To advance the extension of the right to receipt and service of legal documents to litigation proceedings in the administrative procedures of grant and confirmation of patents, and to address difficulties in service of legal documents to a foreign party involved in administrative litigation, the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) has revised the filling instructions for seven request forms, including the Invention Patent Request Form and the Utility Model Patent Request Form, by adding the instruction "Unless any statement to the contrary, the recipient of legal documents for patent business in the territory of PRC and the address of such recipient shall extend to administrative litigation procedures in the future."

The revised request forms are hereby announced (see the attachment). The above amendment will take effect from January 10, 2025, and the corresponding former versions of the forms will be discontinued simultaneously. This amendment does not involve any adjustments to the client-side and electronic application data standard specifications.

The current paper-based request forms for patent applications in force can be accessed and downloaded immediately by the party by logging in to the website of the CNIPA (http://www.cnipa.gov.cn) and navigating to the "Form Download" subsection under the "Government Services" column.

Attachment: the revised seven request forms

(Source: website of the CNIPA)