How are patent years calculated for annual fee payments in China? Can payment information be checked on the CNIPA website?
In China, an annual period for a patent is counted from the filing date. It is irrelevant to the date of priority or that of grant of the patent right. It is not necessarily relevant to a calendar year either. For example, the filing date of an application for a patent is June 1, 1999, the first year of that patent application is counted from June 1, 1999, to May 31, 2000, and the second year of the patent application is counted from June 1, 2000, to May 31, 2001, and the rest can be deduced by analogy. When the applicant goes through the formalities of registration, the applicant needs to pay the annual fee of the year in which the patent right is granted. And the subsequent annual fees shall be paid before the expiration of the preceding year. As for the above-mentioned example (i.e. the filing date of an application for a patent is June 1, 1999), if the application was granted on August 1, 2001, the applicant needs to pay the annual fee of the third year when going through the formalities of registration, and pay the annual fee of the fourth year before June 1, 2002. With regard to the method for searching the payment of the annual fees including paid and unpaid annual fees, the relevant information can be acquired by accessing the CNIPA’s website (http://cpquery.cnipa.gov.cn/).
