The PPO conducts formal and substantive examinations of invention patent applications. There is no need to file a request for substantive examination, and the substantive examination starts automatically.
A 6-month novelty grace period is available if the disclosure is caused by a third party in bad faith.
4-5 years
yes
If disclosed by the author or his successor, the novelty grace period shall be enjoyed within 12 months after the first disclosure.
no
- via Paris Convention : 6 months from earliest priority date.
- Hague Agreement route: 6 months from earliest priority date.
- EU appearance route: 6 months from the earliest priority date.
yes. An invention applicant may propose to change the type of invention from an invention to a utility model during the process of examining the application or within two months from the date of the final decision on the refusal to grant a patent. The utility model application shall be deemed to have been filed from the date of the invention application. A utility model application converted from an invention must fully meet the requirements for utility model documents.
The PPO only conducts formality examination of the design, and does not examine novelty and uniqueness.
- Grant fee: The applicant should pay the announcement fee and the first annual fee (that is, the annual fee for the first to fifth years) within 3 months after receiving the notification of the granted decision.
- Annuity: Pay the annual fee for the next 5 years every 5 years. If the annual fee is overdue, you can pay it within a grace period of 3 months, and pay 30% of the annual fee for the current year as a late fee.
- Grant fee: The applicant should pay the granted fee, announcement fee and the first annual fee (that is, the annual fee for the first to third years) within 3 months after receiving the notification of the granted decision.
- Annuity: Pay year by year in the first year from the date of application. Overdue annual fee can be paid within a grace period of 6 months. At the same time, 30% of the year's annual fee will be paid as a late fee.