China's Ministry of Science and Technology announced in Beijing Monday that research bodies responsible for key state research programs could own patents derived from those programs, a great leap forward in the country'spatent management system.

The State Council General Office recently approved a regulation on patent management of state scientific and technological research programs. China's ministries and localities are ordered to comply with the regulation to help produce more patents through state-funded research work.

The ministry's spokesman Shi Dinghuan said that the state would grant research bodies the ownership of any patent resulting from state-sponsored projects, except those vital to national security, and the state and public interests.

Responsible research bodies could decide on future use of the patented technology, said Shi, also director-general of the ministry.

Meanwhile, the state still had the right to freely use the patent and develop relevant technology, Shi said.

The state's science and technology management bodies were also responsible to urge patent owners to judiciously commercialize their patents.

The regulation said that relevant researchers could have priority in gaining patents transferred by research bodies.

Statistics showed that since the 1990s, Chinese scientists have made about 30,000 scientific breakthroughs each year. In 1998,the five core national research programs resulted in 1,369 patents,including 462 inventions.

The traditional system of state ownership of those patents gives researchers less chance of applying for patents.

Many developed countries including Japan and the United States adopted bills to protect researchers' interests at the end of last century.

"It's high time for China to revise regulations on patent ownership after its access into the World Trade Organization," said Shi, implying that multinational stance on patents and technological expansion will speed up introduction of the new system.

(People's Daily May 21, 2002)