Change to postal rule under Chinese patent practice

Existing 15 days postal rule for Chinese Patent Applications

Under existing Rule 4 of the Implementing Regulations of the Patent Law of the PRC, where any document is sent by mail by the Chinese National IP Administration (CNIPA), the 16th day from the date of mailing shall be presumed to be the date on which the party concerned receives the document.

For example, when a notification is issued by CNIPA on 1st January 2023 which set a four-month response period, the presumed date of receiving the notification would be 16th January 2023. Therefore, the deadline for filing a response would be 16th May 2023.

Prior to this latest amendment, this so-called 15 days postal rule applies to both communications that are served by electronic means and regular mail.

The amended Rule 4 of the Implementing Regulations

Currently CNIPA communications are predominantly made by electronic means as over 99% of patent applications are filed electronically, according to an announcement disclosed by the
State Council back in 2023.

In view of the wholesale change to electronic communications, the amended Implementing Regulations clarifies that the rules with regard to submission and serving documents by electronic means are different from that by mail or direct submission in person.

In the new amended Implementing Regulations, Rule 4 added a new paragraph 7 which recites “For various documents served in electronic means by the Patent Administration Department of the State Council, the date of entry into the electronic system approved by the party concerned shall be the date of service”. In other words, the date of receipt of the communications that are served by electronic means would be presumed to be the date the patent office entered the communications onto the specific electronic system.

The amended Rule 4 (amendments shown in underline)