China has witnessed a profound shift in awareness regarding patent protection for agrochemicals, thereby fostering technological innovation within the industry.

Release Date:

2019-10-09

　　2019 marked the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China and the 34th year since the implementation of China’s Patent Law. Pesticide The Intellectual Property and Technological Innovation Summit Forum has also been successfully held for eight sessions. According to the “Statistical Classification of Intellectual Property (Patent)-Intensive Industries (2019)” released by the National Bureau of Statistics, chemistry… Pesticide Manufacturing, Biochemistry Pesticide and microorganisms Pesticide Manufacturing is an intellectual property (patent)-intensive industry, indicating that… Pesticide An industrial cluster that meets prescribed standards for the density and scale of invention patents, leverages intellectual property to compete in the market, and aligns with an innovation-driven development strategy.
　　Since the implementation of the National Intellectual Property Strategy in 2008, China… Pesticide The number of patent applications in this field has shown explosive growth. This paper reviews China’s… Pesticide The shift in the industry’s awareness of patent application and protection is helping China. Pesticide Technological innovation and sound development in the industry.
　　I. The Period of Patent Protection Gaps
　　Prior to the implementation of China’s Patent Law, intellectual property protection in China was virtually non-existent. The defining feature of this period was that academic research findings were published as papers in domestic and international journals, thereby asserting researchers’ “right of possession” or “right of authorship” over their work. A quintessential example is artemisinin, discovered by Tu Youyou, who was awarded the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine; the absence of effective intellectual property protection for artemisinin epitomized the broader vacuum in IP protection at the time.
　　China is a major agricultural country, Pesticide Its use plays a pivotal role in agricultural production. China, for… Pesticide Research and development efforts began in the early 1960s. Through the arduous efforts of researchers, a series of outstanding products were subsequently developed, including ethyl allyl disulfide, jinggangmycin, carbendazim, and dichlorvos, among others. Pesticide Variety. However, these research outcomes, which embody substantial scientific and technological innovation, were developed prior to the promulgation of China’s Patent Law. The researchers merely published academic papers and did not file any applications for intellectual property protection. This, in turn, made it difficult for China, in the years following the enactment of the Patent Law, to strike an appropriate balance between publishing scholarly articles and filing patent applications, with the result that patent applications were often influenced by earlier publications during the examination process for determining patentability.
　　II. The Early Stages of Patent Protection
　　China’s Patent Law came into effect on April 1, 1985. The growing awareness of intellectual property protection swept through the research community like a spring breeze, and mere hearsay or sporadic exposure to the Patent Law often served as the initial introduction for researchers seeking to safeguard their intellectual property. However, precisely because of the lack of in-depth study and systematic research into the Patent Law, a significant number of patent applications were rejected. For example, filing a patent application for a product that has already been manufactured and marketed can result in the public disclosure of its use, thereby undermining the novelty requirement of the patent application. Pesticide It is a quintessential experimental science; however, the specification of the patent application fails to disclose experimental data demonstrating the product’s intended use or efficacy, resulting in the technical solution lacking the utility required under the Patent Law, or in insufficient disclosure, among other issues—problems that are all too common.
　　At the inception of the Patent Law, researchers exhibited a strong enthusiasm for filing patent applications. The defining feature of this period was an overemphasis on application filing at the expense of examination and protection. Influenced by the pre‑implementation focus on publishing papers, researchers would promptly publish their findings in academic journals, often neglecting to file patent applications in a timely manner. This frequently resulted in prior publications by the inventors themselves, thereby undermining the novelty or inventive step of subsequently filed patent applications. Moreover, a lack of clear understanding of the grace period for maintaining novelty led to inadvertent public disclosure of technical solutions at academic conferences, further jeopardizing the novelty of later patent filings. Such errors were numerous and varied.
