Chapter VI Rewards and Remuneration to Inventor or Designer of Service Invention-creation

Article 74 A state-owned enterprise or institution which has been granted a patent right shall, within 3 months as of the announcement of the patent right, award the inventor or designer a money prize.

The sum of money prize for a patent for invention shall be no less than 2,000 Yuan; the sum of money prize for a patent for utility model or design shall be no less than 500 Yuan.

Where an invention-creation was made on the basis of an inventor's or designer's proposal adopted by the entity to which he belongs, the state-owned enterprise or institution which has been granted a patent right shall award to him a money higher prize liberally.

Any enterprise holding the patent right may include the said money prize paid to such inventors or designers into its production cost; any institution holding the patent right may disburse the said money prize out of its operating expenses.

Article 75 A state-owned enterprise or institution which has been granted a patent right shall, after exploiting the patent for invention-creation and within the duration of the patent right, draw each year from any increase in profits after taxation a percentage of no less than 2% due to the exploitation of the patent for invention or utility model, or a percentage of no less than 0.2% due to the exploitation of the patent for design, and award it to the inventor or designer as remuneration. The entity may, otherwise, by making reference to the above said percentage, award a lump sum of money to the inventor or designer as remuneration.

Article 76 Where a state-owned enterprise or institution which has been granted a patent right authorizes other entities or individuals to exploit the patent, it shall, after taxation, draw a percentage of no less than 10% from the fee which is charged from the license of exploitation of this patent and award it to the inventor or designer as remuneration.

Article 77 Other Chinese entities may award money prizes and remuneration by making reference to the provisions in this Chapter.

Chapter VII Protection of Patent Rights

Article 78 The department for the administration of patent work mentioned in the Patent Law and these Rules means the department established by the people's government of a province, autonomous region or municipality directly under the Central Government, or the people's government of a city divided into districts with a large amount of patent administrative work and actual ability to conduct the administration of patent work.

Article 79 In addition to the provisions in Article 57 of the Patent Law, the department for the administration of patent work may, upon request of the party concerned, conciliate the following patent disputes:

(1) disputes on the ownership of the right of patent application and the patent right;

(2) disputes on the qualification as an inventor or designer;

(3) disputes on the rewards or remuneration to the inventor or designer of a service invention;

(4) disputes on the use of an invention by failing to pay proper fees after the application for a patent for invention has been published but before the patent right is granted.

For the disputes enumerated in Item (4) of the preceding paragraph, the patent holder shall, if requesting the department for the administration of patent work for conciliation, make such a request after the patent right is granted.

Article 80 The administrative department for patent under the State Council shall provide professional guidance to the department for the administration of patent work for disposing and conciliating patent disputes.

Article 81 Where a party concerned requests disposal or conciliation of a patent dispute, such a request shall be under the jurisdiction of the department for the administration of patent work in the place where the respondent is located or where the infringement took place.

For a patent dispute over which two or more departments for the administration of patent work have jurisdiction, the party concerned may make a request to one of them;

 where the party concerned requests two or more of departments for the administration of patent work with the jurisdiction, the dispute shall be handled under the jurisdiction of the department for the administration of patent work that first accepts it.

In case of a jurisdictional dispute between the departments for the administration of patent work, it shall be designated by the department for the administration of patent work under the people's government at a higher level over both jurisdictions; where there is no such department for the administration of patent work under the people's government at a higher level over both, jurisdiction shall be designated by the administrative department for patent under the State Council.

Article 82 Where, in the process of disposing a dispute on patent infringement, the respondent has made the request for invalidation and has been accepted by the Patent Re-examination Board, he/it may request the department for the administration of patent work to suspend the disposal.

Where the department for the administration of patent work considers that the reason for suspension given by the respondent is obviously untenable, it may refuse to suspend the disposal.

Article 83 Where the patent holder indicates a patent mark on the patented product or on the package of that product in accordance with Article 15 of the Patent Law, he/it shall do so in accordance with the method provided by the administrative department for patent under the State Council.

Article 84 Any of the following acts shall be the act of passing the patent to another person:

(1) without permission, marking the patent number of another person on the product produced or sold by himself/itself or on the package of that product;

(2) without permission, using the patent number of another person in the advertisement or other propaganda materials, thus causing people to mistake the technology involved with the other person's patented technology;

(3) without permission, using the patent number of another person in the contract, thus causing people to mistake the technology involved in the contract with the other person's patented technology;

(4) forging or altering the patent certificate, patent documents or patent application documents of another person.

