This is probably a question for a lawyer.

Is there any reason to think the patent is worth money? And is there any reason to think any of that money should go to you, instead of the university?

Unfortunately, very common. they are awarded if they bring patents in China. You need to contact your uni in UK.

Technically one cannot patent something which is of public domain. As it turns our, PhD these and published research papers are by definition public domain. It's much more than academic ethics.

You can speak to a lawyer but honestly China has no regard for the international courts. They'll do as they please. Your IP is now their IP.

@JoErNanO I don't know about the U.K. or China, but in the United States, a Ph.D. dissertation is absolutely not in the public domain. Many people, including me, choose to make our work open access, but that's a choice, not a requirement.

Even if it is not public domain, it is still evidently prior.

Most people are recommending you pursue your Advisor via the UK Institution at which he works. Advocate for your inclusion on the patent, if that is legally and ethically sound, but think twice about if it's even in your best interest to get your PhD Advisor removed from his Professorship, or - more likely still - at least removed from you CV as a recommendation. As sad as it is, and as much as he should be punished, these concerns are valid. Ideally, find a way to make the Institution penalize him to correct his behavior, without him knowing you "started the fire" by raising awareness.

Please get back and update this question when you make progress. It is a very interesting case!

The patent is not valid if the invention is not new. It was not new if the research paper was published earlier than filing for patent. Therefore the patent defeats its purpose. It is useless. The agencies cannot check everything, they just file it, which does not necessarily make it valid.

@BobBrown: you mean that one can have a PhD in the US without the PhD thesis being available?

I recommend posting this question (or a variant) to AskPatents.

I think this is ALSO an important thing to be considered that whether your patent is filed/registered in an international authority for innovations or not, so those who used your innovative product can use it internationally or not. If you have not registered it internationally, I suggest you consult your university to register your patent internationally as soon as possible, besides to following your local rights in your country. Having your publications, papers and thesis besides an international register of your innovation will make it hard for them to legally abuse patent of your work.

@WoJ "Accessible" and "public domain" are emphatically not the same thing.

Your pub invalidates it in int'l law. You can only file an appropriate clain to the cinese po.

If you published before the patent is granted you can probably challenge the patent in China. However not sure how the time limits for this are, and you would need local support. The UK university should be your best allie for this, so you don’t have to fund the lawyers. If you don’t plan to get a Chinese patent however another option would be to ignore it (instill would let the university know about your supervisors misconduct)

@BobBrown: * "Accessible" and "public domain" are emphatically not the same thing* - yes I know, but you wrote "Many people, including me, choose to make our work open access, but that's a choice, not a requirement" which means that a PhD thesis can be unavailable - and this is what surprises me (beside specific cases, business or military)

@WoJ When I was a Ph.D. student, in the 90s, we had a rather elderly staff member who was referred to as Mr. instead of Dr.. The story was that he did indeed do rather important research in the 1950s that would've easily qualified him for a Ph.D., but the Ministry of Defence (who'd sponsored the research) decided that it was not in the national interest for this work to become public. Thus he was made to sign the Official Secrets Act and was never allowed to submit his thesis. To their credit, the Department gave him a job as if he had one anyway.

Both the patent is invalid (public information) and there is a case of copyright violation. For the copyright violation, you probably can get him in UK, depending on the distribution terms of your thesis (or their absense). For the patent, anyone should be able to get them invalidated in a Chinese court (if their patent laws are anything like most patent laws). The thing is, patent is a bullying tool: anyone can fill them, nobody checks, and big companies have lawyers drop them in buckets over small competion they want to damage, even if most them would be invalid if it comes to trial.