Invention patents, utility models and design patents—including the route most foreign applicants never consider.
Blue tags open a dedicated page; for the other services, book a consultation and we handle them directly.
China has three kinds of patent, and foreign applicants usually know only one of them.
Invention patents are the kind you know: substantive examination, a CNY 900 filing fee plus a CNY 2,500 substantive examination fee, and typically one to three years to grant.
Utility models are the kind you probably don't. They protect the shape or structure of a product, there is no substantive examination, the official fee is CNY 500, and grant takes around 6–14 months. It is a real, enforceable right. Chinese companies use it constantly and foreign companies mostly don't—which means that in a dispute with a domestic competitor, the other side may well hold a granted patent before you have received your first office action. Filing an invention patent and a utility model on the same disclosure at the same time (“dual filing”) is a strategy worth understanding before you decide whether to use it.
Design patents protect appearance. Official fee CNY 500, around 4–6 months.
All three carry annuities for the full life of the patent, and that is where the real cost of a Chinese patent portfolio lies. The annuity schedule is on the fees page—worth reading before you file twenty applications, not after.
You receive the electronic Notification of Acceptance 1–3 working days after filing (this locks in the filing date); after grant, the registration fee is paid and the certificate is issued about 1 month after payment. On the drafting side: an invention or utility model application takes about 15 working days to draft; photographing and drawing a design takes 1–3 working days.
Two official fast tracks: rapid pre-examination—applications that pass pre-examination at a local IP protection center enter CNIPA's accelerated examination channel (subject to the local industry catalog and recordal with the center); prioritized examination—eligible applications can request it under the Administrative Measures for Prioritized Patent Examination (《专利优先审查管理办法》, 2017). Which route is open to you, and whether it is worth taking, depends on the technical field and the applicant's status—we tell you after assessing it.
Official fees are set by CNIPA and published in CNY; you can check them against the government fee schedule. Our own service fee is in the third column—quoted in writing for each case.
| Service | Official fee (CNIPA) | Our fee |
|---|---|---|
| Invention patent—filing per application | CNY 900 | Quoted case by case |
| Invention patent—substantive examination fee per applicationMust be requested within 3 years of the filing date (or priority date). | CNY 2,500 | Quoted case by case |
| Utility model—filing per applicationNo substantive examination. Foreign applicants often overlook this route—faster, cheaper and enforceable. See the guide. | CNY 500 | Quoted case by case |
| Design patent—filing per application | CNY 500 | Quoted case by case |
| Office action response per response | — | Quoted case by case |
| Patent reexamination (after refusal) invention | CNY 1,000 | Quoted case by case |
| Annuity monitoring and payment per patent per year | —Annuity amounts follow the fee schedule published by the National Development and Reform Commission—see the fee guide. | Quoted case by case |
| PCT national phase entry into China per applicationWithin 30 months of the earliest priority date. | — | Quoted case by case |
Full official fee breakdown (including annuities and renewals): fee guide. Last checked 2026-07-16.
Every agency does these things, and every agency should get them right. That is not where the difference lies.
A registration in Class 9 does not cover all of Class 9—only the similar groups you actually designated. A competitor can register your name in the same class, in the similar groups you left empty, and own it lawfully.
20+
3,000+
150+
20+
What CNIPA official fees really cost →
The official fee schedules for trademarks and patents, with document numbers and effective dates—including where CNIPA's own pages contradict the current schedule.
It protects the shape or structure of a product. There is no substantive examination, so it is granted in months rather than years; the official fee is CNY 500 rather than CNY 3,400; and it is fully enforceable. The reason to want one is speed: in a market where competitors may file utility models on everything, a pending invention application is not yet a right you can assert.
Yes—either by claiming Paris Convention priority (within twelve months of the first filing) or through the PCT national phase (within thirty months of the earliest priority date). Which one 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. A note on citations: since the 2020 amendment this is Article 18—it was Article 19 in the 2008 text, and a great deal of English-language material still cites the old number.
Invention: CNY 900 filing fee plus CNY 2,500 for substantive examination. Utility model: CNY 500. Design: CNY 500. After that, annuities run for the life of the right—which is where the real cost of a Chinese patent portfolio lies. Annuity schedule →
Invention patents go through substantive examination and are typically granted in one to three years. Utility models skip substantive examination and are granted in about 6–14 months; designs in about 4–6 months. That speed gap is a strategy, not a footnote—see the note above on filing an invention patent and a utility model for the same invention on the same day.
Annuities fall due every year for the life of the right, and missing a single payment means the right lapses. We docket the deadlines, pay on your behalf and warn you ahead of the years when the fee steps up—that is the “annuity management” line in the table above.
Yes. We handle overseas filings through the PCT and Paris Convention routes, working with partner firms in 150+ countries and regions—so the Chinese and foreign members of one patent family sit in one docket instead of falling between two firms.
