1.  Introduction
Article34 provides that where, after receiving a patent application  for invention, the  patent  office, upon  preliminary  examination, finds  the application to be in conformity with the requirements of the patent  Law, it  shall publish the  application promptly after the  expiration  of  eighteen months from the date of filing.  upon the request of the appli-  cant, the patent office may publish the application earlier.   Thus, the  preliminary examination of a patent application for invention is an in-  dispensable procedure  after  receipt  of  the  application  and before  its  publication.
The main tasks of the preliminary examination of a patent appli-  cation for invention areas follows:
(1)to examine whether or not the application documents submit-  ted by the applicant are in conformity with the provisions of the patent  Law and its Implementing Regulations.  where the patent office finds  that there is any defect which can be rectified, it shall notify the appli-  cant to eliminate the defect by submitting rectifications so as to make  the said documents  meet the  requirements  for  publication;or  where  the patent office finds that there is any defect which cannot be correc- ted, it shall send an office Action stating the nature of the defect, and  terminate the examination procedure by rejecting the application;
(2) to examine whether or not other documents relating to the ap-  plication, submitted by the applicant at the time of filing or thereafter,   are in conformity with the provisions of the patent Law and itsImple-  menting Regulations.  where the patent office finds that there is any  defect in these documents, it shall, depending on the nature of the de-  fect, notify the applicant to eliminate the defect by submitting rectifica-  tions, or make the decision directly that the said documents are deemed  not to have been submitted;
(3) to examine whether or not the other documents relating to the application were submitted by the applicant within the time limit pre- scribed in the patent Law or its Implementing Regulations, or specified by the patent office.   where the  said  documents  were  not  submitted within the time limit,or were submitted after the expiration of the time limit, the patent officeshall, depending on the circumstances, make a decision that the application is deemed to have been withdrawn, or the said documents are deemed not to have been submitted;and
(4) to examine whether or not the time limit of the payment of any relevant fee paid by the applicant and the amount of such fee are in conformity with the provisions of the patent Law or itsImplemen- ting Regulations.  If the fee is not paid, or not paid in full, or not paid within the time limit, the patent officeshall, depending on the circum- stances, make a decision that the  application is  deemed to have been withdrawn or the relevant request is deemed not to have been made.
The scope of the preliminary examination of a patent application for invention includes:
(1)formal examination of application documents, including whe- ther or not the application contains the documents required by Article 26, and whether or not the form of those documents is obviously not in conformity with the provisions of Rule16-19 or23, or is in conformity with the provisions of Rule2 , 3 , 26 . 2 , 119  or  121 ;
(2) examination on obvious substantive defects in application doc- uments, including whether or not the  application  obviously  falls  into the scope prescribed in Article5 or25, or is not in conformity with the provisions of Article18, or 19 . 1 or 20 . 1, or is obviously not in con- formity with the provisions of Article2 . 2 , 26 . 5 , 31 . 1 or 33,or Rule17 or 19;
(3) formal examination of other documents, including whether or not the other formalities and documents relating to the application are in conformity with the provisions of Articles10 , 24 , 29 , 30,and Rules 2 , 3 , 6 , 7 , 15 . 3 , 15 . 4 , 24 , 30 , 31 . 1-31 . 3 , 32 , 33 , 36 , 40 , 42 , 43 , 45 , 46 ,86 , 87 and 100;and
(4) examination  of  relevant  fees,  including  whether  or  not  the payments of the relevant fees of the application have been made in ac- cordance with the provisions of Rules93 , 95 , 96 and 99 .

