The official fees currently applicable for Chinese patent applications takes effect on November 22, 2019. To help the foreign applicants to learn about how much Chinese patent applications may cost officially, we briefly introduce basic filing fees of a normal Chinese patent application and some miscellaneous fees under specific circumstances, such as excess claim fees, size fees and annuities. [1]
Official Fees for Invention Patent Applications:
Description of Basic Official Fee
Amount
Basic Filing Fee
¥900/$138
Each Priority Claim
¥80/$12
Publication Fee
¥50/$8
Request for Substantive Examination
¥2,500/$385
Registration fee *usually includes an annuity fee *the amount of annuity fee depends on which year the application receives a Notification of Registration.
¥905/$139 or ¥1,205/$185
Basic fee in Total
¥4,435/$682 or¥4,735/$728
Other Miscellaneous fees
Amount
Each claim in excess of 10
¥150/$23
Each page in excess of 30 (counted by the application documents in Chinese)
¥50/$8
Each page in excess of 300 (counted by the application documents in Chinese)
¥100/$15
Each month extended for response (first time, two months in total)
¥300/$46
Each month extended for response (second time, two months in total)
¥2,000/$308
Request for Reexamination
¥1,000/$154
Petition for revival
¥1,000/$154
Surcharge for Late National Phase Entry within 32-months Period *applicable for application entered by PCT route
¥1,000/$154
Request for Invalidation
¥3,000/$462
We will take an example for better illustration. If an applicant would like to file a Chinese invention application, claiming priority to a US application, the official fees are as below.
Typical Case: 1 US priority & 35-page application documents in Chinese & 20 claims
Description of Basic Official Fee
Amount
Filing
¥900/$138
Excess claims fee for claims in excess of 10 (10 extra claims, ¥150 per extra claim)
¥1,500/$231
Application size fee for pages in excess of 30 (5 extra pages, ¥50 per extra page)
¥250/$38
Fee for Priority Claim (1 priority claim, ¥80 per priority claim)
¥80/$12
Application Publication Fee
¥50/$8
Request for Substantive Examination
¥2,500/$385
Registration fee *usually includes an annuity fee *the amount of annuity fee depends on which year the application receives a Notification of Registration.
¥905/$139 or ¥1,205/$185
Basic fee in Total
¥6,185/$951 or¥6,485/$997
Official Fees for Utility Model Applications:
Description of Basic Official Fee
Amount
Basic Filing Fee
¥500/$77
Each Priority Claim
¥80/$12
Registration fee *usually includes an annuity fee *the amount of annuity fee depends on which year the application receives a Notification of Registration.
¥605/$93
Basic fee in Total
¥1,185/$182
Other Miscellaneous fees
Amount
Each claim in excess of 10
¥150/$23
Each page in excess of 30
¥50/$8
Each page in excess of 300
¥100/$15
Request for Patentability Evaluation Report
¥2,400/$369
Request for Reexamination
¥300/$46
Surcharge for Late National Phase Entry within 32-months Period *applicable for application entered by PCT route
Registration fee *usually includes an annuity fee *the amount of annuity fee depends on which year the application receives a Notification of Registration.
¥605/$93
Basic fee in Total
¥1,185/$182
Other Miscellaneous fees
Amount
Request for Patentability Evaluation Report
¥2,400/$369
Request for Reexamination
¥300/$46
Request for Invalidation
¥1,500/$231
Some notes for the fees:
Applicants shall pay the basic filing fee, priority claim fee (if applicable), publication fee (applicable for patent applications), additional fees (including excess claim fee and application size fee) to the CNIPA along or after the application filing.
For direct filing or applications entered by Paris Convention route, applicants shall pay the official fees within two months after the filing of application, or within 15 days after receipt of the filing receipt.
For applications entered by PCT route, applicants shall pay the official fees after the filing or within 30-month deadline. However, the national entry date shown on the filing receipt will be the later of Chinese application filing date or the payment date.
Besides, for PCT applications which are not filed or searched by the CNIPA, some national stage fees may be waived. Specifically,
for PCT applications filed with the CNIPA, some basic fees, e.g., basic filing fee, excess filing fee and 50% of the fee for requesting substantive examination will be waived during the Chinese national stage.
for PCT applications searched by the CNIPA, 50% of the fee for requesting substantive examination will be waived during the Chinese national stage.
for PCT applications searched by the European Patent Office, Japan Patent Office and Swedish Patent and Registration Office, 20% of the fee for requesting substantive examination will be waived during the Chinese national stage.
All fees can be paid in advance of each stage. Since the process of the payment are quite complex for applicants outside China, applicants can appoint an agent or an agent firm to represent the filing of the application.
After the registration process is finished, applicants shall pay the annuity fees to the CNIPA each year to maintain the patent in force.
For applicants located in Mainland China, it may enjoy an official fee reduction policy if it complies with the rules prescribed by the CNIPA. But for applicants located outside of China, it is hard to comply with the requirements for fee reduction.
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