The domestic patent application process is the same, regardless of the region.
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 carry out early publication and substantive examination in the examination and approval, but only has three stages: acceptance, preliminary examination and authorization. ?
The flow chart of the application and examination of patents for inventions, utility models and designs is as follows:
(Source: China National Intellectual Property Administration)