After the U.S.A (USPTO)., Germany (DPMA), Korean (KIPO) and Japan (JPO), Russia might become the fifth country to have a patent prosecution highway with China.
State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO)’s commissioner Tian Lipu signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Boris Simonov, director general of the Intellectual Property Office of the Russian Federation (RFIPO) on a pilot of a patent examination highway between SIPO and RFIPO.
Besides, patent examination, the patent offices will exchange documentation and data. The pilot will take one year and starts July 1, 2012.
Mark Cohen of ChinaIPR makes the point here, that the growth of patent prosecution highways and sharing the case load with other countries might not please everybody in China. Some might be concerned for a loss of China’s patent sovereignty.
Read Sheng Li’s article on SIPO’s website here (Chinese).