What is the longest time for substantive examination of invention patents?

Legal Analysis: How long does it take to actually examine a patent? The time for examining the substance of a patent is uncertain, usually 6- 18 months, depending on the content of the invention, the examiner's understanding of the invention, the examiner's work arrangement and the time for the documents to and from 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substantive examination within the time limit without justifiable reasons, the application shall be deemed to have been withdrawn.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.

Detailed Rules for the Implementation of People's Republic of China (PRC) Patent Law

Article 51 An applicant for a patent for invention may, within three months from the date of receiving the notice from the patent administration department of the State Council that the application for a patent for invention has entered the substantive examination stage, take the initiative to propose amendments to the application for a patent for invention.

An applicant for a patent for utility model or design may, within 2 months from the date of application, put forward amendments to the application for a patent for utility model or design.

Where the applicant modifies the patent application documents after receiving the notice of examination opinions issued by the patent administrative department of the State Council, it shall modify the defects pointed out in the notice.

The patent administration department in the State Council can correct the obvious errors of words and symbols in the patent application documents by itself. Where the administrative department for patent in the State Council modifies it by itself, it shall notify the applicant.