Decree of the People’s Government of Guangdong Province

　　No. 202

　　The Measures of Guangdong Province on the Provincial Patent Awards adopted at the Twenty-ninth Executive Meeting of the Twelfth Session of the People’s Government of Guangdong Province on July 21, 2014, are hereby promulgated and shall become effective as of October 1, 2014.

　　                           Governor

　　Zhu Xiaodan

　　                          August 27, 2014

　　Measures of Guangdong Province on the Provincial Patent Awards

Article 1

These Measures are formulated for the purpose of encouraging inventions and creations, promoting application and protection of independent intellectual property and improving the capacity of independent innovations, in accordance with such laws and regulations as the Patent Regulations of Guangdong Province and in light of the actual situation of this Province.

Article 2

These Measures shall apply to the evaluation, reward and management of the provincial patent awards in this Province.

Article 3

For the purpose of these Measures, the term of “the provincial patent awards of Guangdong” means such awards established by the provincial people’s government of Guangdong, including the Guangdong Patent Award and the matching prize of the WIPO-SIPO Award.

The Guangdong Patent Award includes three categories of prizes: Guangdong Patent Gold Prize, Guangdong Patent Excellence Prize and Guangdong Inventor’s Prize. Among them, the Guangdong Patent Gold Prize and Guangdong Patent Excellence Prize shall be conferred to the inventions, utility model patents and design patents upon evaluation and selection, while the Guangdong Inventor’s Prize shall be conferred to patent inventors or designers upon evaluation and selection.

The matching prize of the WIPO-SIPO Award is the corresponding award given to the units or individuals in this Province that win the WIPO-SIPO Award.

Article 4

The nomination, evaluation and reward of the provincial patent awards of Guangdong shall abide by the principles of openness, fairness and impartiality.

Article 5

The patent administration department at the provincial level is responsible for the organization of evaluation and reward, as well as for routine management of the provincial patent awards of Guangdong.

Article 6

The provincial people’s government shall establish an Evaluation Committee of the Guangdong Patent Award (hereinafter referred to as the “Evaluation Committee”) responsible for selecting winners of the Guangdong Patent Award.

Members of the Evaluation Committee consist of the experts in relevant fields and heads of the administrative departments concerned. The patent administration department at the provincial level shall propose the candidates and, upon the approval of the provincial people’s government, appoint the members. The term of office for each member of the Evaluation Committee is three (3) years.

The Evaluation Committee is composed of professional evaluation panels and the Evaluation Office. Each professional evaluation panel consists of experts in relevant professional fields, who are responsible for the professional evaluation of potential winners from the technical aspect. The Evaluation Office is set up within the patent administration department at the provincial level, which is responsible for the daily operation of the Evaluation Committee.

Article 7

The Guangdong Patent Award shall be annually presented to not more than 15 Patent Gold Prize winners and not more than 55 Patent Excellence Prize winners. Among them, not less than 70 percent of the awards shall be conferred to invention patents and to not more than 10 winners to the Inventor’s Prize.

The provincial people’s government shall award 100,000 yuan per prize to the units winning the Guangdong Patent Gold Prize, 50,000 yuan per prize to the units winning the Patent Excellence Prize, and 20,000 yuan per prize to the individuals winning the Guangdong Inventor’s Prize.

The patent administration department at the provincial level may, in the light of the economic and social development in the province, work with such authorities as the financial department of the provincial people’s government to propose the adjustment of the bonus standards of the Guangdong Patent Award, and implement such standards upon approval of the provincial people’s government.

The bonus needed for the Guangdong Patent Award shall be listed as part of the expenditure covered by the special funds of the provincial intellectual property.

Article 8

A qualified application for the Guangdong Patent Gold Prize and the Guangdong Patent Excellence Prize shall satisfy the following conditions:

(1) The applying unit is a patentee or a patent exploiting unit that has been registered within the administrative region of this Province and has acquired the status of an independent legal person;

(2) The subject of the application is a patent granted by the State Intellectual Property Office (excluding the national defense patents and secret patents), and the patent right is valid and stable;

(3) The patent of the application entails strong innovation, high level of technology or unique design, exploitation of which will achieve significant economic, social or ecological benefits;

(4) The patent and the patented products are in line with the national and provincial policies of industrial and environmental protection; and

(5) There are relatively systemic measures for the patent protection.

Article 9

The application for the Guangdong Inventor’s Prize shall satisfy the following conditions:

(1) The applicant is a Chinese inventor or designer who resides habitually in the administrative region of this Province;

(2) The applicant is law-abiding and has good social and professional ethics;

(3) The applicant has a strong sense of innovation and advanced inventive ability, and is the first inventor or designer of the granted patent; and

(4) The exploitation of the patent has achieved significant economic, social or ecological benefits and contributed substantially to the promotion of technological progress in related fields.

Article 10

The applicant may not apply for the Guangdong Patent Award under one of the following circumstances:

 (1) The patent has been awarded the WIPO-SIPO Award or the Guangdong Patent Award; or

 (2) The patent is involved in disputes over ownership, validity, or recognition of inventor or designer.