Article 85 Any of the following acts shall be the act of passing an unpatented product off as patented product or passing an unpatented process off as patented process:

(1) producing or selling an unpatented product marked with a patent mark;

(2) after a patent right has been declared invalid, continuing to mark a patent mark on the product produced or sold by himself;

(3) declaring an unpatented technology in the advertisement or other propaganda materials to be a patented technology;

(4) declaring an unpatented technology in the contract to be a patented technology;

(5) forging or altering the patent certificate, patent documents or patent application documents.

Article 86 Where a party concerned, in case of a dispute due to the ownership of a right of patent application or a patent right, has requested the department for the administration of patent work for disposal or has initiated a lawsuit to the people's court, he may request the administrative department for patent under the State Council to suspend relevant procedures.

Anyone who requests suspension of relevant procedures in accordance with the preceding paragraph shall submit the written request to the administrative department for patent under the State Council, and affix the copies of relevant acceptance documents by the department for the administration of patent work or the people's court.

After the disposal decision made by the department for the administration of patent work or the judgment made by the people's court has been enforced, the party concerned shall fulfill the formalities for recovering relevant procedures in the administrative department for patent under the State Council. Where, within 1 year as of the date of requesting suspension, a dispute relating to the ownership of the right of patent application or the patent right has still not been settled, and it is necessary to continue to suspend relevant procedures, the person making the request shall request an extension of the suspension within this time limit. Where he has not requested the extension at the expiry of the time limit, the administrative department for patent under the State Council shall recover relevant procedures at its own discretion.

Article 87 Where the people's court has ordered to adopt preservative measures over a patent right in the trial of a civil case, the administrative department for patent under the State Council shall suspend relevant procedures for the preserved patent right when assisting in its enforcement. Where, at the expiry of the preservation period, the people's court has not ordered to continue to adopt the preservative measures, the administrative department for patent under the State Council shall recover relevant procedures at its own discretion.

Chapter VIII Patent Registration and Patent Gazette

Article 88 The administrative department for patent under the State Council shall maintain a Patent Register in which the following matters relating to a patent application and patent right shall be registered:

(1) grant of the patent right;

(2) devolution of the right of patent application or the patent right;

(3) pledge, preservation and cancellation of the patent right;

(4) record of contracts on the license for exploitation of a patent;

(5) invalidation of the patent right;

(6) termination of the patent right;

(7) recovery of the patent right;

(8) compulsory license for exploitation of the patent;

(9) changes on the name, nationality or address of the patent holder.

Article 89 The administrative department for patent under the State Council shall publish the Patent Gazette at regular intervals, publishing or announcing the following:

(1) the bibliographic data contained in patent applications;

(2) the abstract of the specification of an invention or utility model, the drawings or photographs of a design and its brief explanation;

(3) the request for substantial examination of an application for a patent for invention and any decision made by the administrative department for patent under the State Council to proceed at its own discretion to examine as to substance an application for a patent for invention;

(4) declassification of secret patents;

(5) rejection and withdrawal of an application or an application deemed to be withdrawn for a patent for invention after its publication;

(6) grant of the patent right;

(7) invalidation of the patent right;

(8) termination of the patent right;

(9) devolution of the right of patent application or a patent right;

(10) record of contracts on the license for exploitation of a patent;

(11) pledge, preservation and cancellation of the patent right;

(12) grant of compulsory license for exploitation of the patent;

(13) recovery of a patent application or patent right;

(14) changes on the name or address of the patent holder;

(15) notification to the party concerned whose address is unknown;

(16) rectifications made by the administrative department for patent under the State Council;

(17) other relevant matters.

The specifications, appended drawings and patent claims of inventions or utility models shall be separately published in full by the administrative department for patent under the State Council.

Chapter IX Fees

Article 90 For filing an application for a patent with or fulfilling other related formalities in the administrative department for patent under the State Council, the following fees shall be charged:

(1) application fee, additional fee for application, publishing and printing fee;

(2) fee for substantial examination of an application for a patent for invention and re-examination fee;

(3) patent registration fee, fee for announcement and printing, fee for maintaining the application and annual fee;

(4) fee for a change in the bibliographic data, fee for claiming the right of priority, fee for requesting recovery of rights, fee for requesting extension of time limit, fee for the retrieval report on the patent for utility model;

(5) fee for requesting invalidation, fee for requesting suspension of procedures, fee for requesting compulsory license, fee for requesting a ruling on exploitation fee of a compulsory license.

