The official language for filing a patent application in China is Chinese. In case the application is in any other language, it must be translated into Chinese before filing. Late filings are not acceptable by the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA).

The duration for applying for a patent application claiming priority with the CNIPA is 12 months from the date of priority. This term cannot be extended.

The overall duration of patents for regular inventions is 15 years from the date of filing. While for utility model and design patents, it is five years from the date of filing. All these patents are extendable up to three years.

To obtain a filing date in China, it is essential to provide the CNIPA with the applicant’s and inventor’s details along with the necessary application materials. A signed copy of “power of attorney” within three months from the date of filing and a certified copy of the “priority document” within 16 months from the earliest priority date should be provided. Furthermore, while it is important to translate the title of the priority document into Chinese, it is not mandatory to provide the “assignment deed” between the applicant(s) and inventor(s) while filing a patent application.

Chinese patent applications undergo both formal and substantive examinations. The request to perform a substantive examination must be filed within three years from the filing date, or from the priority date in case a priority is claimed.

A patent application can be filed in the following three ways under the Chinese legal framework:

1. A patent in China can be filed with the help of a patent agent or attorney;
2. An international patent application can be filed under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) with the national patent office of the Contracting State where the applicant can either be a national or resident. Alternately, the application can be filed with the International Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Office (IB). Subsequently, an application can then be entered at the national phase by filing at the relevant office in China within 30 months from either the first application or the priority date of filing;
3. A patent application can be filed in a foreign jurisdiction that is a Contracting State under the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property. After that, the applicant must apply for protection in China, one of the Contracting States, within a stipulated period (12 months for patents and utility models, while 6 months for marks and industrial designs). This gives the applicant a right of priority over the applications filed by other entities during the aforementioned period.