Newsletter
China to Commence Submission of Patent E-filing Documents in XML Format
According to the announcement issued by the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) on 26 May 2025 (https://www.cnipa.gov.cn/art/2025/5/26/art_75_199841.html - hereinafter referred to as the “Announcement”), the CNIPA will require applicants, in respect of certain specified request procedures filed electronically (including: patent applications, requests for reexamination and requests for invalidation), to timely submit to the CNIPA certain patent application documents designated by the CNIPA as mandatory for submission in Extensible Markup Language (XML) format (hereinafter referred to as “XML Format Patent Application Documents”). Based on the details of the aforementioned Announcement and information obtained through our consultation with the CNIPA, the specific implementation of the Announcement is explained as follows:
A. New Regime Effective as of 1 October 2025
1. For patent applications filed on or after 1 October 2025, although the CNIPA does not mandatorily require the submission of “Required XML Format Patent Application Documents” at the time of patent filing, should the applicant subsequently request any of the following examination mechanisms for the same patent application —namely, prioritized examination, accelerated examination, Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH), deferred examination or centralized examination (hereinafter collectively referred to as “Examination Mechanisms”), the submission of “Required XML Format Patent Application Documents” will be required. Failure to submit said “XML Format Patent Application Documents” at the time of patent filing will affect the applicant’s right to request any of the aforementioned Examination Mechanisms.
In other words, for patent applications filed on or after 1 October 2025, if the applicant may subsequently request any of the above-mentioned Examination Mechanisms, the applicant must submit said “XML Format Patent Application Documents” at the time of filing the patent application.
2. For an invention, utility model or design patent case, said “XML Format Patent Application Documents” will be required for the below-listed proceedings of the said patent application: (1) a national filing application, (2) a PCT national phase entry application, (3) a reexamination proceeding and (4) a patent invalidation proceeding. Also, “XML Format Patent Application Documents” include the following:
(1) a request form;
(2) for an invention or utility model patent case: the claim(s), specification, drawings and abstract; and
(3) for a design patent case: design drawings or photographs and brief description(s) of design.
For the sake of ease of explanation, the documents listed in items (2) and (3) are referred to as “Patent Application Documents”.
For a reexamination case, if the applicant requests an amendment to the Patent Application Documents, the “XML Format Application Documents” shall include replacement pages for the amended patent application documents. For a patent invalidation case against an invention or utility model patent, if the patentee requests an amendment to the claims, the “Required XML Format Application Documents” shall include replacement pages for the amended claims.
3. Apart from the aforementioned “XML Format Patent Application Documents,” at the current stage, other electronically filed patent application documents (such as various supporting documents involved in the patent application process, amendment comparison sheets, sequence listings, etc.) may continue to be submitted in an electronic file format acceptable to the CNIPA, i.e., PDF format.
4. As stated above, the submission requirements for “XML Format Patent Application Documents” also apply to reexamination requests and patent invalidation cases filed on or after 1 October 2025.
For a patent application which is not filed by submitting the “XML Format Patent Application Documents”, when the applicant applies for reexamination of the said patent application and the applicant needs to apply for an amendment of the Patent Application Documents and apply for any of the Patent Examination Mechanisms, no matter when the amendment is made, the applicant must submit to the CNIPA the XML Format of the amendment page(s) at the time when applying for said amendment. Also, for an invention and utility model patent case which is not filed by submitting the “XML Format Patent Application Documents”, for which an invalidation action is filed against the said patent case on or after 1 October 2025 and for which the patentee will file a defense against the invalidation action, if the patentee needs to apply for an amendment to the claims and apply for the Patent Examination Mechanisms, the patentee must submit to the CNIPA the XML format replacement page(s) for the amended claim(s).
B. Full Implementation Starting from Year 2026
According to Article 1 of the “Announcement,” the new regime to be implemented from 1 October 2025 will be upgraded to a full implementation requirement starting from Year 2026. In other words, from Year 2026 onwards, the CNIPA will only accept electronically filed patent application documents submitted in XML format. The “Announcement” does not specify any details regarding said full implementation from Year 2026.
C. E-filing Patent Application Document Standards, XML Format Conversion Tools and User Manuals
Article 4 of the “Announcement” expressly provides that patent applicants and patent agencies may download and obtain the specification standards for E-filing patent application documents, the XML format conversion tools and user manuals via the “Tool Download” section of the CNIPA Patent Business Handling System (http://cponline.cnipa.gov.cn). Applicants and patent agencies may use the conversion tool or the patent application document editing function of the Patent Business Handling System to prepare XML format files, or use third-party tools to prepare XML format files that comply with CNIPA standards.
D. Recommendation and Reminders
The specification standards for E-filing patent application documents, XML format conversion tools and user manuals formulated by the CNIPA contain specific formatting requirements for patent application documents. For example, during the use of the XML format conversion tools, the details of documents with special formatting may lead to errors in cross-page continuous tables, complex tables, chemical formulas and mathematical equations. During the XML format conversion process, the original document format may result in the converted XML file not directly complying with the standards set by the CNIPA, thereby necessitating manual review and correction of the XML format, which requires additional time investment.
Accordingly, for urgent patent filing projects, the patent application documents submitted at the time of patent filing (for example, patent application documents drafted in Simplified Chinese or Chinese translations of foreign-language patent application documents) must comply with the XML format requirements set by the CNIPA so as to avoid delays in patent filing or the risk of losing the position to request the relevant Examination Mechanism(s).
For patent cases where the applicants engage our firm (Lee and Li in Taiwan - https://www.leeandli.com/EN/) as well as Lee and Li-Leaven IPR Agency Ltd. in Beijing (our strategic alliance firm in China - https://www.chinaleaven.com/EN) through our Greater China Patent Services and for which we are responsible for the translation and preparation of the Chinese-language Patent Application Documents, we will use our internally developed XML conversion tool for handling XML conversion of Patent Application Documents before patent filing. If an applicant provides us with the Chinese-language Patent Application Documents directly (including the patent application documents prepared in the Chinese language or Chinese-language translation of the patent application documents), please inform the document preparer of the aforementioned documents to pay attention to and confirm that the patent application documents comply with the XML format requirements stipulated by the CNIPA.
We will continue to monitor the implementation guidance regarding the comprehensive XML format requirements effective from Year 2026, and will notify our clients in a timely manner. If you have any question, please do not hesitate to contact us for clarification.