Legal analysis: The time for patent substantive examination is uncertain, generally 6- 18 months, which depends on the content of the invention, the examiner's understanding of the invention, the examiner's work arrangement and the time for documents to be transmitted back and forth between the examiner and the applicant or his agent. The applicant for a patent for invention may amend the application for a patent for invention within three months from the date of filing a request for substantive examination and receiving the notice from the Patent Office that the application for a patent for invention has entered the substantive examination stage. According to the Patent Law, the examination and approval procedure of an application for a patent for invention includes five stages: acceptance, preliminary examination, publication, actual examination and authorization. The application for a patent for utility model or design does not undergo early publication and substantive examination in the examination and approval, and there are only three stages: acceptance, preliminary examination and authorization.
Legal basis: People's Republic of China (PRC) Patent Law.
Article 35 Within 3 years from the date of filing, the administrative department for patent in the State Council may, upon the request of the applicant at any time, make a substantive examination of the application; If the applicant fails to request substantive examination within the time limit without justifiable reasons, the application shall be deemed to have been withdrawn. The patent administrative department of the State Council may, when it deems it necessary, examine the application for a patent for invention on its own.
Article 36 When requesting substantive examination, an applicant for a patent for invention shall submit reference materials related to his invention before the date of application.