In order to further reduce the social burden and promote the protection of patent creation, the State Intellectual Property Office decided to suspend and adjust some patent fees from August 1, 2018. Here is the detailed announcement:

1. Terminate the patent registration fee, announcement printing fee, change of record item (change of patent agency and agent entrustment relationship) in patent charge (domestic part), and the transfer fee of PCT (Patent Cooperation Treaty) application. However, the above fees, if the expiration date of the payment of which is no later than July 31, 2018 (inclusive), shall be paid in accordance with the current regulations.

2. For patent applicants or patent holders who meet the relevant conditions of the “Patent Fees Reduction Method”, the period of reduction of the annual patent fee shall be extended to 10 years rather than 6 years from the date of authorization. For patents that have been allowed for reduction before July 31, 2018 (inclusive), the following treatment shall be taken: within 6 years from the date of authorization, the annual fee reduction period shall be extended to the 10th year; 7-9 years from the date of authorization, from the next year, continue to reduce the annual fee until 10 years; in or more than 10 years from the date of authorization, no annual fee will be reduced.

3. For the invention patent application which is at the substantive examination status, if the application for withdrawal were made before the expiration of the response period of the First Office Action (except for the already-responded), the 50% patent application substantive examination fee may be refunded as per the applicant’s request.

The new regulations have reduced the cost of patent applicants by at least a few hundred RMB. According to SIPO officials, it is possible to achieve a completely paperless office in the future. This is not only environmentally friendly, but also will greatly reduce the cost of patent applications and make the transmission of notifications more convenient and faster.