It has been one year since September 23, 2016 when Guangzhou Office was launched as a trial office for handling cases that have been subjected to the sole jurisdiction of the Patent Reexamination Board in SIPO located in Beijing. The Patent Reexamination Board holds that Guangzhou Office now has everything it takes to hear reexamination and invalidation cases, and thus officially granted its authorization. Guangzhou Office becomes the first local office qualified for patent reexaminaiton and patent invalidation proceedings.
It is reported that Guangzhou Office is one of the important projects that were lauched as a result of cooperation of SIPO and the Government of Guangdong Province, aimed to enhance local measures of IP protection. Mr. Gao Shenghua, vice president of PRB, said, “this approach is new and may be bold, but an effort to carry out the central government’s “Go Out” policy of serving people in cities at different tiers.