Patent Registration in China

Patent Registration is a Territorial Process

The first and most important thing to understand about the patent registration process, regardless of whether it’s patent registration in the State of Israel or United States patent registration, is that it’s a local and territorial process. In other words, if you performed, for example, United Arab Emirates patent registration, your patent has legal validity in the United Arab Emirates only. If you want to anchor and protect your patent also in Germany, for example, you’ll need to perform appropriate patent registration in Germany or another option, in the entire European Union. Another thing important to understand about patents is that a registered patent is protected not only from selling its imitations, but also from their manufacturing. Therefore, even if it’s unlikely the billions of Chinese will run and buy your product, it’s still important to perform patent registration in China to protect it from illegal manufacturing in China.

Intellectual Property in China – Not a Simple Matter

The value of any registered patent stems not from its registration, but from enforcement of rights granted to the patent owner. Accordingly, it doesn’t matter how strong and detailed your patent is – if in the country where it’s registered, organized enforcement against intellectual property violations isn’t performed, its value will be very limited, if at all. Many people aren’t aware or don’t think about this at all, but China is still a communist country ruled by the Communist Party in an authoritarian dictatorship model. This reality has many implications in various fields, and in the intellectual property field, the meaning is that there’s great difficulty protecting intellectual property within China’s borders. For exactly this reason, large international companies have avoided for years, and most still avoid, exposing their intellectual property to Chinese entities. On the other hand, China for its part wants to preserve business with all these companies and therefore makes many efforts to strengthen intellectual property value within its borders.

So is it Worthwhile to Register in China or Not?

The bottom line is, there are several fields where China is very strict about intellectual property, mainly in advanced technology and medicine/pharmaceuticals. In consumer products, the value of patent registration in China is still quite limited. On the other hand, United States and Europe patent registration should suffice for you to obtain the protection you need, since even if Chinese manufacturers violate your intellectual property and manufacture the product you invented, this product won’t be able to be sold in Western countries, which usually constitute the main market for any product. This dilemma is a classic example of the patent registration strategy building process, and with the appropriate professional entity, you can formulate a very efficient registration strategy to enjoy maximum protection with minimum financial investment. In fact, there’s no other option, so if you want to protect your invention, it’s advisable to submit a patent in China with the disadvantages this submission has compared to the USA and Europe.

Av Tipus company has specialized for years in providing a comprehensive envelope from the idea stage, research-wise and commercially, to inventors and entrepreneurs at the beginning of their journey. Within this, the company offers through a technical team and consulting patent attorneys various services for patent, model, and design registration worldwide, while building an effective registration strategy based on extensive experience and knowledge the company has accumulated over its years of activity. For additional information and answers to questions troubling you on the subject, contact us today at 03-9711011 and we’ll be happy to help with any question and matter.