What are the time limits for changing inventors in a Chinese patent application? Will a request filed after the prescribed deadline necessarily be refused?
Under Part I, Chapter 1, Section 6.7.2.3 of the Chinese Patent Examination Guidelines, two situations must be distinguished.
Omission or incorrect identification of an inventor
A request must be filed within one month of receipt of the Notification of Acceptance of the patent application. Requests filed after that deadline will not be accepted.
Supporting documents must be signed or sealed by all applicants (or patent owners) and all inventors before and after the change. They must state the reason for the change and confirm that the inventors after the change comprise all persons who made creative contributions to the substantive features of the invention.
Correction of a name spelling error or Chinese transliteration
This type of correction is not subject to the one-month limit and may be requested later. A declaration signed or sealed by the inventor concerned and the inventor’s identification documents must be submitted.
In practice, incorrect identification of an inventor must be distinguished from a spelling error. The former changes the identity of an inventor; the latter merely corrects the spelling or transliteration of a name. Different time limits apply.