2.  Principles of Examination
In the procedure of preliminary examination, the examinershall a- bide by the following principles of examination.
(1)principle of confidentiality
In the patent application examination and approval proceedings,  the examinershall be obliged to keep secret the patent application documents  and  other  contents  related  to  patent  application  that  are  not published or announced, and other information that is not proper to be made known in accordance with the relevant provisions on secrecy.
(2)principle of written examination
The examinershall examine on the basis of the written documents submitted by the applicant.  The office Action(including the Notifica- tion to Make Rectification)and the result of examination shall be sent in written form to notify the applicant.   In the  preliminary examination procedure, in principle no interview will beheld.
(3)principle of hearing
Before making a decision of rejection, the examinershall notify  the applicant of the facts, grounds and evidence for rejection, and give  the applicant at least one opportunity to make observations and/or a-  mend the application documents.  when the examiner makes a decision  of rejection, the  facts,  grounds  and  evidence  for  rejection  shall  have  been notified to the applicant, and the  decision  shall not contain any  new facts, grounds and/or evidence.
(4)principle of procedural economy
where in conformity with the provisions, the examinershall im-  prove the efficiency of examination as much as possible, and shorten  the examination period.   with  regard  to  the  application  with  defects  that can be eliminated through rectifications, the examinershall con-  duct a comprehensive examination and do his best to point out all the  defects in one Notification to Make Rectification.  The examiner may, on his own  initiative,  correct  the  obvious  clerical  mistakes  and  symbol  mistakes in the documents of application for a patent, and, shall notify  to the applicant.   with regard to the  application with  substantive  de-  fects that  can  not  be  eliminated  through  rectifications,  the  examiner  may only point out the substantive defects in the office Action without  examining the formality defects in the application documents and other  documents.
In addition to complying with the above principles, the examiner shall notify the applicant of subsequent procedures that can be initiated while making the decision that the application is deemed not to have been filed, the  decision that the  application  is  deemed  withdrawn, or the decision of rejection.


3. procedure of Examination
3. 1 passing preliminary Examination
upon preliminary examination,a patent application whose appli-  cation documents are in conformity with the relevant provisions of the  patent Law  and  its  Implementing  Regulations  and  have  no  obvious  substantive defects, including a patent application that has met there-  quirements  of  preliminary   examination   after  rectification,  shall  be  deemed to  have  passed  the  preliminary  examination.    The  examiner  shall  issue  the  Notification  of passing  preliminary  Examination   and  point out the text of the application on which the publication is based.Then the application enters into the publication procedure.

3.2 Rectification of Application Documents
During preliminary  examination, for  a  patent  application  whose  application documents have defects that can be eliminated through rec-  tifications, the  examinershall  conduct  a  comprehensive  examination  and issue the Notification to Make Rectification, in which the defectsex-  isting in the patent application shall be pointed out, the grounds  shall  be stated, and the time limit for responseshall be specified.  where the  defects  still   exist  in  the  application  documents  after  the  applicant  makes  rectification,  the  examinershall  issue  another  Notification  to  Make Rectification.

3.3 Handling of obvious substantive Defects
During preliminary  examination, for  a  patent  application  whose  application documents have obvious substantive defects that can not be  eliminated through  rectifications,  the  examinershall  issue  an  office  Action, in which the substantive defects existing in the patent applica-  tion shall be pointed out, the grounds shall be stated, and the time limit  for responseshall be specified.
The substantive defects existing in the application documents shall be pointed out and handled only if the defects are obvious and affect the publication.

3.4 Response to Notification
The applicantshall, after receiving the Notification to Make Rectifi-   cation or the office Action, make rectification or observations withinthe specified time limit.  The applicantshall, when making rectification  of the patent application, submit the rectification and the corresponding  replacement sheets of the amended documents.  The replacement sheets  of the amended application documents shall be in duplicate, while only  one copy is required for other documents.  The amendment of the ap-  plication documents shall eliminate the defects which have been point-  ed out in the Notification to Make Rectification, and shall not go beyond  the scope of disclosure contained in the description and claims filed on  the date of filing.
where the applicant makes no response within the time limit, the  examinershall, depending on the circumstances, issue the Notification  that Application Deemed to be withdrawn or other notifications.  where  it is difficult for the applicant to make response within the  specified  time limit due to justified reasons, he may request to extend the time  limit.  The provisions of chapter7, section 4 of part Vof these Guide-  lines shall apply in handling the request for extension of the time li-  mit.
where a patent application is deemed to have been withdrawn re-  sulting from failure to meet the time limit due to force majeure oroth-  er justified reasons, the applicant may, within the prescribed time lim-  it, submit a request to the  patent office  for restoration  of the right.   The provisions of chapter7, section 6 of part V of these Guidelines  shall apply in handling the request for restoration of the right.

