On December 21, 2023, China State Council announced the revised Implementation Regulations of the Chinese Patent Law, which came into effect on January 20, 2024. The following are some highlights of the revision.
1. Specifying the submission date and delivery date of the electronic application(R4)
Where various documents are submitted in electronic form to the patent administration department under the State Council (CNIPA), the date of entry into the specific electronic system designated by the Patent Administration Department under the State Council shall be the submission date. For the various documents delivered by the patent administration department under the State Council in electronic form, the date on which it enters the electronic system recognized by the parties concerned shall be the delivery date.
[Note] Before this revision, the delivery date of various documents delivered by CNIPA in electronic form was 15 days from the date of issuance of the document. After this revision, as shown above, the date on which it enters the electronic system recognized by the parties concerned shall be the delivery date, started from January 20, 2024, that is, the provision of additional 15 days was cancelled.
2. New regulations about the Restoration of Priority right(R36)
Where an applicant has filed an application for a patent for invention or utility model with the patent administrative department under the State Council on the same subject matter beyond the time limit prescribed in Article 29 of the Patent Law, if with justified reasons, he or it may request to recover its claim for the right of priority within 2 months from the date of expiration of the time limit.
[Note] The time limit prescribed in Article 29 of the Patent law is: Where, within twelve months from the date on which any applicant first filed an application for a patent for invention or utility model in foreign countries or China, he or it files with CNIPA for a patent for the same subject matter, he or it may enjoy a right of priority.
3. New regulations about the addition and correction of priority(R37)
Where an applicant for a patent for invention or utility model claims the right of priority, he may, within 16 months from the priority date or within 4 months from the application date, request to add or correct the priority claims in the written request.
[Note] The application for restoring the right of priority is not applicable for the above new regulations..
4. New regulations about incorporation by reference (R45)
Where an application for a patent for invention or utility model lacks or erroneously submits a claim, description or part of the claim or description, but if the applicant claims the right of priority on the filing date, he or it may re-submits the documents by citing the earlier application documents within 2 months from the filing date or within the time limit specified by CNIPA. If the re-submitted documents are in conformity with the relevant regulations, the filing date of the first submission shall be the application date.
[Note] The application for restoring, adding or correcting the right of priority is not applicable for the above new regulations. Divisional application is not applicable, either.
5. Specifying the delay examination system (R56)
This amendment specifies that three kinds of patent applications for invention, utility model and design can be requested for delay examination, and the request of delay examination can be withdrawn at any time.
6. Deleting the requirement of drawings for black ink (The original R121) With the full digitization of patent certificates and other documents, whether the drawings are black and white or color has almost no influence, and the color drawings can express the corresponding information more clearly.
[Note] Paragraph 4.3, Chapter 1 of the Patent Examination Guidelines stipulates that: the drawings are generally drawn in black ink, and color drawings can be submitted when necessary to clearly describe the relevant technical contents of the patent application.