Patent Registration in China

Pursuant to Article 18 of the Chinese Patent Law, any foreigner, foreign enterprise or other foreign organization having no habitual residence or business office in China files an application for a patent in China, the application shall be treated under this Law in accordance with any agreement concluded between the country to which the applicant belongs and China, or in accordance with any international treaty to which both countries are party, or on the basis of the principle of reciprocity.

Appointment of Patent Agency:

Pursuant to Article 19 of the Chinese Patent Law, any foreigner, foreign enterprise or other foreign organization having no habitual residence or business office in China applies for a patent, or has other patent matters to attend to, in China, it or he shall appoint a legally incorporated patent agency to act as its or his agent.

Patent Application Documents:

(1) for invention, the request, the claims, the description, with accompanied drawings if appropriate, the abstract, and the drawing accompanying the abstract if appropriate;

(2) for utility model, the request, the claims, the description, with accompanied drawings, the abstract, and the drawing accompanying the abstract;

(3) for design, the request, the pictures or photographs of the design, and brief explanation of the design.

Applicable Language:

Except for certificates or evidence materials provided by foreign government departments or created in foreign countries, the patent application documents and other documents shall be in Chinese. Application documents which are written in foreign language shall be translated into Chinese.

The Chinese text of the patent application submitted by the applicant shall be taken as the basis of examination. The foreign language text of the application submitted by the applicant at the time of filling the application shall have no legal effect.