3.5 Rejection of Applications
where obvious  substantive defects exist in the application docu-  ments and remain unrectified after the applicant makes observations or  amendment  upon  the  examiner,s  issuance   of  the   office  Action,  or  where formality defects exist in the application documents and remain  unrectified after the applicant makes observations or rectification upon  the examiner,s issuance of the Notification to Make Rectification twice  in respect of the said defects, the examiner may make a decision of re-  jection.
The text  of  the  decision  of  rejection  shall  include  three  parts:   brief of the case, grounds for rejection, and conclusion.  The examina-  tion procedure of the rejected application shall be briefly described in  the part of brief of the case.  The facts, grounds and evidence for rejec-  tion shall be explained in the part of grounds for rejection.  The corre-  sponding provisions of the patent Law and its Implementing Regulations which the patent application is contravening shall be clearly indi- cated in the part of conclusion with a statement that the patent applica- tion is rejected in accordance with Rule44 . 2 .

3.6 Interlocutory Examination and Handling after Reexamination
where the applicant is not satisfied with the decision of rejection,   the applicant may, within the prescribed time limit, file areexamina-  tion request with the patent Reexamination Board.  For the interlocuto-  ry examination for the reexamination request and the handling after re-  examination, the provisions of chapter8 , section 8 of partⅡ of these  Guidelines shall apply.

4.  Formal Examination of Application Documents

4. 1 Request
4. 1. 1 Title of Invention
The title of the invention in the requestshall be identical with the  one in the description.  The title of the invention shall state briefly and  accurately the claimed subject matter and category of the patent appli-  cation for invention.  The title of the invention shall not include non-  technical terms,  such  as  the  name  of  an  individual  or  entity,  trade-  mark, code or model, etc. , nor shall it include any ambiguous terms,   such as“and others”,“and its like”etc.  General terms shall not be  used if they do not provide any information about the invention, for  example, only such terms as“method”,“equipment”,“composition”  and “compound”are used as the title of the invention.
In general, not more than 25 chinese characters  shall be used in the title of invention.  In special circumstances,e.g. , some inventions in the field of chemistry, the number of chinese characters used in the title of invention can be up to 40 at most.

4. 1.2 Inventor
As prescribed in Rule13, the inventorshall be the person who has made creative contributions to the substantive features of an invention-
creation.  However, the examiner does not examine whether or not the inventor whose name is filled in the request meets the requirements of the above  provisions  in  the  procedures  of  examination  of  the  patent office.
The inventorshall bean individual, and an entity or organization shall not be filled in the request.  For example, it shall not be filled in as“xx project group”, etc.  The inventorshall use his true name other than his pen name or other informal name.  where there is more than one inventor, the names thereof shall be indicated in the order from left to right.  where the inventor filled in the request is not in conformity with the provisions, the examinershall issue the  Notification to Make Rectification.  where the applicant corrects the inventor,s name filled in the request,he or it shall submit the rectification, the declaration of the party involved and the corresponding certifying document.
The inventor  may  request  the  patent  office  not  to  publish  his  name.  where such request is made when the patent application,“(do  not publish the name)”shall be indicated after the corresponding in-  ventor filled in the item of“inventor”in the request.  After the request  for not publishing the inventor,s name is made, if it is considered to  be in conformity with the provisions, the patent officeshall not pub-  lish the inventor,s name in the patent Gazette, the separate copy of the  application for patent for invention application, separate copy of patent  for invention and the certificate of patent, and shall indicate the phrase  “request not to publish the name”in the corresponding position.  The  inventorshall not request his name to be published afterwards.  where  the request for not publishing the inventor,s name is made after the  patent application is filed,a written declaration signed or sealed by the  inventorshall be submitted.  However, if such request is made after the  patent application enters into the procedure of preparation for publica-  tion, it shall be deemed not to have been made.  The examinershall is-  sue the Notification that Request Deemed Not to Have Been submitted.  A
foreign inventor may use his initials in foreign language in the chinese translation of his name.  The initial of the first name shall be followed by a dot before the family name, such as M . Jones.