The standards for the payment of all fees enumerated in the preceding paragraph shall be stipulated by the administrative department for price under the State Council jointly with the administrative department for patent under the State Council.

Article 91 The fees provided in the Patent Law and in these Rules may be paid directly to the administrative department for patent under the State Council or remitted by bank or post, or be paid by other means stipulated by the administrative department for patent under the State Council.

Where a fee is remitted by bank or post, the correct application number or patent number and the names of the paid fees shall be indicated in the remittance slip submitted to the administrative department for patent under the State Council. In case of any inconsistency with the provisions in this Paragraph, it shall be deemed that the payment formalities have not been fulfilled.

Where the fees are directly paid to the administrative department for patent under the State Council, the date when the payment was made shall be regarded as the payment date. Where the fees are remitted by post, the date of mailing indicated by the postmark shall be regarded as the payment date. Where the fees are remitted by bank, the date of actual remittance by the bank shall be regarded as the payment date; however, if the period from the remittance date to the date of receipt by the administrative department for patent under the State Council has exceeded 15 days, the date of receipt by the administrative department for patent under the State Council shall be regarded as the payment date unless the post office or the bank has issued an attestation.

Where any patent fee is over-paid, re-paid or wrongly paid, the party concerned may, within 1 year as of the payment date, claim a refund to the administrative department for patent under the State Council.

Article 92 The applicant shall, after receipt of the notification of acceptance of the application, pay the application fee, publishing and printing fee and necessary additional fee at the latest within 2 months as of the application date. Where the fee has not been paid or fully paid at the expiry of the time limit, the application shall be deemed to have been withdrawn.

The applicant who claims the right of priority shall pay the fee for claiming the right of priority at the same time with the payment of the application fee. Where the fee has not been paid or fully paid at the expiry of the time limit, the right of priority shall be deemed to have not been claimed.

Article 93 Where a party concerned requests substantial examination, recovery of right or re-examination, the relevant fee shall be paid within the time limit for such requests as provided respectively by the Patent Law and these Rules. Where the fee has not been paid or fully paid at the expiry of the time limit, the request shall be deemed to have not been made.

Article 94 Where an applicant for a patent for invention has not been granted a patent right within 2 years as of the application date, he/it shall pay a fee for the maintenance of the application as of the third year.

Article 95 When the applicant fulfills the formalities of patent registration, he/it shall pay a fee for patent registration, a fee for announcement and printing and the annual fee for the year in which the patent right was granted. The applicant for a patent for invention shall pay each year's fee for maintaining the application in lump sum, excluding the year when the patent right is granted. Where such fees have not been paid at the expiry of the time limit, the formalities of patent registration shall be deemed to have not been fulfilled. The subsequent annual fees shall be paid in advance within a month before the expiry of the preceding year.

Article 96 Where the annual fee of the application or the annual fee for subsequent years after the patent has been granted is not paid in due time by the patent holder, or the fees are not fully paid, the administrative department for patent under the State Council shall notify the patent holder to rectify the insufficiency within 6 months as of the expiry of the time limit within which the annual fee was to be paid, and at the same time pay a surcharge, the amount of which to be calculated by charging an additional 5% of the total amount of the annual fee for that year for each month exceeding the provided payment date. Where the fees have not been paid at the expiry of the time limit, the patent right shall be terminated as of the expiry of the time limit within which the annual fee should be paid.

Article 97 The fee for a change in the bibliographic data, fee for the retrieval report on the patent for utility model, fee for requesting the suspension of procedures, fee for requesting compulsory license, fee for requesting a ruling on exploitation fee of a compulsory license and fee for requesting invalidation shall be paid as stipulated within 1 month as of the date on which such request is made. The fee for requesting the extension of time limit shall be paid prior to the date of expiry of the corresponding time limit. Where the fee has not been paid or fully paid at the expiry of the time limit, the request shall be deemed to have not been made.