　　However, after reflection, R&D personnel have begun to balance the timing of filing patent applications and publishing academic papers, opting either to file both on the same day or to wait until the patent application date is secured before releasing their findings. Due to underestimating the examination process, a relatively high proportion of patent applications are treated as withdrawn. For certain technological solutions with strong market potential, if the applicant fails to respond to the examiner’s first office action, the application is automatically deemed withdrawn. R&D staff often harbor a degree of hostility toward the examiners, perceiving their actions as deliberate obstruction or even intentional harassment. Yet the root cause of these issues lies in insufficient in-depth study and understanding of the Patent Law and the Patent Examination Guidelines. When responding to examination opinions and amending application documents, R&D personnel increasingly rely on the advice of patent agents to craft targeted replies. A key oversight in protection strategy manifests in prioritizing grant over the scope of protection; sometimes, the technical solutions granted patents cover only isolated embodiments. Moreover, once granted, these patents are typically used internally, with little awareness of patent‑based commercialization or strategic management.
　　Another salient issue is that R&D personnel often neglect to conduct prior-art searches, relying instead on their own existing knowledge to drive innovation. This failure to gain a comprehensive understanding of the state of the art can result in painstakingly developed inventions being undermined by prior‑art documents that challenge the novelty or inventive step of the proposed solution—effectively duplicating the work of others. Following numerous lessons learned from similar cases, R&D teams have come to recognize the critical importance of conducting thorough prior‑art searches and have realized that further innovation should build upon what already exists. Only by standing on the shoulders of those who came before can one see farther.
　　III. Stages of Patent Protection Development
　　Since the 2008 amendment to the Patent Law, China’s patent protection system has been steadily refined, with increasingly robust safeguards and a burgeoning patent‑related market. The defining feature of this phase is a strong emphasis on filing applications, rigorous examination, effective protection, and the nascent development of patent‑based commercialization. Benefiting from favorable policies, patent filings have risen year after year, the quality of patent drafting has improved markedly, and the number of patents granted has also grown annually. The scope of patent protection has evolved from isolated claims to broader, more comprehensive strategic layouts, while litigation against patent infringement has gained prominence, and awareness of patent‑driven business opportunities has continued to strengthen.
　　Thanks to the in-depth study of the Patent Law and the Patent Examination Guidelines by R&D personnel, new compounds have been screened using selective inventions, leading to the development of more than 20 fungicides, including flumorph and dimethomorph. Following the public disclosure of each new compound, combinatorial inventions are employed to screen for formulated combinations, with active efforts being made to… Pesticide Patent strategies are being employed for compound formulations; for example, there have been instances where two applicants have sought to claim the same technical solution—a herbicidal composition comprising bensulfuron‑methyl and oxaziclomefone. One patent has application number CN201110129507, filed on May 18, 2011, and granted on April 2, 2014; the other has application number CN201010552894, filed on November 19, 2010, and granted on March 5, 2014.
　　R&D professionals not only compete for patent rights but also leverage provisions in the implementing rules of patent law to submit third-party review opinions to the patent administration authorities, thereby blocking others from obtaining patents. Alternatively, after a patent has been granted, they may invoke invalidation proceedings to challenge and invalidate the patent. During the patent examination process, R&D personnel and examiners often engage in disputes over the technical substance and its effects, approaching substantive patent examination from both technical and legal perspectives. As a result, R&D teams are able to view the examiner’s office actions with greater objectivity and composure. Building on prior patent‑holding experience, preventing patent infringement has gradually evolved into a widely observed industry norm; particularly at trade shows, any products found to infringe upon others’ patents are promptly removed, and the perpetrators are held accountable. Meanwhile, a healthy patent‑management ecosystem is beginning to take shape—for example, Guizhou University has licensed the patent for difluorophosphonate to Guangxi Tianyuan and assisted it in commercial development, while East China University of Science and Technology has collaborated with Kesheng Group to develop piperidinyl compounds, among other initiatives—this trend is contributing to China’s… Pesticide Technological innovation in the industry serves as a powerful source of inspiration.
　　IV. Conclusion
　　Although China’s patent protection system has been in place for just over 30 years, China… Pesticide The industry’s awareness of patent‑filing and protection has undergone a significant transformation and has yielded notable results; however, it remains in a stage of ongoing development. R&D personnel should deepen their understanding of the Patent Law and treat it as an essential legal tool. They should place great emphasis on conducting thorough prior‑art searches and leveraging the findings to guide technology development, define research directions and set clear objectives. Furthermore, they should strategically file patents for their R&D outcomes through patent mining and portfolio management, and proactively enforce and manage their patent rights.