4. 1.3 Applicant

4.1.3.1 Applicant Being Chinese Individual or Entity
For a service invention, the right to apply for a patent belongs to the entity for which the inventor serves.  while for anon-service in- vention, the right to apply for a patent belongs to the inventor himself.
In general, it is not necessary for the examiner to examine the eligibility of the applicant filled in the request in the examination procedure of the patent office.  where the applicant is an individual, it may  be presumed that the invention is anon-service invention, and the ap-  plicanthas the right to file the patent application.  where the examiner  determines the eligibility of the applicant is obviously questionable ac-  cording to the contents of the patent application, the applicantshall be  notified to submit a proof of non-service invention provided by the en-  tity for which the applicant serves.  where the applicant is an entity, it  may be presumed that the invention is a service invention, and the en-  tity has the right to file the patent application.  where the eligibility of the entity as  an  applicant is  obviously  questionable, for  example, the  applicant filled in the request is“the scientific Research Division of xx  university”or“xx project Group of xx Research Institute”,the exam-  inershall issue the Notification to Make Rectification and notify the ap-  plicant to submit a document certifying its eligibility as an applicant.
where the applicant declares he is eligible and submits the certif-  ying documents, he is  considered to be  eligible as  an applicant.   The  proof provided by the competent department of a next higher level, and  the copy of the certificate of the legal representative with the  seal of  the entity affixed on or the copy of the valid business license with the  seal of the entity affixed on shall all be deemed to be valid certifying  documents.   where  the   applicant  filled  in  the  request  needs   to  be  changed  because   of  ineligibility,  the   changed   applicantshall   go  through the formalities of rectification, submitting rectification and the  declaration of changing applicant signed or sealed by both of the appli-  cant before changing and the applicant after changing.
where the applicant is a chinese entity or individual, its or his ti-  tle or name, address, postal code, the  code  of the  organization  or the  citizen identification card numbershall be stated in the request.  where  the applicant is an individual, his true name, not his pen name or other  informal name, shall be used.  where the applicant is an entity, its full  official title,not its abbreviation or its shorter title, shall be used.  The  title of the entity filled in the requestshall be the same as it appears in  the official seal of that entity.  where the applicant filled in the request  is not in conformity with the provisions, the examinershall issue the  Notification to Make Rectification.   where  the  applicant  corrects its  or  his name or title stated in the request, the rectification, the declaration  of the party involved and the corresponding certifying documentshall  be submitted.