Article 98 Where an applicant or patent holder has difficulties in paying the various fees provided in these Rules, he/it may, in accordance with relevant provisions, submit a request to the administrative department for patent under the State Council, asking for a reduction or postponement of the payment. The measures for the reduction and postponement of the payment shall be stipulated by the administrative department for patent under the State Council through discussion with the financial department under the State Council and the administrative department for price under the State Council.

Chapter X Special Provisions on International Application

Article 99 The administrative department for patent under the State Council shall, in accordance with Article 20 of the Patent Law, accept the international applications for patent filed in accordance with Patent Cooperation Treaty.

The conditions and procedures for international applications for patent which are filed in accordance with Patent Cooperation Treaty and designated as China (hereinafter referred to as "international application"), to enter the National Phase in China, shall be subject to the provisions in this Chapter;

where there are no relevant provisions in this Chapter, they shall be subject to the relevant provisions in the Patent Law and other Chapters of these Rules.

Article 100 An international application on which the international application date has been determined in accordance with the Patent Cooperation Treaty and which has designated China shall be deemed to be an application filed to the administrative department for patent under the State Council, and the international application date shall be deemed to be the application date mentioned in Article 28 of the Patent Law.

Where, in the International Phase, an international application or the designation of China in the international application is withdrawn or is deemed to have been withdrawn, the effectiveness of the international application shall be terminated in China.

Article 101 The applicant of an international application shall, within 20 months as of the priority date mentioned in Article 2 of the Patent Cooperation Treaty (which is referred to as "priority date" in this Chapter), fulfill the following formalities for the international application to enter the National Phase in China to the administrative department for patent under the State Council;

where the international application has selected China within 19 months as of the priority date and the selection continues to be effective, the applicant of the international application shall, within 30 months as of the priority date, fulfill the following formalities for the international application to enter the National Phase in China to the administrative department for patent under the State Council:

(1) submit the written declaration of the international application to enter the National Phase in China; the international application number shall be indicated in the declaration, and the type of patent right which is required to be obtained, the name of the invention-creation, the name of the applicant, the address of the applicant and the name of the inventor shall be indicated in Chinese; the above-mentioned contents shall be consistent with the records in the International Bureau;

(2) pay the application fee, additional fee for application and publishing and printing fee provided in Paragraph 1 of Article 90 of these Rules;

(3) submit the Chinese translation of the words in the specification, the patent claim, and the appended drawings and of the abstract of the international application which is filed in a language other than Chinese; or submit a copy of the abstract in the international publishing document if the international application is filed in Chinese;

(4) submit a copy of the appended drawing if there is any in the international application; and submitting copies of the drawings appended to the abstract in the international publishing document if the international application is filed in Chinese.

Where the applicant fails to fulfill the formalities for the entry of the National Phase in China within the time limit provided in the preceding paragraph, he/it may, after paying the fee for extending the time limit, fulfill the formalities prior to the expiry of a corresponding period of 22 or 32 months commencing from the priority date.

Article 102 Where the applicant fails to fulfill the formalities for the entry of the National Phase in China within the time limit provided in Paragraph 2 of Article 101 of these Rules, or in case of any of the following circumstances at the expiry of this time limit, the effectiveness of his/its international application in China shall be terminated:

(1) the international application number is not indicated in the declaration for the entry of the National Phase in China;

(2) the application fee or the publishing and printing fee provided in Paragraph 1 of Article 90 of these Rules or the fee for extending the time limit provided in Paragraph 2 of Article 101 of these Rules has not been paid;

(3) the international application is filed in a language other than Chinese but the Chinese translation of the specification and the patent claim of the original international application is not submitted.

Where the effectiveness of an international application in China has been terminated, the provisions in Paragraph 2 of Article 7 of these Rules shall not be applied.

Article 103 Where the applicant falls under any of the following circumstances when fulfilling the formalities for the entry of the National Phase in China, the administrative department for patent under the State Council shall notify the applicant to rectify his/its application within a specified time limit:

(1) the Chinese translation or the copies of the abstract have not been submitted;

(2) the copies of the appended drawings or of the drawings appended to the abstract have not been submitted;

(3) the name of the invention-creation, the name of the applicant, the address of the applicant or the name of the inventor is not indicated in Chinese in the declaration for the entry of the National Phase in China;

(4) the content or format of the declaration for the entry of the National Phase in China is not in conformity with relevant provisions.

