Brief Introduction to All-China Patent Agents Association

All-China Patent Agents Association (ACPAA), founded on December 12, 1988 in Beijing, is a national non-profit organization established in accordance with relevant laws and regulations of China, and with its own Statute and Legal Person Registration Certificate. The members of ACPAA comprise of patent agencies (group members) and patent agents (individual members) all over the country. By the end of March 2008, ACPAA had 674 patent agencies as its group members and 5293 patent agents as its individual members. Around 15,000 people work in the patent agencies. The secretariat is the permanent administrative office for the daily works of ACPAA, with its address at Room 507, Lunyang Mansion, No.6, Beisanhuan Zhonglu, Xicheng District, Beijing 100011, P. R. China.

ACPAA is developed abreast with Chinese patent system. In 1984, the Patent Law of China come into force, and a series of regulations related to patent commissioning had been enacted. On September 12, 1985, the State Council approved Temporary provisions on Patent Commissioning. In 1991, the Regulations on Patent Commissioning was enacted.? And in the later years, several laws were constituted by the State Intellectual Property Office of the People’s Republic of China which laid a solid base for ACPAA, such as the Measures for Management of Patent Agency, the Disciplinary Rules for the Patent Agency (Tentative), the Measures for the Annual Inspection of Patent Agency, The Measures for the Implementation of Patent Agents Qualification Examination.

Over the past 20 years, ACPAA has spared no efforts to safeguard the interests of the profession and its members, created an honest, credible and fair environment; organized the training, academic exchanges and research activities with relevant governments and NGOs; undertook the international cooperation; published the national journal, annual report, and maintained the website http://www.acpaa.cn; The objective of ACPAA is to encourage information exchanges within the profession and provide consultancy services; play a positive role in the creation, management, protection and utilization of IP. Members of ACPAA actively involve in various fields of IP with influence at home and aboard, it’s the most active and influential NGOs in the field of IP in China.

Organization of ACPAA
The system of ACPAA is Member Congress Elects, the supreme authority organ is Members Congress, and the Board is its executive entity. Now it’s the 7th Board with 117 board members that include 1 president, 5 vice-presidents, 1 secretary general, and 23 standing board members. The election is held every 3 years.

Secretariat is the permanent administrative office of ACPAA which is responsible for the implementation of annual work plan. The aim of secretariat is to create a good professional environment and serve its members wholeheartedly. The Secretariat consists of: Members Management Department, Education and Training Department, International and Academic Exchanges Department and Administration Department. The number of fulltime officers of secretariat is 14.

Qualification and Development of Members of ACPAA
ACPAA requires high standard of qualification to its members so as to guarantee they can provide a high level of services to their clients. The qualification is also stated in the Regulations on Patent Commissioning, and Measures for Management of Patent Agency.

According to Article 15 of Regulations on Patent Commissioning, a candidate has to be a Chinese citizen over the age of 18 with full capacity for civil behaviors; graduates from college departments of sciences (or with equivalent education) in command of one foreign language; well-versed in the Patent Law and related legal knowledge; and with upwards of 2 years of work experience in scientist or law. After meet the above-mentioned criteria, the candidate also has to pass the “Qualifying Examination of Patent Agents” organized by State Intellectual Property Office of the People’s Republic of China (SIPO)(relates to the Patent Law, relevant laws and patent Commissioning), then the successful candidate can get the “qualification certificate of patent agent” supervised by the Censor Committee of Patent Agents.

According to the Article 20 of Measures for Management of Patent Agency, only qualified patent agent can get the Work Permit and practice as a patent agent in China. To get the Work Permit, they also need to practice as a patent agent with more than 1 year experience in a patent agency (except for the former examiners) and join the training courses organized by ACPAA; employed by a patent agency; age under 70; good morality etc. ACPAA is responsible for the issue of Work Permit.

By the end of March 2008, there are 9437 person get the qualification certificate. Given the rate for passing the Qualifying Examination is 12%, there will be hundreds of people get qualified and join the profession each year.

According to the Arrangement for Citizens in Hong Kong and Macao to Participate in National Patent Qualifying Examination issued by SIPO in April 2004, citizens from Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Region can join the qualifying examination in mainland, and the eligible candidate can practice in mainland.