Newsletter
Priority Claim Practice – Submission of Documents
In the past, for a patent application filed with priority claim, the patent applicant must timely submit to the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) a certified priority document together with (1) a reproduced copy of the cover page of the priority document and (2) two copies of the Chinese translation of the cover page of priority document. Since cover pages of priority documents issued in foreign patent offices all contain English-language content, the IPO, on 16 February 2015, made an announcement as follows:
"For a patent application filed with priority claim, a patent applicant no longer needs to submit (1) a reproduced copy of the cover page of the priority document and (2) two copies of the Chinese translation of the cover page of priority document. If the IPO deems it necessary, it will notify the patent applicant to submit the above-mentioned document(s) and the patent applicant may submit the same then."
The above-mentioned announcement took effect as of 16 February 2015 and it applies retroactively to patent applications filed prior to 16 February 2015.