Where the applicant has not rectified his/its application at the expiry of the time limit, the application shall be deemed to have been withdrawn.

Article 104 Where an international application has been amended in the International Phase, and the applicant requests examination on the basis of the amended application documents, the applicant shall submit the amended Chinese translation before the administrative department for patent under the State Council has completed the preparation of national publication.

Where the Chinese translation is not submitted within this period, the administrative department for patent under the State Council shall not take the amendment requested by the applicant in the International Phase into account.

Article 105 The applicant shall also, when fulfilling the formalities for the entry of the National Phase in China, meet the following requirements:

(1) he/it shall designate the name of the inventor in the declaration for the entry of the National Phase in China if the inventor has not been designated in the international application;

(2) he/it shall, if, in the International Phase, having fulfilled the formalities on the change of the applicant in the International Bureau, provide the certified documents proving that the applicant after the change enjoys the right of application;

(3) he shall, when necessary, provide the certified documents proving that the applicant enjoys the right of priority if he is not the same person as the applicant of the earlier application (which is regarded as the basis of the right of priority), or if he changes his name after filing the earlier application;

(4) he/it shall make a statement in the declaration for the entry of the National Phase in China, and shall, within 2 months as of the date when he/it fulfills the formalities for the entry of the National Phase in China, submit relevant certified documents provided in Paragraph 2 of Article 31 of these Rules if the invention-creation involved in the international application is under any of the circumstances enumerated in Item (1) or Item (2) of Article 24 of the Patent Law, and a declaration was made when the international application was filed.

Where the applicant fails to meet the requirements in Item (1), Item (2) and Item (3) of the preceding paragraph, the administrative department for patent under the State Council shall notify the applicant to make a rectification within the specified time limit.

Where the contents in Item (1) or (2) have not been rectified at the expiry of the time limit, the application shall be deemed to have been withdrawn; where the contents in Item (3) have not been rectified at the expiry of the time limit, the right of priority shall be deemed to have not been claimed.

Where the applicant fails to meet the requirements in Item (4) of Paragraph 1 of this Article, his/its application shall not be subject to Article 24 of the Patent Law.

Article 106 Where the applicant has made a statement on deposit of the sample of biomaterial in accordance with the Patent Cooperation Treaty, he/it shall be deemed to have met the requirements in Item (3) of Article 25 of these Rules.

The applicant shall state in the declaration for the entry of the National Phase in China the documents recording the matters on the deposit of the sample of the biomaterial and the specific location of the record in the documents.

Where the matters on the deposit of the sample of the biomaterial have been recorded in the specification of the international application originally filed by the applicant, but have not been stated in the declaration for the entry of the National Phase in China, he/it shall make a rectification within 4 months as of the date when he/it fulfills the formalities for the entry of the National Phase in China.

Where no rectification has been made at the expiry of the time limit, the biomaterial shall be deemed to have not been submitted for deposit.

Where the applicant submits the receipt of deposit and the viability proof on the sample of the biomaterial to the administrative department for patent under the State Council within 4 months as of the date when he/it fulfilled the formalities for the entry of the National Phase in China, he/it shall be deemed to have submitted them within the time limit provided in Item (1) of Article 25 of these Rules.

Article 107 Where the applicant has claimed one or more rights of priority in the International Phase, and claimed the right(s) of priority to continue to be effective at the time of entering into the National Phase in China, the written declaration shall be deemed to have been made in accordance with Article 30 of the Patent Law.

Where the applicant has any written errors in the written declaration for the right of priority made in the International Phase or does not indicate the application number of the earlier application, he/it may, when fulfilling the formalities for the entry of the National Phase in China, make a request for a correction or indicate the application number of the earlier application.

 Where the applicant has made a request for a correction, he/it shall pay a fee for requesting the correction of the right of priority.

Where the applicant has submitted the copies of the earlier application documents in the International Phase in accordance with the Patent Cooperation Treaty, he/it needs not to submit the copies of the earlier application documents to the administrative department for patent under the State Council when fulfilling the formalities for the entry of the National Phase in China.

 Where the applicant fails to submit the copies of the earlier application documents in the International Phase, the administrative department for patent under the State Council may, when considering it necessary, notify the applicant to supplement them within a specified time limit.