4. 1. 3. 2  Applicant Being Foreign Individual, Enterprise or other Type of organization
Article18 provides that, where any foreign individual, enterprise or other type of organization having no habitual residence or business office in china files a patent application in china, the application shall be treated  under  the  patent  Law  in accordance  with  any  agreement concluded between  the  country  to  which  the  applicant  belongs  and china, or  in  accordance  with  any  international  treaty  to  which  both countries are party, or on the basis of the principle of reciprocity.
where the applicant is  a foreigner,a foreign enterprise  or other foreign  organization,  his  or  its  name  or title,  the  nationality,  or  the country or region in which the applicant is registered shall be stated in the request.  where the examiner has any doubt about the nationality,  or the registered place of the applicant filled in the request, he may in-
vite the  applicant to provide  a  certificate  of nationality  or  document
certifying the  registered  place  in  accordance  with  the  provisions  of  Rule33(1)or(2) .  where the applicant states in the request that it has  a business office in china, the examinershall invite the  applicant to  submit a certifying document provided by the local administrative au-   thority for industry and commerce.  where the applicant states that it  has a habitual residence in china, the examinershall invite the appli-  cant to submit a document provided by the public security department,   certifying that he is permitted to reside in china for one year orlon-  ger.
After it is affirmed that the applicant is a foreign individual, enter- prise or  other  type  of  organization  having  no  habitual  residence  or  business office in china, the  examinershall  examine  whether  or  not  the nationality or the registered place of the applicant, as filled in the  request, is in conformity with one of the following three conditions:
(1)the country to which the applicant belongs has concluded with china an agreement affording patent protection to the nationals of each other;
(2)the country to which the applicant belongs is a country party  to the paris convention for the protection of Industrial property (here-  inafter referred to as the paris convention)or a member of the world  Trade organization;or
(3)the country to which the applicant belongs provides patent pro- tection to foreign person on the basis of the principle of reciprocity.
The examinershall  start  examination  from  whether  or  not  the  country to which the applicant belongs(where the applicant is an indi-   vidual, it is determined by his nationality or habitual residence;where  the applicant is an entity or other organization, it is determined by its  registered place)is a country party to the paris convention or a mem-   ber of the world Trade organization.  Generally, it is not necessary to  examine whether or not there is any agreement, concluded between the  relevant country and china, providing patent protection for the nation-   alsof each other, because all of the countries which have concluded a-   greements with china are now parties to the paris convention or mem-   bers  of  the  world  Trade  organization.    only  when  the  country  to  which the applicant belongs is neither a country party to the paris con-   vention nora member of the world Trade organization, is it necessary  to examine whether or not there are provisions in the law of that coun-   try giving patent protection to foreign person on the basis of principle  of reciprocity.   If there  are  no  such  written  provisions  giving  patent  protection to foreign person on the basis of the principle of reciproci-   ty, the examinershall invite the applicant to submit a document certi-  fying that his or its country recognizes that chinese citizens and entities  are, under the  same  conditions  as  its  own  nationals, entitled  to  enjoy  patent right and other related rights in that country.  where the appli-   cant fails to submit such documents, the patent application shall be re-   jected in accordance with Rule44 on the ground that it is not in con-   formity with the provisions of Article18 .
where  the  applicant  comes   from  the   dependent  territory  of  a country party to the paris convention, it shall be examined whether or not that country has declared that the paris convention is applicable to that territory.
where the  applicant is  an individual, the  initials  in foreign  lan-  guage may be used in the chinese translation of his name.  The initial  of the first name shall be followed by a dot before the family name,   such as M . Jones.  Titles used to show any academic degree, occupa-  tion,etc. , for example“Dr.”,“prof.”, shall not be used in the appli-  cant,s name.  where the applicant is an entity or any other organiza-  tion, it shall use its full name of the official chinese translation.  It is  permitted to use certain title that indicates the status of independent le-  gal person in accordance with the laws of the country to which the ap-  plicant belongs.
4. 1. 3. 3  Application  Being Filed Jointly by chinese and Foreign Applicants
where a patent application is filed jointly by a chinese applicant and aforeign applicant, section 4 . 1 . 3 . 1 of this chaptershall apply to the chinese applicant, while section 4 . 1 . 3 . 2 of this chaptershall ap- ply to the foreign applicant.

4. 1.4 contact person
where an applicant is an entity and it has not appointed a patent  agency, the contact person shall be indicated.   The  contact person re-  fers to one who receives correspondence from the patent office for the  applicant.  The contact person shall be a staff of the entity.   The exam-  iner may  invite  the  applicant  to  submit  certifications  if  necessary.
where the individual applicant needs another person, instead of him-  self, to receive correspondence from the patent office, the contact per-  son may also be indicated.  only one person shall be indicated as the  contact person.   The  address,  postcode  and  telephone  number of  the  contact person shall also be indicated.

4. 1.5 Representative
where there are two or more applicants and no patent agency is  appointed,except for where otherwise provided for in the Guidelines,   or unless otherwise stated in the request, the first named applicantshall  be the representative.  where it is otherwise  stated in the request, the  stated representative must be one of the applicants.  Except for the for-  malities directly relating to the joint rights, the representative can re-  present all the applicants to go through other formalities in the patent  office.  The formalities directly relating to the joint rights include fil-  ing the  patent  application,  appointing  a  patent  agency,  assigning  the  right to apply for patent, the right of priority or the patent right, with-   drawing the patent application, withdrawing the claim for the right of  priority, abandoning the patent right, etc.  The formalities directly rela-   ting to the joint rights shall be signed or sealed by all the owners of the  rights.

