(judicial review)

1  proceedings for grant & maintenance of iprs

1.1 general proceedings

application (for patents, trademarks, new varieties of plant and integrated circuits)→ examination → acquisition (grant or registry) or rejection→ (challenge) → re-examination (revocation or maintenance) → administrative litigation (1^st instance in the intermediate courts of beijing → 2^nd instance in the high court of beijing → maybe launching a retrial proceeding in the supreme people's court).

1.2 patents

general proceedings: application → examination by the patent office (cpo) →①acquisition (no cause for rejection, making decision of grant, issuing certificate, registry and announcement) or ②dismissal of application →②application of re-examination to the patent re-examination board (prb)(by applicant within 3 months from the date of receipt of the notification of the rejection) →①revocation in prb (by anyone starting from the date of the announcement of the grant of the patent) → litigation (instituted by any party within 3 months from receipt of the notification of the decision of prb, 1^st instance in no.1 intermediate court of beijing).

invention patents: examination by patent office (cpo): preliminary examination → publication (after the expiration of 18 months from the date of filing or earlier publication upon request of applicant) → substantial examination (any time within 3 years from the date of filing upon the request of applicant) → grant or rejection → re-examination → litigation.

utility model patents and design patents: preliminary examination → grant.

(as to integrated circuits, the sipo is in charge of acceptance of application and preliminary examination, and the prb is responsible for re-examination after the grant or rejection and litigation may follow then.)

1.3 trademarks

general proceedings: application → preliminary approval and publication by the trademark office(tmo) (or dismissal of application, within 15 days→ the trademark review & adjudication board <trab>) → period of opposition (against a application, 3 months): ①acquisition (no opposition, registry) or ②opposition (decision of tmo, within 15 days → trab) → revocation in tmrb (anyone at any time after acquisition except for some cases within 5 years) → litigation (challenge of any decision of trab by anyone, within 30 days, 1^st instance in no.1 intermediate court of beijing).

1.4 new varieties of plant

application → preliminary examination (within 6 months) → ①substantial examination → acquisition (grant and announcement) or ②dismissal of application (after preliminary or substantial examination, within 3 months → the new variety of plant re-examination board <npvrb>) → revocation in npvrb (anyone at any time after acquisition) → litigation (challenge of any decision of npvrb by anyone, within 15 days, 1^st instance in no.2 intermediate court of beijing).

1.5 topography of integrated circuits

application to sipo → preliminary examination → ①registry and announcement (no cause for rejection) or ②dismissal of application (within 3 months → prb) → revocation in prb (any one at any time after acquisition) → litigation (challenge of any decision of prb by anyone, within 3 months, 1^st instance in no.1 intermediate court of beijing).

2  proceedings for court actions against other administrative decisions

2.1 actions against administrative punishment

the administrative punishment decisions are against any activities in violation of ip laws, including copyright piracy, trademark and patent counterfeiting, other general ip infringement, etc., in which the designated administrations actively or passively investigate and impose administrative liability.

the power for hearing cases against administrative punishment should be brought to the court in the location of the administration, i.e., non-exclusive jurisdiction exists.

the term of filing complaint in court is 15 days except for copyright (3 months) from the receipt of decision of the administration.

2.2 actions against administrative decision of issuing compulsory license

the actions are against administrative decision of issuing compulsory license and of exploitation fee of compulsory license, which are issued by the sipo for invention patents, utility model patent and integrated circuits, and by the ministry of agriculture or the national administration of forest for new varieties of plant. according to the locations of the administrations, the competent courts for judicial review of such decisions are the intermediate courts of beijing in 1^st instance and the high court of beijing in 2^nd instance. up to now, there does not appear a real case.

the term of filing complaint in court is 3 months from the receipt of decision of the administration.