The China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) has recently released the Measures for Administrative Adjudication of Major Patent Infringement Disputes, which came into effect on June 1, 2021.

These Measures are applicable to the CNIPA's handling of patent infringement disputes that are of significant national impact as stated in Article 70, paragraph one, of the Patent Law, namely (1) involving major public interests; (2) seriously affecting development of industry; 3) major cases involving cross-provincial administrative regions; or (4) other patent infringement disputes that may cause significant impact.

The administrative adjudication of major patent infringement dispute is invokable at request only if: (1) the requestor is the patentee or an interested party; (2) there is an identifiable requestee or respondent; (3) there is a clear cause of request and specific facts and/or reasons: and (4) the court did not docket the case of patent infringement dispute.

The Measures also provide for the proofs, jurisdiction, avoidance, evidence, investigation or inspection, testing and appraisal, technical investigators, oral hearings, case suspension, cancellation, and mediation.

After CNIPA administratively adjudicates a case, a dissatisfied party may, within 15 days from the date of receipt of the administrative ruling, file a suit in the people’s court under the Administrative Procedure Law of the People’s Republic of China.