On December 2, 2015, the State Council has published the proposed amendments to the current Chinese Patent Law submitted by the State Intellectual Property Office of the P.R.C. and sought for public opinions on those amendments by January 1, 2016.

As compared with the current Chinese Patent Law, the proposed amendments aim at reinforcing protection of the patent right against infringement by judicial and administrative approaches and providing an efficient patent system for patent owners or patent applicants. For example, the statutory damages for patent infringement are increased to RMB 5,000,000 yuan at the most according to the proposed amendments. The proposed amendments also add provisions against patent infringement through e-business.