In order to make up for the loss of the patent term caused by the unreasonable delay in the substantive examination of the invention patent, can we request compensation for the patent term?
The Chinese Patent Law amended for the fourth time came into force on June 1, 2021. According to paragraph 2 of Article 42 of the Chinese Patent Law, where an invention patent is granted after 4 years from the filing date and 3 years from the date of request for substantive examination, at the request of the patentee, the CNIPA shall compensate for the loss of patent term caused by the unreasonable delay in the application process, except that the unreasonable delay is caused by the applicant. It should be noted that for the invention patent the grant of which was announced before May 31, 2021 (inclusive of May 31, 2021), the patent term compensation system does not apply retroactively. For the invention patent the grant of which is announced from June 1, 2021, the patentee can temporarily submit a patent term compensation request to the CNIPA in the form of paper within three months from the date of the announcement of grant of patent right.