Article 11

The applicant who applies for the Guangdong Patent Gold Prize and the Guangdong Patent Excellence Prize shall fill in a form of Application of Guangdong Patent Award (Project) and submit the following materials:

(1) Certification of the legal personality of the applying unit, and proof for the entitlement to exploitation of the patent if the applying unit is not the patentee;

(2) Validity certification of the patent right, and an independent patent right evaluation report where the patent is a utility model patent or a design patent;

(3) Certification of economic, social or ecological benefits achieved through exploitation of the patent;

(4) Description of the protective measures for the patent;

(5) A sample or photographs of the patented product if the patent is a design patent;

(6) Certification of market access for special products; and

(7) Other relevant materials.

Article 12

The applicant who applies for the Guangdong Inventor’s Prize shall fill in a form of Application of Guangdong Patent Award (Inventor) and submit the following materials:

(1) Identity documents of the applicant;

(2) Description of basic information of the applicant’s invention;

(3) Validity certification of the patent, and an independent patent evaluation report where it is a utility model patent or a design patent;

(4) certification of economic, social or ecological benefits achieved and technological progress promoted in related fields through exploitation of the applicant’s invention; and

(5) Other relevant materials.

Article 13

Applications for the Guangdong Patent Award may be filed by either nominated applicants or self-nominated applicants.

The following units or experts may nominate candidates:

(1) The municipal people’s government above the prefecture level;

(2) Relevant departments of the provincial people’s government and institutions directly thereunder;

(3) Academicians of Chinese Academy of Sciences or Chinese Academy of Engineering;

(4) Relevant trade associations at the provincial level; and

(5) Other units that conform to the requirements of the provincial people’s government.

An enterprise, if accredited as a National Model on Intellectual Property, may self-nominate one candidate patent for the Guangdong Patent Award, and the provincial people’s government may appropriately adjust the scope of self-nominees if necessary for the selection process.

Article 14

The Evaluation Committee Office shall, after receiving the nominations, and applications from applying unit or individual, organize each professional evaluation panel to conduct preliminary assessment and report the result to the Evaluation Committee.

The Evaluation Committee shall conduct comprehensive deliberation on the result of the preliminary assessment, provide a list of proposed winners of the Guangdong Patent Award and publicize the list on the website of the patent administration department at the provincial level for a period of fifteen (15) days.

Upon expiration of the publicity period, the patent administration department at the provincial level shall report the outcome of deliberation to the provincial people’s government for approval and then announce the outcome to the public.

Article 15

The experts and other relevant staff members participating in the selection process of Guangdong Patent Award winners shall not disclose any relevant information. And those who have any interest with any applying unit or individual shall recuse themselves from the selection process.

Article 16

The Guangdong Patent Award winner selection is subject to social supervision and opens to objections. Any unit or individual who disagrees with the decision of proposed winners may raise an objection to the Evaluation Committee Office in writing during the publicity period.

The Evaluation Committee Office shall investigate and verify the contents of objection after receiving the objection material and propose a response, who shall notify the objector, the applicant and the nominator of the result upon the decision of the Committee.

Article 17

The list of winners of matching prize of the WIPO-SIPO Award shall be reported to the provincial people’s government for approval upon the review and confirmation by the patent administration department at the provincial level in accordance with the yearly list of the WIPO-SIPO Award.

The provincial people’s government shall award 1,000,000 yuan for each patent to the unit or individual winning the China Patent Gold Prize or China Design Patent Gold Prize, and 500,000 yuan for each patent to the unit or individual winning the China Patent Excellence Prize or the China Design Patent Excellence Prize respectively.

The bonus needed for the matching prize of the WIPO-SIPO Award shall be included into the provincial financial budget.

Article 18

The provincial people’s government shall commend and reward the units and individuals winning the provincial patent awards of Guangdong and bestow them the certificates and bonuses.

Article 19

Where those defraud the Guangdong Patent Award by providing false information, material or through other fraudulent means, the patent administration department at the provincial level, after obtaining the approval of the provincial people’s government, shall revoke the award and take back the award certificates and bonuses. The department shall impose a fine of 30,000 yuan on the units defrauding the Guangdong Patent Gold Prize, 10,000 yuan on those defrauding the Guangdong Patent Excellence Prize, and 1,000 yuan on the individuals defrauding the Guangdong Inventor’s Prize respectively. The department shall disclose the defrauding units and individuals in the relevant media, who shall be prohibited from applying for the Guangdong Patent Award within the next five years.

Article 20

Where the units and experts, who propose nominations, offer false data and material to help others win the Guangdong Patent Award, the patent administration department at the provincial level shall circulate a notice of criticism against them, disqualify such experts and suspend such units’ qualification in nominating winners of the Guangdong Patent Award. The competent departments concerned shall impose the disciplinary sanctions on the person(s) in charge and other person(s) directly responsible for such defrauds according to law.

Article 21

Where any expert or relevant staff member, who participate in the selection of Guangdong Patent Award winners, disclose relevant information, abuse power, neglect the duties, or commit illegalities for personal gains or by fraudulent means during the selection process, such expert shall be criticized in a circulated notice and disqualified by the patent administration department at the provincial level, and such staff member shall be imposed on disciplinary sanctions by the competent departments concerned according to law.

Article 22

The patent administration department at the provincial level shall establish credit files for the Guangdong Patent Award applicants, which shall record the offenses and violations of relevant units and individuals in the selection process of the Guangdong Patent Award and deal with them in accordance with relevant provisions of this Province.

Article 23

The patent administration department at the provincial level shall formulate detailed implementation rules according to these Measures.

Article 24

These Measures shall become effective as of October 1, 2014.