Design law in China

This Chapter reviews and analyses in depth how China protects industrial design. Section A, analyses and discusses the key substantive requirements for design patent eligibility, ownership, and scope of protection. This section also explores in some detail the methods used by examiners and judges to determine identity and similarity of design in invalidation and infringement proceedings. Section B focuses on the procedures to obtain designs patent registrations for both national and international design filings. Section C examines how design patents can be invalidated and how they are enforced against infringers. The following Section D reviews some interesting case law on several of the issues analysed in the preceding Sections. Section E provides a review of the current legislation on design patent transfer, licensing and pledging. Preceding the Conclusion to this Chapter is a brief Section reviewing some peculiar issues of designs in China such as auto parts and designs in the Metaverse.