The doctrine of estoppel has recently been codified into Article 6 of the Supreme Court's judicial interpretation No 21 [2009], which says a technical solution abandoned by the patentee or applicant through an amendment or a statement in the patent granting or invalidation procedure cannot be reclaimed into the scope of the patent. However, it is still unclear what kind of amendment or statement will constitute said "abandonment" of a technical solution, and thus trigger the application of the doctrine of estoppel. In a recent Supreme Court decision ((2011) Min Ti Z306), the Court set forth more specific rules for answering the above question.