 Where the applicant has not supplemented them at the expiry of the time limit, his/its right of priority shall be deemed to have not been claimed.

Where the right of priority is deemed to have not been claimed in the International Phase and this information has been announced by the International Bureau, the applicant may, when fulfilling the formalities for the entry of the National Phase in China, request with justified reasons the administrative department for patent under the State Council to recover its claim for the right of priority.

Article 108 Where an applicant requests before the expiry of a period of 20 months as of the priority date the administrative department for patent under the State Council to dispose of and examine the international application in advance, he/it shall, in addition to fulfilling the formalities for the entry of the National Phase in China, make the request in accordance with Paragraph 2 of Article 23 of the Patent Cooperation Treaty.

Where the International Bureau has not transmitted the international application to the administrative department for patent under the State Council, the applicant shall submit a copy of the confirmed international application.

Article 109 For an international application for the patent right for utility model, the applicant may, within 1 month as of the date when he/it fulfills the formalities for the entry of the National Phase in China, make a request to the administrative department for patent under the State Council for amending the specification, appended drawings and patent claim.

The international application for the patent right for invention shall be subject to Paragraph 1 of Article 51 of these Rules.

Article 110 Where the applicant discovers any diction errors in the Chinese translation of the submitted specification, patent claim or appended drawings, he/it may, within the following provided time limit, make a request for a correction in accordance with the original international application:

(1) before the administrative department for patent under the State Council has completed the preparation of national publication;

(2) within 3 months as of the receipt of the notification sent by the administrative department for patent under the State Council on the entry of the application for a patent for invention into the stage of substantial examination.

Where the applicant is to correct errors in the translation, he/it shall make a written request, submit the corrected page of the translation and pay the provided fee for correcting the translation.

Where the applicant is to correct the translation as required in the notification of the administrative department for patent under the State Council, he/it shall, within a specified time limit, fulfill the formalities provided in Paragraph 2 of this Article;

where the provided formalities have not been fulfilled at the expiry of the time limit, the application shall be deemed to have been withdrawn.

Article 111 For an international application claiming the patent right for invention, the administrative department for patent under the State Council shall, if considering it to be in conformity with relevant provisions in the Patent Law and these Rules after the preliminary examination, publish it in the Patent Gazette;

 where the international application is filed in a language other than Chinese, the Chinese translation of the application documents shall be published.

Where an international application claiming for the patent right for invention is internationally published by the International Bureau in Chinese, it shall be subject to Article 13 of the Patent Law as of the date of international publication;

where it is published by the International Bureau in a language other than Chinese, it shall be subject to Article 13 of the Patent Law as of the date of publication by the administrative department for patent under the State Council.

For an international application, "publication" mentioned in Articles 21 and 22 of the Patent Law means the publication provided in Paragraph 1 of this Article.

Article 112 Where an international application contains two or more inventions or utility models, the applicant may, after fulfilling the formalities for the entry of the National Phase in China, file a division of application in accordance with Paragraph 1 of Article 42 of these Rules.

Where, in the International Phase, when the international retrieval entity or international preliminary examination entity considers the international application is not in conformity with the requirement of singularity provided in the Patent Cooperation Treaty, the applicant does not pay the additional fee as provided, thus causing some parts of the international application to not undergo international retrieval or international preliminary examination, or when entering the National Phase in China, the applicant requires the above-mentioned parts to be regarded as the basis of examination, and the administrative department for patent under the State Council considers the singularity of the invention has been well-judged by the international retrieval entity or the international preliminary examination entity, it shall notify the applicant to pay the fee for recovering singularity within a specified time limit.

Where the said fee has not been paid or fully paid at the expiry of the time limit, the parts in the international application which have not undergone retrieval or international preliminary examination shall be deemed to have been withdrawn.

Article 113 Where the applicant submit the documents or pay the fees in accordance with Article 101 of these Rules, the date when the administrative department for patent under the State Council receives the documents shall be regarded as the submission date, and the date when it receives the fees shall be regarded as the payment date.

In case of any delay in the mail delivery of a submitted document, and if the applicant has proven within 1 month as of his/its discovery of the delay that the document to be delivered has been sent by mail 5 days before the expiry of the time limit provided in Article 101 of these Rules, the document shall be deemed to be received on the date of the expiry of the time limit.

