Over the past few years, China has been quick to make promises to improve its regulatory and patent schemes for biopharmaceuticals and medical devices in keeping with its World Trade Organization (WTO) commitments, but it’s been slow to fulfill those promises – at least in the eyes of the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR).

The Chinese government has launched a series of regulations regarding intellectual property (IP) to improve the quality of patent applications. “These new IP rules reflect the Chinese government's continuous effort in fighting the long-existing and more severe ‘abnormal patent filing activities’ and ensuring the quality of patent applications with practical restriction measures,” Binxin Li, an IP partner in Fenxun Partners, Baker McKenzie's joint operation platform partner in China, told BioWorld.