Patent application process It takes about 2 years from application to authorization for invention patents, and about 8 to 10 months from application to authorization for utility models and designs. Applications for invention patents require five stages: acceptance, preliminary examination, publication, substantive examination and authorization. Applications for utility model or design patents do not undergo publication and substantive examination during the approval process, but only three stages: acceptance, preliminary examination and authorization. 1. Application stage The application documents for an invention patent shall include: invention patent request, description (if the description has drawings, the description and drawings shall be submitted), claims, and abstract (the abstract shall be accompanied by drawings if necessary). If a patent agency is entrusted, a letter of authorization should be submitted. To apply for fee reduction, a request for fee reduction and corresponding supporting documents should be submitted. 2. Examination stage (1) Preliminary examination: After the Patent Office receives an invention patent application, it must undergo a preliminary examination. After passing the preliminary review, it will be announced 18 months from the date of application. The Patent Office may also publish an application early upon the applicant's request. The preliminary review mainly checks whether ① the application documents are complete; ② whether the form meets the standards; ③ whether the fees are paid. During the preliminary examination, the Patent Office will issue a notice of correction regarding the above matters, and the applicant will make corrections. (2) Substantive examination: After the invention application is published, the Patent Office will initiate a substantive examination upon receipt of the applicant’s request for substantive examination. The examiner issues a notice of examination opinion, in which he evaluates the novelty, creativity, practicability, etc. of the invention application, and points out substantive defects in the application documents. The applicant responds to the review comments and modifies the application documents if necessary. If the applicant’s reply overcomes the examination opinion, the examiner will issue a notice of grant of patent right. If the applicant’s reply does not overcome the examination opinion, the examiner will issue another examination opinion notice or a rejection notice. (3) Authorization: After receiving the notice of grant of patent right, the applicant needs to go through the registration procedures. The applicant shall pay the patent registration fee, the annual fee for the year of authorization, the announcement printing fee within the prescribed period, and shall also pay the patent certificate stamp tax. The applicant can obtain a patent certificate after completing the registration procedures.