CPA Successfully Represents European Client in Invalidation Cases involving Utility Model Patents
China Patent Agent (H.K.) Ltd. (CPA) is glad to report that we have recently won a series of cases concerning the request for invalidation of five utility model patents on behalf of a renowned European corporation.
The series of invalidation cases were entrusted to our firm in 2015, and prior to that, the client had commissioned us to conduct patent stability analysis on the targeted utility model patents held by two mainland Chinese enterprises. Our analysis proved to be constructive in providing a solid basis for the client to decide on its subsequent actions. Upon the entrustment, CPA promptly set up a team of professionals combining legal knowledge and technical expertise. Working together effectively, our attorneys overcame the practical difficulties specific to invalidation cases, including the required expertise and the intensive oral hearings, and won the support of the Patent Reexamination Board with all of the five patents invalidated, thereby protecting the interest of our client.
In China, utility model patents do not need to undergo substantive examination, and given the lower requirement for inventive step in utility model patents than in invention patents, there is some difference between utility model patents and invention patents when it comes to determining whether there is any technical inspiration from the prior art. Along with the Patent Reexamination Board's greater tendency to invalidate patents on the grounds of substantive defects in recent years, utility model patent-related invalidation cases have been calling for more delicate handling as well as more input of time and effort. Through undertaking the series of cases and the experience in exploring the prior art for evidential support in particular, our attorneys are surely building up their strength in dealing with this type of cases.
