New Fee Standards Released for Chinese Patent Applications

Recently, the Chinese government issued four official notices introducing new fee standards and deduction rules for Chinese patent applications.¹ These updates address international applications (PCT applications) and the Chinese national phase applications thereof, as well as patent term adjustment/extension (PTA/PTE).

Please find our summary below:

PCT application fee deduction rules

			Application fee & extra fees (claims/pages)				Substantive examination fee
PCT application type			Before Jul 26, 20242	After Jul 26, 2024			Before Jul 26, 2024		After Jul 26, 2024
CNIPAas RO	CNIPA as ISA or IPEA		100% OFF	100% OFF			100% OFF		100% OFF
	non-CN as ISA or IPEA	EPO as ISA JPO as ISA SPO as ISA	100% OFF	No discount			20% OFF		No discount
		All others as ISA or IPEA	No discount	No discount			No discount		No discount
non-CN as RO	CNIPA as ISA or IPEA		No discount	No discount			100% OFF		100% OFF
	non-CN as ISA or IPEA	EPO as ISA JPO as ISA SPO as ISA	No discount	No discount			20%OFF		No discount
		All others as ISA or IPEA	No discount	No discount			No discount		No discount
Abbreviations CNIPA – China National Intellectual Property Administration Non-CN – other patent offices than CNIPA NPE – National Phase Entry IPEA – International Preliminary Examining Authority					RO – Receiving Office ISA – International Search Authority EPO – European Patent Office JPO – Japan Patent Office SPO – Swedish Patent Office

Fee standards for PTA/PTE

Under the new fee schedule, the official fee for PTA/PTE requests is CNY 200/patent. If any PTA/PTE request has been filed before July 26, 2024, the PTA/PTE request fee thereof must be paid before October 26, 2024.

If PTA/PTE is granted, the annuity fee during the patent compensation period is CNY 8000/patent/year.

A SPECIAL NOTE: The annuity fee for the patent compensation period must be paid in a lump sum before the expiration of the 20-year patent term. No late payment, restoration, or fee reduction is applicable.

Others

During the implementation period of the patent open license, the annuity fee will be reduced by 15%. If other patent fee reduction policies are also applicable, the most favorable policy can be selected, but only one fee reduction policy may be used per patent.

EIP Thoughts

The new PCT application fee deduction rules are intended to promote CNIPA as the ISA and IPEA for international patent applications.

It has been over four years since PTA/PTE were first introduced in the latest 4^th Amendment to the Patent Law. Now we finally have a complete set of procedural requirements for PTA/PTE requests. So far, the procedure has been smooth, and we have already had several requests successfully granted.

We will continue to monitor developments closely and keep you informed of any further updates.

Related Articles

A More Detailed Overview of China’s Patent Term Extension (PTE) System

Everything you need to know about Patent Term Adjustment (PTA) in China

If you would like to have more information on this matter or would like to have our advice, please feel free to contact us at eip@eipgroup.asia.

Eagle IP is a top-tier boutique patent firm with a unique mix of experienced US and Chinese patent professionals with significant cross-border knowledge and experience. Our technically expertise covers wide range of technologies including, but not limited, to life sciences, biotechnology, medicine, pharmaceuticals, material and environmental science, chemistry and consumer electronics. We have years of experiences in drafting and prosecuting patent applications involving biological deposits, sequence listings, small and large molecules, drug discovery and development, material science, software and engineering, and many others.

This article is for general informational purposes only and should not be considered legal advice or a legal opinion on a specific set of facts.

About the Authors

1. “Notice on Adjusting and Optimizing Patent Fee Policy, Finance and Taxation [2024] No. 23” and “Notice on the Annual Fee Standard for the Patent Compensation Period and Other Related Matters, Development and Reform Price [2024] No. 1156,” and “Announcement on Adjusting Certain Patent Fee Standards and Reduction Policies (No. 594)” and “Notice on the Payment of Patent Term Compensation Fees and Other Related Matters”.

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2. Appendix 2 of “Notice of the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Finance on Reissuing the Administrative and Institutional Fee Standards of the National Intellectual Property Administration and Other Related Issues, Development and Reform Price [2017] No. 270.”

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