The "Blue Book on the Rule of Law (2017)" recently released by the Academy of Social Sciences disclosed that the overall quality of China's product supply is currently low and the degree of innovation is insufficient. China's intellectual property rights still have problems such as high quantity and low quality, insufficient protection and excessive protection costs, which seriously restrict corporate innovation and product quality improvement. Therefore, it is necessary to further improve the intellectual property system and promote the realization of the purpose of supply-side reform.
Supply-side reform is inseparable from intellectual property rights. Only by improving the intellectual property system can real supply-side reform be realized. Based on the aforementioned problems in the intellectual property system, the Blue Book recommends improving the intellectual property evaluation system and realizing the shift from quantity to quality on the supply side. In the process of adjusting the patent quality evaluation system, the original patent quantification indicators should be adjusted to the actual contribution of patents to improving product supply. Whether it involves the identification of high-tech enterprises, tax exemptions for high-tech enterprises, patent application fee exemptions, and related rewards for enterprise inventions and creations, it is necessary to cancel the original regulations on patent quantification and replace the actual use of the patent with , use effect, and actual contribution to product supply as evaluation indicators. Among a series of certification documents that companies need to submit, in addition to the patent certificate, it is necessary to submit documents proving that the patent plays an actual role in product supply.
The Blue Book also recommends increasing the cost of intellectual property infringement and realizing the supply-side transition from imitation to innovation. Although the patent law was revised in 2008, the statutory compensation limit was raised from 500,000 yuan to 1 million yuan, but the existing compensation system still does not have enough deterrence against intellectual property infringement, and it is difficult to effectively protect innovation. Therefore, it is necessary to comprehensively introduce a “punitive damages system” into intellectual property law.
At the same time, it reduces the cost of intellectual property protection and provides legal protection for continued innovation on the supply side. In order to give patent applicants clear expectations and reduce the costs and risks caused by uncertain expectations, it is necessary for the patent law to clearly regulate the patent application cycle. Compared with other types, invention patents have the most complicated process because they involve substantive examination. It is necessary for the patent law to clearly regulate the time limit for the substantive examination of the application and the time limit for the examination results. If it involves the submission of supplementary and corrected materials, the time for supplementation and correction also needs to be regulated. At the same time, clear regulations will be made regarding the time limit for review results of utility model and design patents. In this way, enterprises will have relatively clear expectations and assessments of future risks during the process of technological upgrading and transformation, minimizing the costs and risks caused by intellectual property applications.