On November 27, 2023, China’s National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) announced 57 administrative penalty cases for unqualified patent agents (unauthorized practice of patent law) under the Blue Sky program. This is the fourth batch with similar announcements made in April 2023, January 2022, and March 2021. This fourth batch listed 57 institutions and individuals in 13 provinces, with fines and confiscation of profits totaling 5.29 million RMB (~$746 thousand USD).

While the amount and reasoning for each fine was not released CNIPA explained the overall purpose:

To further intensify the crackdown on illegal activities of patent and trademark agencies, create a better development environment for the intellectual property service industry, improve the intellectual property service system, and promote the high-quality development of intellectual property, the CNIPA continues to further promote the “Blue Sky” special campaign of rectification of the intellectual property agency industry, and organized all localities to continue and severely crack down on all kinds of prominent violations of laws and regulations on patent and trademark agencies. Among them, unqualified patent agency behavior has had a negative impact on the order of the patent agency market, patent quality, and the interests of clients.

The full text of the announcement and list of fined persons and firms is available here (Chinese only).