New draft for patent amendments in China

Currently, the scope of protection of a design patent must be limited to a specific complete product. Article 2 of the draft redefines “design” in order to allow a partial design—ie, a design for a portion of a product—to be patented. This will definitely make design patents more useful. Article 42 proposes to extend the term of design patents to 15 years in order to meet the requirements of the Hague Agreement, which China is preparing to join.