4. 1.6 patent Agency and patent Agent
Any patent  agency  shall  be  established  in  accordance  with  the provisions of the Regulations Governing patent Agency and approved by the state Intellectual property office.
Any patent agency shall use the full name which has been regis-  tered with the state Intellectual property office, and which shall be the  same as that appearing in the official seal of that patent agency which  is affixed on the application documents.   Any abbreviation or initials  shall  not  be  used.   The  agency ,s  organizational  code  given by  the  state Intellectual property officeshall also be indicated in the request.
The term“patent  agent”refers  to  a  person  who  holds  a  patent Agent Qualification certificate, practices in a legitimate patent agency and has  acquired  a  professional  certificate  of  patent  Agent  from  the state Intellectual property office.  The patent agentshall use his true name  and  fill  the  professional  certificate  number  and  the  telephone number in the request.  The applicantshall not appoint more than two patent agents for one patent application.

4. 1.7 Address
The address(including the address of the applicant, patent agency  or contact person)in the requestshall meet the requirements for quick  and accurate delivery by post.  The domestic address shall include the  postcode, the names of the province(autonomous region),municipali-  ty (autonomous prefecture), district, street, the number of the house,   and the telephone number, or the names of the province(autonomous  region), county  (autonomous  county ),  town  (township ),  street,  the  number of the house, and the telephone number, or the names  of the  municipality directly under the central Government, district, street, the  number of the house, and the telephone number.  where a postbox is  available,it  may  be  used  in  accordance  with  the  stipulations.    The  name of an entity may be included in the address, but it cannot be used  to replace the address.  For example, only “xx university of xx prov-  ince”shall not be used as an address.  where the address is in a for-  
eign country, the names of the country and city (county, state)shall be clearly indicated, and the detailed address in foreign languageshall be appended.

4.2 Description
The first line on page one of the description shall state the title of the invention, which shall be the same as that appearing in the request and shall be located in the middle of the line.  No such words as“Title of Invention”or“Title”shall be used before the title of the invention.
A blank lineshall be left between the title of invention and the text of the description.
The description  shall  contain the following parts, and each  shall bear the headings respectively as follows:
Technical Field;
Background Art;
Contents of Invention;
Description of Figures;
specific Mode for Carrying out the Invention.
where there are no drawings in the description, the part of“De-  scription of Figures”and the corresponding heading shall be omitted.
As for  an  application  relating  to  nucleotide  or  amino  acid  se-  quence, such sequence listing shall be a separate part of the description  and its pages shall be numbered separately from the description.   The  applicantshall at the time of filing submit a copy of computer-readable  form which is in agreement with the sequence listing, such as aCD-  ROM or floppy disc recording the above sequence listing and meeting  the relevant prescriptions.  where the sequence listing recorded in the  CD-ROM or floppy disc is not in agreement with the sequence listing  stated in the description, the  sequence listing stated in the description  shall prevail.   where  no  such  copy  of  computer-readable  form  has  been submitted or the  submitted copy is  obviously not in conformity  with the sequence listing stated in the description, the examinershall  issue the Notification to Make Rectification  and invite the  applicant to  submit a corrected copy within the specified time limit.  If the appli-  cant fails to submit it within the specified time limit, the examinershall  issue the Notification that Application Deemed to be withdrawn.
The text  of the  description  may  contain  chemical,  mathematical formulas, or tables, but drawings shall not be included.
where there is  description of figures  in  the  text of the  descrip- tion, there  shall  be  drawings  in  accordance  with  description.  where there are drawings, there shall be description to such figures in the text of the description.
where the description states that it contains explanatory notes to  the drawings but the drawings or part of them are missing, the appli-  cantshall be invited, within the specified time limit, either to make a  declaration for the deletion of the explanatory notes to the drawings or  to furnish  the  corresponding  drawings.    If  the  applicant  submits  the  drawings later,the date of their delivery at or mailing to the patent Office shall be the  date  of filing  of the  application;and the  examiner  shall issue the Notification ofRedetermination ofFiling Date.  If the ex-  planatory notes to the drawings are to be deleted, the initial date of fil-  ing shall be retained.
The pages of the description shall be numbered consecutively in Arabic numerals.

