Patent Priority Examination in China: The New 2026 Measures, Who Qualifies and How Fast

Korea's IP office has just published a guide to patent priority examination, covering documents, fees and common deficiencies (Korea Publishes Guide to Patent Priority Examination). China has just replaced its own rules: CNIPA Order No. 85, the Measures for the Administration of Patent Priority Examination, took effect on 1 September 2026 and repealed Order No. 76 of 2017. The new Measures narrow the stage at which an invention application qualifies and list cases where priority examination is normally refused. This guide explains who can apply, what to file, how fast CNIPA must act and what sends a case back to the normal track. It is general information; a specific case needs professional advice.

What can be examined with priority

Article 4 covers four kinds of matter:

• Invention applications in substantive examination on which no first action has been issued. Once the examiner has started and sent an office action, it is too late. This is the main change from the 2017 rules.
• Utility model and design applications.
• Reexamination cases for inventions, utility models and designs.
• Invalidation cases for inventions, utility models and designs.

Acceleration under bilateral or multilateral agreements, such as the Patent Prosecution Highway, and fast-track examination after pre-examination by a national IP protection centre follow their own rules, not these Measures.

Applications and reexaminations: the grounds

Article 5 requires significant innovative value and prospects of commercial use, plus one of these grounds:

• emerging or future industries, or work on key core technologies;
• industries encouraged by a provincial government or a city government with districts;
• the applicant has put the invention into industrial use or is ready to, or has evidence that someone else is using it;
• a first filing in China on which the applicant has since requested substantive examination in another country or region;
• other cases of major importance to the national or public interest.

Invalidation: only with a live dispute

For invalidation cases, Article 6 looks for a pending dispute: an infringement dispute already before a local IP office or a court; a CNIPA administrative ruling or mediation on a major infringement dispute, a drug patent linkage ruling, or open-licence mediation; a licence contract dispute in arbitration; or a patent of major national or public importance. Either the requester or the patentee may apply, and the local IP office, court or arbitration body handling the dispute may also request priority directly.

If someone else has patented your invention and you are weighing invalidation, see Someone Patented Your Invention in China: Ownership Action, Inventorship or Invalidation?

When priority is normally refused

Article 8 lists four cases:

• a divisional whose parent has already been granted accelerated examination;
• an invention application where the applicant filed a utility model for the same invention on the same day;
• a matter that has already received priority or other accelerated examination in the same procedure;
• a request based on a first Chinese filing followed by examination abroad, where evidence shows the application clearly has no prospect of grant.

On divisionals, see Divisional Patent Applications in China: Deadlines, Dates Kept and Fees.

What to file

• The case must be filed electronically (Article 10). If there are several applicants, requesters or patentees, all must agree (Article 9).
• A request form, with evidence for the ground relied on.
• A recommendation: the request must be signed off by a relevant State Council department or a provincial IP office. The only exception is an application relying on the "first filed in China, then examined abroad" ground. Reexamination and invalidation requests always need a recommendation.
• Optionally, prior art or prior design material to help the examiner search faster.

Each provincial IP office sets its own recommendation rules (Article 20), and CNIPA allocates priority quotas by region (Article 19), so check the rules of the relevant province first. There is no extra fee beyond the normal official fees (Article 12).

How fast CNIPA must act

Counted from the date of the notice granting priority examination, except in difficult or complex cases (Article 15):

• invention applications: first action within 45 days, final decision within one year;
• utility model and design applications: decision within two months;
• reexamination: decision within seven months;
• invalidation: five months for inventions and utility models, four months for designs.

Shorter response deadlines, and how you lose priority

Under priority examination you have one month to answer an office action on an invention, and 15 days for a utility model or design (Article 16). CNIPA may end priority examination and return the case to the normal track if you miss those deadlines, ask for an extension, make voluntary amendments after priority is granted, or file false material (Article 17).

For reexamination and invalidation the triggers include a requester's extension, new evidence or grounds from the invalidation requester, claim amendments by the patentee other than deletion, suspension of the case, or dependence on the outcome of another case (Article 18).

A requester or patent agency found to have acted in bad faith is barred from filing priority requests for one year (Article 22).

Frequently asked questions

We have already received the first office action on our invention application. Can we still ask for priority? No. The Measures only cover invention applications in substantive examination before the first action.

Can we amend the claims during priority examination? Voluntary amendments under Rule 57 of the Implementing Regulations after priority is granted can end it. Make the amendments before you file the request.

Can foreign applicants use it? The Measures do not exclude them, but most grounds need a recommendation from a provincial IP office or a State Council department. For applications first filed abroad, the Patent Prosecution Highway is the more usual route, and it runs under its own agreements, not these Measures.

J&C Intellectual Property Agency, founded in 2008, is a CNIPA-recorded trademark agency and a member of the China Trademark Association. We help foreign businesses protect their brands and IP in China.