MOF Announces Patent Fee Reduction Measures

To reduce enterprises’ and individuals’ burden of patent application and maintenance, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) of China has recently enacted the Measures for the Reduction of Patent Fees. Starting from 1 September 2016, patent-related charges can be reduced by as much as 85%.

According to the Measures, for individuals whose average monthly income was less than RMB3,500 (RMB42,000 annually) in the previous year, and enterprises, business units, social organisations and non-profit making scientific research institutes whose corporate taxable income was less than RMB300,000 in the previous year, are eligible for an 85% reduction of the following charges: patent application fee, excluding announcement printing fee and additional application fee; substantive examination fee for invention patent applications; annual fee, i.e. the annual fee for six years from the year the patent is granted; and re-examination fee. In case two or more individuals or units are co-applicants for a patent or are co-owners of a patent, the above-mentioned fees could be reduced by 70%.

Patent applicants or patentees who request for reduced patent charges should submit their request forms together with relevant supporting materials. Patent applicants or patentees who submit their forms via the online Patent-related Affairs Service System (of the State Intellectual Property Office) and have their requests examined and approved for record filing, will just need to submit another request form without relevant supporting materials should they apply for fee reduction again within the same calendar year.

For details of the Measures in Chinese, please see:

http://szs.mof.gov.cn/bgtZaiXianFuWu_1_1_11/mlqd/201608/t20160803_2373991.html