Interpretation of the Decision of the China National Intellectual Property Administration on Amending the Patent Examination Guidelines
The Decision of the China National Intellectual Property Administration on Amending the Patent Examination Guidelines was issued on November 10, 2025. To facilitate the public's understanding and application of the revised content of the Patent Examination Guidelines (hereinafter referred to as the Guidelines), an interpretation of the overall situation and main content of this amendment is hereby provided.
I. Overall Situation of the Amendment
(I) Background of the Amendment
The Party Central Committee and the State Council attach great importance to intellectual property work. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that it is necessary to improve the laws and regulations related to intellectual property protection and enhance the quality and efficiency of intellectual property examination. The Report to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China stated that it is necessary to "strengthen the legal protection of intellectual property rights and establish a basic system supporting comprehensive innovation". The Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China deliberated and adopted the Recommendations of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Formulating the 15th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development, emphasizing the need to strengthen the protection and application of intellectual property rights.
In practice, with the rapid development of new fields and new business forms in China and the new progress in patent examination work, some new situations have emerged in the field of patents, putting forward new requirements for patent examination work. First, patent examination rules need to adapt to the rapid development of new fields and new business forms such as artificial intelligence. Second, it is necessary to actively respond to the reasonable demands of innovation entities regarding patent examination, authorization and right confirmation. Third, some effective and mature experiences in patent examination practice need to be further consolidated and promoted.
Therefore, to implement General Secretary Xi Jinping's important instructions and expositions on intellectual property work and the decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee and the State Council on intellectual property work, and to respond to the new requirements of all parties for patent examination work, it is indeed necessary to amend the Guidelines.
(II) Process of the Amendment
In January 2025, the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) launched the amendment work of the Guidelines. On the basis of fully investigating the needs of innovation entities and summarizing the experience of examination practice, a Draft Amendment to the Patent Examination Guidelines (for Public Comments) was formulated and made public for comments from April 30 to June 15. Focusing on the hot issues concerned by the society, CNIPA further solicited suggestions through written comments, seminars, on-site investigations and other methods, fully adopted the opinions of all parties, and further revised and improved the draft amendment. After being deliberated and adopted at the executive meeting of CNIPA, it was issued by the 84th Decree of CNIPA on November 10, 2025, and shall come into force on January 1, 2026.
(III) Ideas and Main Content of the Amendment
Guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, the amendment to the Guidelines thoroughly implements the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and the Second, Third and Fourth Plenary Sessions of the 20th Central Committee, and strengthens the legal protection of intellectual property rights. Adhering to a demand-oriented approach, this amendment focuses on improving the patent examination standards for new fields and new business forms, and carries out the amendment work on the content that urgently needs to be solved in examination practice and on which opinions are relatively mature and consistent. The main content includes the following aspects:
Improve the protection rules for new fields and new business forms to further encourage industrial innovation
Strengthen the examination of artificial intelligence ethics, clarify the writing requirements for application documents, and provide examination examples to meet the needs of the development of artificial intelligence technology.
Add special provisions on the examination of bitstream patent applications, clarify the examination standards for protectable subjects and the writing requirements for application documents, so as to adapt to the new situation of the rapid development of the streaming media industry.
Clarify the definition of plant varieties, expand the scope of patentable subjects, form a reasonable and effective connection with the plant variety protection system, and strengthen the protection of intellectual property rights in the seed industry.
Optimize the examination standards and rules to address the urgent problems in examination practice
Clarify the handling method for "dual applications filed on the same day", allowing the grant of an invention patent only by waiving the utility model patent right, thus returning to the original legislative intent.
In accordance with the legal connotation and essential requirements of the inventiveness clause, clarify that features in the claims that do not contribute to solving the technical problem usually do not bring inventiveness to the technical solution, so as to improve the quality of application writing and examination.
Clarify the requirements for filling in inventor identity information and the obligation of patent agencies to verify the applicant's identity information and contact information, effectively connect with relevant laws and regulations, regulate the practice of patent agencies and patent agents, and maintain the order of patent applications.
Improve the calculation rules for additional application fees, excluding the number of pages of computer-readable sequence listings submitted in the specified format, so as to reduce the burden on applicants.
Adjust the provisions on refund scenarios to ensure the accuracy and timeliness of refunds.
Specify that an invalidation request shall not be accepted if it is not the true intention of the requester, so as to further regulate the abuse of the patent invalidation system.
Provide that invalidation requests with essentially the same grounds and evidence shall not be accepted or heard, further clarifying the principle of "res judicata".
Clarify that the examination decisions in the reexamination and invalidation procedures can be optimized and adjusted, which can focus on reflecting the resolution of substantive disputes on the basis of ensuring the standardization of the decision content.
Improve the rules for the compensation of patent term, clarifying that the delay caused by the reexamination procedure in which the rejection decision is revoked based on new grounds stated or new evidence submitted by the reexamination requester is a reasonable delay in the authorization process.
Consolidate mature practices in examination practice to better serve innovation entities
Clarify the principle of on-demand examination, add relevant provisions on accelerated examination, and provide on-demand examination services featuring "accelerating when necessary, slowing down when appropriate, combining speed and slowness, and adapting to changes", so as to meet the actual needs of innovation entities.
Clarify the relevant examination rules for divisional applications filed without claiming priority, so as to protect the right of divisional applicants to claim priority.
Clarify the meaning of the relevant information on the filing date in the patent certificates of international applications entering the national phase and divisional applications.
Clarify the form of submitting amended documents and the rules for determining the examination documents in the invalidation procedure, so as to clearly explain the modification method and content.
