Case Brief
In May 2022, entrusted by a Canadian client, Wuhan WEIPRE IP filed an industrial design application to China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA). The whole registration process was full of twists and turns. Specifically, it received review comments for three times and refusal for two times from CNIPA. Thanks to the persistent efforts of multiple revises, response statement, and reexamination requests by WEIPR agent team, official grant was finally obtained. |
Timeline of Pivotal Event along the Registration Process
Case Analysis
The two key points that have been questioned in this design application case are: first, the examiner believes that the pictures submitted by the applicant were defective in view and failed to clearly show the design of the product for which patent protection was claimed, which did not comply with Article 27(2) of the Patent Law. Second, the applicant's supplementary and revised document changed all the dotted lines in the pictures submitted for the first application to solid lines, which was determined to be beyond the scope of the representation of the drawings on the filing date and was inconsistent with Article 33 of the Patent Law. The applicant has made explanations and modifications to the review opinions successively, but the process is still not smooth and even tortuous. What is the key of response to review?
Comparative analysis of the main content of the reexamination request shows that, while the main points of the applicant’s response remain unchanged, a strong statement of opinions combined with laws, regulations and existing case evidence can greatly increase the examiner’s understanding and agreement with the applicant’s position and views, thereby increasing the probability of granting patent applications. In addition, the applicant also needs to firm up his position, be persist and continually improve the response statement, until the objections between the applicant and the examiner are eliminated and patent grant is achieved.
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