On 18 October 2022, the China Association for Standardization (CAS) released a call for public comments on the Disposal Guidelines for Patents Related to Association Standards (Draft for Comments) (hereinafter referred to as the Guidelines). The Guidelines, which are effectively a draft of national standardisation technical document, were compiled based on three year of experience in implementing the association standard T/CAS 2 – which shares the same name. The main difference is that the new draft, compared to the original one, clarifies the responsibility of all main actors involved and the relevant disclosure procedures. Such clarification will undoubtedly facilitate cooperation and communication among associations, standard participants, patent owners, and standard implementers.
Currently, official documents related to disposal of patents in national standards are GB/T 20003.1-2014 Special procedures for the development of standards—Part 1: Standard related to patents, and the Interim Provisions on the Administration of National Standards Involving Patents. Unlike these, the Guidelines target association standards: compared with national standards which often target the most fundamental aspects of products and services, association standards are formulated in response to higher level market requirements and needs, thus they are often linked to patents. At the same time, the Guidelines emphasize patent disposal management, comprehensively listing all the items to be included in the association’s patent disposal management rules – including how these should be publicized and followed. Relevant associations will significantly benefit from these clarifications when developing association standards.
More specifically, the Guidelines stipulate the key terms and their definitions, disposal principles, general goals, management and responsibility, as well as the patent disclosure rules. Half of the text is dedicated to the procedures of patent disclosure across different development phases of association standards. The main rationale is that patent disclosure throughout all major phases (i.e. drafting, technical review, release and implementation) shall involve coordination with patent owners to verify their willingness to license patents, possible alternative solutions, as well as the inclusion of relevant disclosure and licensing forms if patents are effectively included in the standard (examples are annexed to the Guidelines). To facilitate the process, the Guidelines specifically list all the items that associations, standard participants, patent owners, and standard implementers must pay attention.
In short, the Guidelines represent an improved version of the association standard T/CAS 2. They streamline the original text, clarifies the roles and responsibilities of the main actors involved in patent disposal, as well as patent disclosure procedures. The Guidelines are expected to facilitate relevant associations in handling patent-related association standards, ultimately contributing to a better response to market demands.
