China PCT patent

How can a China PCT patent? What are the time limits? What documents are needed? And how much does it cost approximately?

Time Limits

Usually, the applicant should complete the procedures for entering the national stage in China within 30 months starting from the priority date.

If the procedures are not done on time, after paying the grace period fee, the applicant can complete the entry procedures within 32 months starting from the earliest priority date. If the deadline for entry falls on a legal holiday, it will be postponed automatically to the first working day.

Required Documents

When the international application is in a foreign language:

A statement for the international application to enter the national stage in China (in the form made by the National Intellectual Property Administration).

The Chinese translation of the original international application's description.

The Chinese translation of the original international application's claims.

The Chinese translation of the abstract.

Copies of the original drawings and schematic diagrams (if there are any). If there is text in the drawings, replace it with the corresponding Chinese words.

When the international application is in Chinese:

A statement for the international application to enter the national stage in China (in the form made by the National Intellectual Property Administration).

A copy of the abstract in the international publication text.

A copy of the schematic diagram in the international publication text (if there is one).

If the applicant asks for early processing and national publication before the international publication is completed, copies of the original application's description, claims and drawings (if there are drawings) also need to be submitted.

Costs

Application fee: The application fee for an invention is 900 yuan, and for a utility model, it's 500 yuan.

Publication printing fee: 50 yuan.

Additional application fees: For the description that has more than 30 pages, it's 50 yuan per page. For the description with more than 300 pages, it's 100 yuan per page. For the claims that have more than 10 items, it's 150 yuan for each additional item.

Priority claim fee (if applicable): 80 yuan for each item.

Grace period fee (if entering late): 1000 yuan.

Other possible fees include the fee for correcting translation errors (300 yuan in the preliminary examination stage and 1200 yuan in the substantive examination stage), the fee for restoring unity of invention 900 yuan and so on. The specific fees may change according to the actual situation.

Please note that if the applicant doesn't have a permanent residence or business place in China, it's necessary to entrust a legally established patent agency to handle patent affairs, and there will be corresponding agency fees.