I would like to file an invalidation request against a certain patent, relying on evidence of prior public use to argue that the patent lacks novelty. However, the evidence of prior public use is not from China, but from the United States and Europe. Would such evidence obtained outside China be disqualified or disregarded by the Chinese examiner?
According to Article 22 of the current Patent Law and Section 2.1, Chapter 3, Part II of the Patent Examination Guidelines, there is no territorial limitation on evidence of prior public use—it may be obtained either in China or in other countries or regions. However, evidence formed outside China (i.e., extraterritorial evidence) generally needs to be notarized by a local notary authority.
