Services
Invention, utility model and design — including the route most foreign applicants never consider.
Three kinds of patent exist in China, and foreign applicants tend to arrive knowing about one of them.
The invention patent is the one you know: substantive examination, ¥900 to file plus ¥2,500 for examination, and typically one to three years to grant.
The utility model is the one you probably do not. It covers the shape or structure of a product, there is no substantive examination, it costs ¥500, and it grants in roughly 6–14 months. It is a real, enforceable right. Chinese companies use it constantly and foreign companies mostly do not — which means that in a dispute with a domestic competitor, they may well have a granted right before you have a first office action. Filing both, on the same disclosure, is a strategy worth understanding before you dismiss it.
The design patent protects appearance. ¥500, roughly 4–6 months.
Annuities run for the life of every one of them, and that is where the cost of a Chinese portfolio actually lives. The annuity table is on the fees page — worth looking at before you file twenty applications, not after.
Official fees are CNIPA's, published in yuan so you can check them against the government schedule. Our own service fee is quoted per matter, in the second column.
| Service | Official fee (CNIPA) | Our fee |
|---|---|---|
| Invention patent — filingper application | ¥900 CNY | By quotation |
| Invention patent — substantive examination feeper applicationMust be requested within 3 years of the filing date (or priority date). | ¥2,500 CNY | By quotation |
| Utility model — filingper applicationNo substantive examination. Foreign applicants routinely overlook this route — it is faster, cheaper, and enforceable. See our guide. | ¥500 CNY | By quotation |
| Design patent — filingper application | ¥500 CNY | By quotation |
| Response to an office actionper response | — | By quotation |
| Reexamination (appeal against refusal)invention | ¥1,000 CNY | By quotation |
| Annuity monitoring and paymentper patent, per year | —Annuity amounts are set by the NDRC schedule — see the fees guide. | By quotation |
| PCT national phase entry into Chinaper application30 months from the earliest priority date. | — | By quotation |
Full official-fee schedule, including annuities and renewals: the fees guide. Last checked 2026-07-16.
What CNIPA actually charges →
Official fee schedules for trademarks and patents, with document numbers and effective dates. Including the part where CNIPA's own page contradicts the current standard.
It protects the shape or structure of a product. No substantive examination, so it grants in months rather than years, at ¥500 rather than ¥3,400. It is fully enforceable. The reason to want one is speed: in a market where your competitor may be filing utility models on everything, a pending invention application is not a right you can assert.
Yes — Paris Convention priority within twelve months, or the PCT national phase within thirty months of your earliest priority date. Which one suits you depends on how many countries you are entering and when you need the Chinese right in hand.
Yes. The Patent Law imposes the same requirement as the Trademark Law on applicants with no habitual residence or place of business in China. One note on citation: this is Article 18 since the 2020 amendment — it was Article 19 in the 2008 text, and a great deal of English-language material still cites the old number.
Invention: ¥900 filing plus ¥2,500 substantive examination. Utility model: ¥500. Design: ¥500. Annuities then run through the life of the right — which is where the real cost of a Chinese portfolio lives. The annuity table →
An invention patent typically grants in one to three years, after substantive examination. A utility model, which is not substantively examined, grants in roughly 6–14 months; a design in about 4–6 months. That speed difference is a strategy, not a footnote — see the note on double filing above.
Annuities fall due every year for the life of the right, and a missed payment kills it. We docket the deadlines, handle the payments and flag the years where the fee steps up — that is the annuity-management line in the table above.
Yes. We file outbound via the PCT and Paris routes, working with partner IP firms across 110+ countries and regions — so the Chinese and overseas sides of one family stay under one docket instead of falling between two providers.
