China adjusts patent fees, reduction policies in CNIPA update

09 August 2024

Photo: China National Intellectual Property Administration

According to the “Notice on Adjusting and Optimizing Patent Fee Policies” and the “Notice on Matters Related to Annual Fee Standards for Patent Term Compensation” issued by the Ministry of Finance and the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) announced adjustments to patent fees and reduction policies on August 6, 2024.

The announcement reads as below in six sections:

When a patent holder requests compensation for the patent term, a fee of Rmb200 (US$27.90) is required per request. If the request for patent term compensation meets the conditions after review, an annual compensation fee of Rmb8,000 (US$1,115.83) per patent will be charged. No fee will be charged for periods of less than a year.

During the period of open licensing for patents, the annual fee for the patent will be reduced by 15 percent. If other patent fee reduction policies also apply, the patent holder may choose the most favourable policy but cannot benefit from multiple reductions simultaneously.

For international design applications entering China through the Hague Agreement on the International Registration of Industrial Designs, the first and second phases designation fees may be reduced per the relevant provisions of the following notices:

The “Notice of the Ministry of Finance and the National Development and Reform Commission on Issuing the ‘Measures for the Reduction of Patent Fees’” (No. 78 [2016] of the Ministry of Finance)

The “Notice of the Ministry of Finance and the National Development and Reform Commission on Policies for Suspending, Exempting and Adjusting Certain Administrative Fees” (No. 37 [2018] of the Ministry of Finance); and

The “Notice of the Ministry of Finance and the National Development and Reform Commission on Policies for Reducing Certain Administrative Fees” (No. 45 [2019] of the Ministry of Finance).

If a bulk request is submitted to change the name of the applicant or the patent holder in the record and no transfer of rights is involved, a fee shall be charged for each change made.

The revision in Annex II of the “Notice of the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Finance on Reissuing the Administrative Fee Standards of the China National Intellectual Property Administration” (No. 270 [2017] of the NDRC) shall be as follows:

“International patent applications, such as Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) applications, received and subjected to international searches by the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA), are exempted from the application fee and application surcharges when entering the national phase in China. For PCT applications where the CNIPA has issued an international search report or the international preliminary report on patentability, the substantive examination fee shall be waived when entering the national phase in China and requesting substantive examination. Other fees for PCT applications entering the national phase in China shall follow the domestic fee standards.”
Fees collected by the CNIPA on behalf of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) or other countries and regions will be charged based on the standards and reduction policies outlined in the agreements between CNIPA and the respective organizations, countries and regions or relevant international treaties.

- Cathy Li

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