Digital exchange services for bilateral priority documents have been opened, including electronic exchange services for priority documents between China, Europe, China, America and China and South Korea. When submitting a patent application, the applicant shall correctly fill in the application date and application number of the previous application in the request. The original accepting institutions are the European Patent Office, the US Patent and Trademark Office and the Korean Patent Office. China National Intellectual Property Administration will obtain the priority copy through the electronic exchange system, without the need for the applicant to declare otherwise.
The digital inquiry service of priority documents is based on the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, the Patent Law Treaty and the Patent Cooperation Treaty. When handling this business, the applicant should first submit a request for storing electronic priority documents to the First Acceptance Bureau (OFF), which will store the priority documents in the digital library recognized by the digital inquiry service of priority documents, and then the applicant will also submit a request for inquiring electronic priority documents to the Second Acceptance Bureau (OSF, also known as inquiry bureau), that is, the second acceptance bureau can obtain the priority documents by submitting the request for digital inquiry service of priority documents and through authorization.