The China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) has announced a significant development in the realm of patent prosecution: the initiation of the “PPH Improvement Initiative” in collaboration with key patent offices from the United States, Europe, Japan, and South Korea. This initiative aims to elevate the user experience of the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) by setting ambitious targets for the average cycle time of the first office action and the average cycle time for replying to applicants’ responses, both now set at three months starting from 2024. Here’s a concise summary of the specific changes: Timeline Before After Average Cycle Time for First Notice Within Four Months Within Three Months…
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Miss the 12-month Filing Deadline? China Finally Allows Patent Applicants to Restore, Add, or Correct a Priority Claim
Three major ‘remedial’ systems taken from the PCT Regulations have been introduced in the third revision of the Implementation Regulations of the Chinese Patent Law in 2023 (hereinafter referred to as the “Implementation Regulations”). We previously discussed one of these remedial systems, Incorporation by Reference based on Rule 45 of the Implementation Regulations, which allows an applicant to rectify missing documents or parts of the document two months from the filing date. In this article we will be focusing on the other two new systems—the restoration of the right of priority and the addition or correction of a priority claim, namely new Rules 36, 37 and 128. Prior to the…
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New Remedy in China for Fixing “Errors” in a Patent Application: Incorporation by Reference
Background As mentioned in our earlier article, the Implementation Regulations of the Chinese Patent Law (“Regulations”, similar to the CFR in the US) were approved in November, and the CNIPA finally made public the full text of the Regulations just before the arrival of the New Year. At the same time, the CNIPA also released the new Patent Examination Guidelines (“Guidelines”, like the MPEP in the US), along with specific implementation dates and transitional methods. These changes became effective as of 20 January 2024. Today’s article will focus on incorporation by reference. The Regulations provide more details on the newly “incorporation by reference” provision in the Chinese Patent Law, which align this…
