The official fees currently applicable for Chinese patent applications takes effect on November 22, 2019. To help the foreign applicants to learn about how much Chinese patent applications may cost officially, we briefly introduce basic filing fees of a normal Chinese patent application and some miscellaneous fees under specific circumstances, such as excess claim fees, size fees and annuities. [1]
Official Fees for Invention Patent Applications:
| Description of Basic Official Fee | Amount |
| Basic Filing Fee | ¥900/$138 |
| Each Priority Claim | ¥80/$12 |
| Publication Fee | ¥50/$8 |
| Request for Substantive Examination | ¥2,500/$385 |
| Registration fee *usually includes an annuity fee *the amount of annuity fee depends on which year the application receives a Notification of Registration. | ¥905/$139 or ¥1,205/$185 |
| Basic fee in Total | ¥4,435/$682 or ¥4,735/$728 |
| Other Miscellaneous fees | Amount |
| Each claim in excess of 10 | ¥150/$23 |
| Each page in excess of 30 (counted by the application documents in Chinese) | ¥50/$8 |
| Each page in excess of 300 (counted by the application documents in Chinese) | ¥100/$15 |
| Each month extended for response (first time, two months in total) | ¥300/$46 |
| Each month extended for response (second time, two months in total) | ¥2,000/$308 |
| Request for Reexamination | ¥1,000/$154 |
| Petition for revival | ¥1,000/$154 |
| Surcharge for Late National Phase Entry within 32-months Period *applicable for application entered by PCT route | ¥1,000/$154 |
| Request for Invalidation | ¥3,000/$462 |
We will take an example for better illustration. If an applicant would like to file a Chinese invention application, claiming priority to a US application, the official fees are as below.
- Typical Case: 1 US priority & 35-page application documents in Chinese & 20 claims
| Description of Basic Official Fee | Amount |
| Filing | ¥900/$138 |
| Excess claims fee for claims in excess of 10 (10 extra claims, ¥150 per extra claim) | ¥1,500/$231 |
| Application size fee for pages in excess of 30 (5 extra pages, ¥50 per extra page) | ¥250/$38 |
| Fee for Priority Claim (1 priority claim, ¥80 per priority claim) | ¥80/$12 |
| Application Publication Fee | ¥50/$8 |
| Request for Substantive Examination | ¥2,500/$385 |
| Registration fee *usually includes an annuity fee *the amount of annuity fee depends on which year the application receives a Notification of Registration. | ¥905/$139 or ¥1,205/$185 |
| Basic fee in Total | ¥6,185/$951 or ¥6,485/$997 |
Official Fees for Utility Model Applications:
| Description of Basic Official Fee | Amount |
| Basic Filing Fee | ¥500/$77 |
| Each Priority Claim | ¥80/$12 |
| Registration fee *usually includes an annuity fee *the amount of annuity fee depends on which year the application receives a Notification of Registration. | ¥605/$93 |
| Basic fee in Total | ¥1,185/$182 |
| Other Miscellaneous fees | Amount |
| Each claim in excess of 10 | ¥150/$23 |
| Each page in excess of 30 | ¥50/$8 |
| Each page in excess of 300 | ¥100/$15 |
| Request for Patentability Evaluation Report | ¥2,400/$369 |
| Request for Reexamination | ¥300/$46 |
| Surcharge for Late National Phase Entry within 32-months Period *applicable for application entered by PCT route | ¥1,000/$154 |
| Request for Invalidation | ¥1,500/$231 |
Official Fees for Design Applications:
| Description of Basic Official Fee | Amount |
| Basic Filing Fee | ¥500/$77 |
| Each Priority Claim | ¥80/$12 |
| Registration fee *usually includes an annuity fee *the amount of annuity fee depends on which year the application receives a Notification of Registration. | ¥605/$93 |
| Basic fee in Total | ¥1,185/$182 |
| Other Miscellaneous fees | Amount |
| Request for Patentability Evaluation Report | ¥2,400/$369 |
| Request for Reexamination | ¥300/$46 |
| Request for Invalidation | ¥1,500/$231 |
Some notes for the fees:
- Applicants shall pay the basic filing fee, priority claim fee (if applicable), publication fee (applicable for patent applications), additional fees (including excess claim fee and application size fee) to the CNIPA along or after the application filing.
- For direct filing or applications entered by Paris Convention route, applicants shall pay the official fees within two months after the filing of application, or within 15 days after receipt of the filing receipt.
- For applications entered by PCT route, applicants shall pay the official fees after the filing or within 30-month deadline. However, the national entry date shown on the filing receipt will be the later of Chinese application filing date or the payment date.
- Besides, for PCT applications which are not filed or searched by the CNIPA, some national stage fees may be waived. Specifically,
- for PCT applications filed with the CNIPA, some basic fees, e.g., basic filing fee, excess filing fee and 50% of the fee for requesting substantive examination will be waived during the Chinese national stage.
- for PCT applications searched by the CNIPA, 50% of the fee for requesting substantive examination will be waived during the Chinese national stage.
- for PCT applications searched by the European Patent Office, Japan Patent Office and Swedish Patent and Registration Office, 20% of the fee for requesting substantive examination will be waived during the Chinese national stage.
