Newsletter
"Patent Examination Pilot Program for Startup Companies"; Effective 1 January 2021
In recent years, the government has paid greater attention to startups. To further provide the startups having R&D capabilities with a more active and positive examination so as to better improve their patent portfolios, on 14 October 2020, the Intellectual Property Office (hereinafter "IPO") announced a "Patent Examination Pilot Program for Startup Companies" (hereinafter "pilot program"), effective 1 January 2021.
According to the pilot program, eligible applicants are those startups established less than five years before the patent filing date (or priority date if claimed), provided that said startup was the applicant of the invention patent concerned at the time of filing. A petition form for the pilot program may be submitted online with the IPO after the startup receives official notice that the IPO is about to conduct substantive examination of the invention patent, and prior to receipt of the first office action.
For those complying with the mentioned requirements, the IPO will apply the pilot program to its examination. The specific steps are summarized as follows.
1. The IPO will hold an interview based on its authority: Within one month after the pilot program application is filed, the IPO will provide the applicant(s) with interview materials, including a search report and a brief summary of their opinions on the reasons for not granting a patent, and arrange a time for interview with the applicant. In principle, said interview will be held within one month after the applicant receives the interview materials. In the interview, the IPO will not only inform the applicant the reasons for not granting a patent, but also provide constructive suggestions on amendment.
2. The applicant shall submit a response or amendments in due time: The applicant shall submit a response or amendments within one month after the interview. If the applicant fails to submit the response or amendments in due time, the examination will be continued on the basis of the existing file under the general examination procedure.
3. A notice of the examination result will be issued within one month after receipt of the response or amendments: In principle, if the applicant submits the response or amendments within the designated period of time, within one month after the receipt of the same, the IPO will issue a notice of the examination result, including the decision to grant or an office action.
In view of the above, the pilot program reduces the wait for the first office action from an average of 12-18 months to only one month.
However, it should be noted that pilot program has trial period of merely half a year, and is limited to 30 cases. The IPO will evaluate whether to continue or amend the program based on the results. Startups can take the above information into consideration to formulate their plans of patent portfolio which are the most beneficial to development of their enterprises.