Unified’s senior patent counsel, Jessica Marks, explains Chinese oppositions and some of the unexpected issues that can crop up.
Validity challenges at the China National IP Administration are an increasingly important part of the Chinese patent landscape, but they can be confusing affairs. With regulations and guidelines, the process that PRID follows is intended to be efficient and many Chinese practitioners will advise that invalidations can be accomplished in six to nine months. However, Unified Patents has filed 18 such challenges since 2020 in China but, based on its experiences, the reality can be very different to expectations.