Chinese utility model patents are often overlooked by U.S. applicants when filing patent applications in China. This might be due to a lack of familiarity with them, as the U.S. patent system does not separately provide a similar intellectual property right, and many inventions may not qualify for a UM patent due to limited subject matter eligibility. The China National Intellectual Property Administration grants UM patents only for products. The products “shall be objects manufactured by industrial methods, having definite …
Author: Jingyuan Nan
Jingyuan Nan is an attorney at Schwegman Lundberg & Woessner.
New China Patent Examination Guidelines Effective November 1, 2019
The China National Intellectual Property Administration (“CNIPA”) formally announced the newly amended Patent Examination Guidelines (“Guidelines”) effective on November 1, 2019. The Guidelines were amended to improve patent quality and efficient examination. Highlights 1. Examiner interviews are made more available, allowing applicants to request interviews anytime during substantive examination. 2. Applicants may request expedited examination pursuant to “Regulation on Patent Prioritized Examination.” 3. For same-day filing of invention and utility model patent applications, by default, the invention patent application is …