such as abnormal applications and refusals to cooperate with investigations shall be regarded as severe punishments and high multiples or maximum fines shall be imposed in accordance with laws and regulations. For agencies with leasing and lending qualifications, "double penalties" will be strictly implemented.

(3) Strengthen the rectification of behaviors such as submitting false materials. All localities must intensify rectification efforts for agencies that use other people's identity information, forge and alter legal documents and other fraudulent activities. For those who sign an agency agreement with the client but do not carry out patent agency business in the name of the agency, they should be listed as key supervision objects, the frequency of daily inspections should be increased, the inspection results should be disclosed to the public in a timely manner, and risk warnings should be sent to relevant clients. , whoever is found to have acted in violation of laws and regulations, such as acting as an agent for abnormal patent applications or failing to implement the signature accountability system, will be severely dealt with in accordance with the law. Institutions that do not meet the conditions for practicing licenses must be urged to make rectifications within a time limit, and institutions that fail to complete rectifications on time or refuse to make rectifications must be dealt with in accordance with laws and regulations.

3. Accelerate the construction of a comprehensive regulatory system and promote the formation of a diversified co-governance pattern in the intellectual property agency industry

(1) Deepen the coordinated supervision of credit in the agency industry. The State Intellectual Property Office will establish a patent agency credit evaluation management mechanism nationwide and publicize the credit evaluation results. We will also accelerate the study and formulation of trademark agency credit evaluation methods and carry out pilot work in key areas. All localities must strictly implement various intellectual property agency credit supervision regulations and do a good job in credit information collection, credit scoring, and credit repair review. For those who fall under the "Administrative Measures for the Market Supervision and Administration of Serious Illegal Dishonesty Lists" and the "Regulations on Intellectual Property Credit Management of the State Intellectual Property Office", they will be included in the list in a timely manner and corresponding management measures will be implemented. It is necessary to strengthen the application of credit evaluation results in the intellectual property agency industry, formulate detailed measures for trustworthy incentives and untrustworthy restrictions according to local conditions, provide matching incentives to trustworthy entities, and give full play to the positive leading role; strictly implement collaborative restrictions on untrustworthy entities to achieve "one-stop service" in the agency field. Breaking promises everywhere and being restricted everywhere.”

(2) Strengthen the role of social supervision. The State Intellectual Property Office will continue to strengthen the disclosure of intellectual property agency information and risk warnings to further facilitate the public's careful selection and selection of agencies. All localities should further open up channels for public reporting and complaints, strengthen the disclosure of regulatory information in accordance with the law, and guide various innovative entities, especially those with intellectual property advantages, to carefully select model enterprises and preferred agencies.

(3) Strengthen the role of industry self-discipline. The All-China Patent Agents Association and the China Trademark Association should further play the role of self-discipline in the industry, improve self-discipline norms and disciplinary rules, strengthen business training and experience exchanges, increase the cultivation of outstanding intellectual property agencies, and guide agencies to consciously resist illegal and illegal agency behaviors. , establish a value orientation of quality first. All localities should strengthen the guidance of local intellectual property service industry organizations, promote and improve industry self-discipline rules, actively carry out self-discipline and punishment, organize clue investigations, undercover visits and assisted investigation and handling of cases, and coordinate to respond to public opinion. Where conditions permit, it is necessary to accelerate the establishment of specialized patent and trademark agency industry organizations, actively play the role of industry organizations, and accelerate the formation of regulatory synergies.

(4) Promote institutions to improve their level of autonomy. The State Intellectual Property Office will promote and strengthen the professional capacity building of agency practitioners, guide the establishment of an advanced training system for agency practitioners, and promote the development of institutions in the direction of standardization, standardization, quality, and specialization. All localities should urge agencies and agents to effectively fulfill their main responsibilities, improve internal quality management, compliance reporting and other systems, and promote legal and standardized operations of agencies. Guide the development of a series of trainings for patent agents in the region on internships, practice and updating of professional and technical knowledge, as well as a series of business trainings for trademark agency practitioners, and encourage agencies to expand multi-level, diversified and high-quality services.

The State Intellectual Property Office will continue to promote cross-regional collaborative supervision in key areas, strengthen supervision and assessment of the intensity, efficiency, and quality of local supervision, and regularly report local experiences and practices and the progress of special actions. All localities should strengthen their agency supervision capabilities, increase supervision efforts, implement supervisory responsibilities, and continuously improve their regional intellectual property agency supervision capabilities. Make full use of government portals, traditional media and new media information dissemination channels to strengthen the publicity of the staged results and typical cases of special actions, increase the breadth and depth of publicity, and further enhance the influence and deterrence of special rectifications. All localities are requested to submit their province’s detailed plan for the “Blue Sky” action before April 21, and submit their annual summary to the Intellectual Property Utilization Promotion Department of our bureau before November 30. Please report any problems and useful experiences and practices discovered during the implementation of the action in a timely manner.

Notice is hereby given.

State Intellectual Property Office

March 31, 2023