4.3 Drawings
The drawings shall be executed in black ink with the aid of draft-  ing instruments including computer.  The lines shall be uniformly thick  and well  defined,  dark  enough,  and  free  from  color  and  alterations.   Engineering blueprint drawings shall not be used.
The oblique hatching of cross-sections shall not impede the clear reading of the reference signs and leading lines.
The same  sheet  of paper  may  contain  several  figures.   A single complete figure may be split over several different sheets, but the fig-
ureson each sheet must be independent, and shall be so arranged that  when all the figures are assembled to form a single complete figure, it  would not affect the clarity of the various figures.  No frame line irrel-  evant to the figures shall be used around the figures.  where there are  two or more figures, they shall be numbered consecutively in Arabic  numerals, and the word “Figure”shall be added before the number, for  example,“Figure1 ”,“Figure2 ” .  The numbershall be labeled right  below the corresponding figures.
Figures shall be preferably arranged in an upright position on a  sheet or sheets, clearly separated from one another.  where it is neces-  sary to arrange the figure not in an upright position because the dimen-  sion of the horizontal section of the part is obviously larger than that of  the vertical section, it shall be presented sideways with the top of the  figure at the left side of the sheet.  where there are two or more fig-  ureson one sheet and one of them is presented in that way, the rest of  the figures shall be presented in the same way.
Reference signs shall be numbered in Arabic numerals.  Reference signs that are not mentioned in the text of the description shall not ap- pear in the figures, and reference signs that do not appear in the figures shall not be  mentioned  in the  text  of the  description.   The  reference signs for the same composite parts shall be identical throughout the ap- plication documents.
The size and distinctness of the figureshall ensure that each detail of the figureshall be clearly distinguishable when the figure size is re- duced to two-third so as to meet the requirements of copying and scan- ning process.
The identical scaleshall be adopted in the same figure.  An addi-  tional figure of partial enlargement may be added in order to make cer-   tain part of the figure be shown distinctively.  Explanatory words are  prohibited in the figure except a single word or words that are indis-   pensable.  such word or words shall be in chinese, and its original language may be added in brackets where necessary.
Flowchartsand diagrams shall be considered as drawings, and in-  dispensable notes and symbols shall be included in its frame.  Generally, photographs shall not be used as drawings, however, under special  circumstances, for  example,  when   a  metallographic   structure,  histo-  cyte, or  electrophoresis  pattern  is  to  be  shown,  photographs  may  be  used as drawings and they may be pasted on the sheet of drawings.
All the pages  of the  drawings  of  description  shall  be  numbered consecutively in Arabic numerals.
4.4 Claims
where there are several claims, they shall be numbered consecu- tively in Arabic numerals.  No words such as“claim”,“item”shall be used before the numerals.
The claims may contain chemical or mathematical formulas, and tables if necessary, but shall not include drawings.
All the pages  of the  claims  shall  be  numbered  consecutively  in Arabic numerals.

4.5 Abstract
where a patent application for invention is filed, an abstract of the description (hereinafter referred to as the abstract)shall be submitted.

4.5. 1 Text of the Abstract
The text of abstract shall  state the title  of the invention and the technical field to which the invention pertains. It shall be drafted in a way which allows the clear understanding of the technical problem, the gist of the technical solution of that problem, and the principal use or uses of the invention.  where no title of invention is given or no gist of the technical solution is stated, the applicant shall be invited to make rectifications.  where  words  of commercial  advertising  are  included,the examiner may delete them or invite the applicant to delete them.where the words  are  deleted by the  examiner, the  applicant shall be notified accordingly.
The title shall not betaken as heading in the text of the abstract.   The text of the abstract shall contain not more than 300 chinese characters(including punctuation). where there are more than 300 chinese  characters,the examiner may make abridgements, or invite the appli-  cant to make abridgements.  where the abridgement is made by the ex-  aminer, the applicantshall be notified accordingly.

