A patent agency shall sign a user agreement with China National Intellectual Property Administration in the name of a patent agency to carry out patent electronic application agency business.
If the applicant entrusts a patent agency that has signed a user agreement with China National Intellectual Property Administration to handle the patent electronic application business, it is not necessary to sign a user agreement with China National Intellectual Property Administration separately. Article 3 Where there are more than two applicants and no patent agency has been entrusted, the applicant who submitted the electronic application shall be the representative. Article 4 Applications for patents for inventions, utility models and designs may be filed in the form of electronic documents.
An application for a patent that has entered the national phase in China according to the second paragraph of Article 101 of the Detailed Rules for the Implementation of the Patent Law may be submitted in the form of an electronic document.
These Provisions shall not apply to those who file an international patent application with China National Intellectual Property Administration in accordance with the first paragraph of Article 101 of the Detailed Rules for the Implementation of the Patent Law. Article 5 Where the invention-creation for which a patent is applied involves national security or vital interests and needs to be kept confidential, an application for a patent shall be filed in writing.
After the applicant files a patent application in the form of an electronic document, if China National Intellectual Property Administration thinks that the patent application needs to be kept confidential, it shall turn the patent application into paper to continue the examination, and notify the applicant. The applicant shall submit various documents in paper form in the follow-up procedure.
According to Item (1) of Paragraph 2 of Article 8 of the Detailed Rules for the Implementation of the Patent Law, if an applicant directly applies for a patent in a foreign country or submits an international patent application to a relevant foreign institution, the applicant's request for confidentiality review and technical proposal to China National Intellectual Property Administration shall be made in paper form. Article 6 The submission of electronic patent applications and related documents shall follow the prescribed file formats, data standards, operation specifications and transmission methods. If the electronic patent application and related documents are not normally received by China National Intellectual Property Administration Electronic Patent Application System, it will be deemed as not submitted. Article 7 The applicant shall submit the relevant documents in the form of electronic documents when going through all the formalities of patent electronic application. Unless otherwise specified, China National Intellectual Property Administration does not accept the relevant documents submitted by the applicant in paper form. Do not conform to the provisions of this paragraph, as did not submit the relevant documents.
After a patent application is filed in paper form and accepted, the applicant may request that the paper application be converted into an electronic patent application, except for patent applications involving national security or vital interests that need to be kept confidential.
Under special circumstances, if an electronic patent application needs to be converted into a paper application, it can be converted into a paper application at the request of the applicant and with the approval of China National Intellectual Property Administration. Article 8 When an applicant goes through all the formalities of applying for an electronic patent, he may submit the original electronic scanned copy of the relevant documents that should be submitted in the form of originals as stipulated in the Patent Law and its detailed rules for implementation or the patent examination guidelines. When China National Intellectual Property Administration deems it necessary, it may require the applicant to submit the original within a specified time limit.
Where the applicant requests to reduce or postpone the payment of various fees stipulated in the detailed rules for the implementation of the Patent Law when filing an electronic patent application, and it is necessary to submit relevant supporting documents, it shall submit an electronic scanned copy of the original supporting documents when filing a patent application. Failure to submit electronic scanning documents shall be deemed as failure to submit relevant supporting documents. Article 9 All documents submitted to China National Intellectual Property Administration in the form of electronic documents shall be submitted on the day when the electronic patent application system of China National Intellectual Property Administration receives the electronic documents.
For electronic patent applications, all kinds of notices, decisions or other documents sent by China National Intellectual Property Administration to the applicant in the form of electronic documents shall be presumed as the date of receipt of the documents 15 days after the date of issuance of the documents. Article 10 The provisions on patent applications and related documents in the Patent Law, its implementing rules and patent examination guidelines are applicable to patent electronic applications, except those specifically for patent applications and related documents submitted in paper form. Eleventh these Provisions shall be interpreted by China National Intellectual Property Administration. Twelfth the provisions shall come into force as of 20 10+ 10. On February 12, 2004, the Provisions on Electronic Patent Application issued by Decree No.35 of China National Intellectual Property Administration was abolished at the same time.