Recently, the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) released the Administrative Measures for the Priority Examination of Applications for Inventions (hereinafter refers to as the Measures), to be effective as of August 1, 2012.
According to the Measures, SIPO shall provide a green path for important applications which are of significant economic and social effect and which are related strategic industry and green technology. The purpose is to accelerate the transfer of important science and technologies and foster and develop strategic emerging industries and green technologies.
Per applicant’s request, the application will be at the priority list of examination. Upon approval of the request, the first official action is to be issued within 30 working days and the case is to be concluded within a year.
The measures do not apply to cases under (PPH, China-EU cooperation agreement and other bilateral or multilateral cooperation agreements.
Applications for inventions that are entitled to priority examination include:
(1) Significant applications involving technologies related to energy saving and environment protection, new generation information technology, biology, high-end equipment manufacturing, new energy, new materials and new energy vehicles, etc;
(2) Applications in the fields which contribute to the environment-friendly development, such as those related to low-carbon technologies and resource conservation;
(3) Applications that are first filed in China and later filed in other countries or regions of the world claiming the same subject matter;
(4) Other applications that are significant for the national interests or public welfare and therefore are qualified for priority examination.
The Measures provides that the request for priority examination application should to be filed in electronic form and should request for substantive examination. The time limit for responding office action is two months. If the applicant fails to reply within the deadline, SIPO will stop the priority examination and treat it as normal application.