However, the time for the applicant to provide the proof shall not be later than 6 months after the expiry of the time limit provided in Article 101 of these Rules.

The applicant may submit documents to the administrative department for patent under the State Council in accordance with Article 101 of these Rules by facsimile. Where the applicant submits a document by facsimile, the date when the administrative department for patent under the State Council receives the facsimile shall be regarded as the submission date.

The applicant shall, within 14 days as of the date when he/it sent the facsimile, submit the original version of the facsimile to the administrative department for patent under the State Council. Where the original version has not been submitted at the expiry of the time limit, the document shall be deemed to have not been submitted.

Article 114 Where the right of priority is claimed in an international application, the applicant shall, when fulfilling the formalities for the entry of the National Phase in China, pay the fee for claiming the right of priority; if the said fee has not been paid or fully paid, the administrative department for patent under the State Council shall notify the applicant to make the payment within a specified time limit; where it has still not been paid or fully paid at the expiry of the time limit, the right of priority shall be deemed to have not been claimed.

Article 115 Where, in the International Phase, an international application is refused by a relevant international entity to grant an international application date on it or is declared to be deemed to have been withdrawn, the applicant may, within 2 months as of his/its receipt of the notice, request the International Bureau to transfer the copy of any document in the file of the international application to the administrative department for patent under the State Council, and fulfill the formalities provided in Article 101 of these Rules in the administrative department for patent under the State Council within this period.

The administrative department for patent under the State Council shall, after receiving the documents transmitted by the International Bureau, re-examine whether the decision made by the international entity is correct.

Article 116 Where, for the patent right granted upon the international application, the protection scope determined in accordance with Article 56 of the Patent Law has exceeded the scope expressed in the original text of the international application due to errors in the translation, the protection scope which is limited on the basis of the original text shall prevail;

 while if the protection scope is narrower than the scope expressed in the original text of the international application,  due to the same reason, the protection scope at the time of authorization shall prevail.

Chapter XI Supplementary Provisions

Article 117 Any person may, upon approval by the administrative department for patent under the State Council, inspect or copy the files of the published or announced patent applications and the Patent Register, and may request the administrative department for patent under the State Council to issue a copy of the Patent Register.

The files of patent applications which are deemed to have been withdrawn or which have been rejected or actively withdrawn, shall not be preserved after the expiry of 2 years as of the date on which such applications cease to be valid.

The files of patent rights which have been abandoned or invalidated or terminated shall not be preserved after expiry of 3 years as of the date on which such patent rights cease to be valid.

Article 118 Any application document which is submitted to, and any formalities which are fulfilled in the administrative department for patent under the State Council, shall use the unified format prepared by the administrative department for patent under the State Council which shall be signed or sealed by the applicant, the patent holder, any other interested person or his/its representative.

Where any patent agency is entrusted, such agency shall affix its stamp.

Where a change of the name of the inventor, the name, nationality or address of the applicant or the patent holder, or the name or address of the patent agency, or the name of the patent agent is requested, a request for a change in the bibliographic data shall be made to the administrative department for patent under the State Council, and the supporting documents with reasons for the change shall be affixed.

Article 119 The documents relating to a patent application or patent right which are mailed, to the administrative department for patent under the State Council shall be mailed by registered letter, not by parcel.

For any document (not including any application document submitted for the first time) submitted to and any formalities fulfilled in the administrative department for patent under the State Council, the application number or the patent number, the title of the invention-creation, and the name of the applicant or the patent holder shall be indicated.

One letter may contain documents relating to one application only.

Article 120 Any application document shall be typed or printed. All the characters shall be in black ink, neat and clear, and none of them shall be altered.

The appended drawings shall be made in black ink with the aid of drafting instruments. The lines shall be uniformly thick and well-defined, and shall not be altered.

The written request, specification, patent claim, appended drawings and abstract shall be numbered separately in Arabic numerals and arranged in numerical order.

The script of application documents shall run horizontally. Only one side of each sheet shall be used.

Article 121 The administrative department for patent under the State Council shall formulate the guidelines for patent examination in accordance with the Patent Law and these Rules.

Article 122 These Rules shall enter into force on July 1, 2001. The Rules for the Implementation of the Patent Law of the People's Republic of China which was revised on December 12, 1992 upon approval of the State Council and promulgated by the Patent Office of China on December 21, 1992 shall be nullified at the same time.