China News Service, Beijing, November 28 (Reporter Sun Zifa) The State Intellectual Property Office has released the latest revised "Patent Examination Guidelines" which will come into effect on January 1, 2026, which has attracted much attention.

Jiang Tong, Director of the Examination Business Management Department of the Patent Office of the State Intellectual Property Office, revealed on November 28 that the latest revision of the "Patent Examination Guidelines" has further improved the examination standards in the field of artificial intelligence (AI). For the first time, a special chapter has been set up with the theme of "artificial intelligence and big data". Strengthening the ethical review of artificial intelligence is one of the main contents.

On November 28, the State Intellectual Property Office held a regular press conference for November in Beijing. Photo by China News Network reporter Sun Zifa

The State Intellectual Property Office held a regular press conference for November in Beijing that afternoon. Jiang Tong revealed the above information when answering questions from the media.

She said that accelerating the development of a new generation of artificial intelligence is a strategic issue related to whether China can seize the opportunities of the new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation. In order to promptly respond to the urgent needs of innovative entities for the protection of artificial intelligence-related technologies, the State Intellectual Property Office has revised and improved the examination standards for patent applications in the field of artificial intelligence three times, and clarified them in the "Patent Examination Guidelines".

Jiang Tong pointed out that this latest revision has a special chapter on "artificial intelligence and big data" for the first time, which mainly includes three aspects: strengthening the ethical review of artificial intelligence, clarifying the requirements for disclosure of technical solutions in application documents, and improving creative judgment rules.

Strengthen the ethical review of artificial intelligence, strengthen the protective role of policies and regulations, and in accordance with the requirements of Article 5 of the Patent Law, that is, the legality and moral requirements for patent authorization, clarify that the implementation of technical solutions such as data collection and rule setting related to artificial intelligence should comply with the requirements of law, social ethics and public interests, establish a solid bottom line for safety, and guide the development of artificial intelligence to "intelligent for good."

In terms of clarifying the requirements for disclosure of technical solutions in application documents, in view of the "black box" characteristics of artificial intelligence models, that is, the public only knows the input and output results of the model, but cannot know the logical relationship between the two, and the resulting problem of insufficient disclosure of technical solutions, clarify the requirements for writing instructions in situations such as model construction and model training, refine the judgment criteria for sufficient disclosure, and promote the dissemination and application of technology in the field of artificial intelligence.

In terms of improving creative judgment rules, clarify the creativity review standards for artificial intelligence technology for different application scenarios and processing objects, use cases to explain how the contribution of algorithm features to technical solutions should be considered, and further improve the objectivity and predictability of review conclusions.

She said that in the next step, the State Intellectual Property Office will continue to track the industrial development of new fields and new business formats such as artificial intelligence, continue to improve review standards in a timely manner, and more adapt to the needs of technological development, providing a solid institutional guarantee to support the country's strategic emerging industry layout and serve high-level science and technology for self-reliance and self-reliance.

Jiang Tong said that the latest revision of the "Patent Examination Guidelines" mainly includes three aspects: "improving the protection system for new fields and new business formats to further stimulate industrial innovation", "optimizing examination standards and rules in response to problems that urgently need to be solved in examination practice", and "solidifying mature practices in examination practice to better serve innovative entities".

For example, in terms of improving the protection system for new fields and new business formats, we will improve the review standards for patent applications in the field of artificial intelligence, increase ethical considerations and judgments on artificial intelligence technology, clarify application document writing requirements, etc., to adapt to the needs of the development of artificial intelligence technology and governance needs; add special regulations for the review of bitstream patent applications, clarify the protection objects and application document writing requirements, and adapt to the new situation of the rapid development of the streaming media industry; strengthen the protection of intellectual property rights in the seed industry, clarify the definition of plant varieties, expand the scope of patentable objects, form a reasonable and effective connection with the new plant variety protection system, and contribute to the security of the national seed industry.

It is reported that the State Intellectual Property Office is currently carrying out supporting implementation work for the revision of the "Patent Examination Guidelines" to ensure that the new regulations will be implemented as scheduled on January 1 next year. (over)