Plan to Expedite Examination of Invention Patent Applications Amended

摘要

On 1 January 2010, an amendment of the Implementation Plan for Expediting Examination of Invention Patent Applications (Implementation Plan) took effect. The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) announced the amendment on 7 December 2009. The contents of the amended Implementation Plan are as follows:rnAfter the IPO issues a notice confirming the commencement of the substantive examination or the reexamina-tion of an invention patent application, regardless of whether the examination or reexamination has been conducted, an applicant may apply for expedited examination or reexamination (collectively, examination) of the invention patent application by submitting relevant documents on the basis of any of the three grounds stated in the Implementation Plan.