4.5.2 Figure Accompanying the Abstract
where the description contains drawings, the applicantshall sub-  mit one figure which best characterizes the technical features of the in-  vention as the figure accompanying the abstract.  The figure accompa-  nying the  abstract  shall  be  one  of  the  drawings  of  the  description.
where the applicant has not submitted such a figure, the examiner may invite the applicant to make rectifications, or may designate one ex offi- cio and notify the applicant accordingly.  where the examiner considers that there is no suitable figure to be designated, he may not invite the applicant to make rectifications.
where the figure accompanying the abstract submitted by the ap- plicant obviously cannot characterize the main technical features of the invention or it is not one of the drawings in the description, the exam- iner may invite the applicant to make rectifications, or designate anoth- er one ex officio and notify the applicant accordingly.
The scale and the distinctness of the figure accompanying the ab- stractshall be as  such that  areproduction with a linear reduction in size to 4cm ×6cm would  still  enable  all  details  to be  clearly  distin- guished.
The abstract may contain chemical formula which best characteri- zesthe invention.  such chemical formula may be deemed as the figure  accompanying the abstract.

4. 6 Format Examination of Application Documents for Publication
when a patent application is  published, the  text  of the  descrip- tion, claims and abstract shall be neat and legible, free from alteration and  obliteration,  without  any  character  or  word  added  between  the lines.  The lines of the drawings of the description and the figure of the abstract(including  the   outlines,  dotted   lines,  section  lines,  central lines, indicative lines, etc.)shall be legible and discernible.  Both char-  acters and lines shall be in sufficiently black, and kept in a clean back-  ground  so   as   to  meet  the  requirements  of  copying  and  scanning  process.  The text and drawings shall have no frame around them.  The  sheets of each part of the  documents  shall  be  numbered  in  order  re-  spectively.
where the application documents are not in conformity with the above requirements, the examinershall issue the  Notification to Make Rectification to notify the applicant to make rectifications.  where no rectification is made within the time limit, the examinershall issue the Notification that Application Deemed to be withdrawn.

5.  Preliminary Examination of special Patent Applications

5. 1 Divisional Application

5. 1. 1 Examination of Divisional Application
where a patent application contains two or more inventions, the
applicant may submit a divisional application on his own initiative or  in accordance with the office Action of the examiner.  Adivisionalap-  plication shall be submitted on the basis of the initial application (first  filed application) .  The category of a divisional application shall be the  same as that of the initial application.  The application number and the  filing date of the initial application shall be indicated in the request for  the divisional application.  where the applicant files another divisional  application based on an already filed divisional application, the appli-  cation number of the already filed divisional application shall be filled  in the parenthesis  after the  application number  of the  initial  application.
For  a  divisional  application,  besides   examining  the  application documents and other documents as prescribed, the examinershall ex- amine the following matters on the basis of the initial application:
(1)The filing date of the initial application indicated in there-  quest
The filing date of the initial application shall be indicated in the  request correctly.  If it is not correct, the examinershall issue the Noti- fication to Make Rectification to the applicant for rectifications.  where  no rectification is made within the time limit, the examinershall issue  the Notification that Application Deemed to be withdrawn.  If the rectification is in conformity with the provisions, the examinershall issue the Notification ofRedetermination ofFiling Date.  
(2)The application number of the initial application indicated in the request
The application number of the initial application shall be indicated in the request correctly.  where the initial application is an internation- al application, the applicantshall indicate the application number of the international application in the brackets that follow the initial applica- tion number filled in the request.  where the application documents are not in conformity with the requirements, the examinershall issue the Notification to Make Rectification, and invite the applicant to make rec- tification.  where no rectification is made within the time limit, the ex- aminershall issue the Notification that Application Deemed to  be  with- drawn.
(3)submission time of divisional application
The applicantshall file a divisional application no later than the  expiration of two months(i. e. , the time limit for going through the  formalities of registration)from the date of receiving the Notification to  Grant patent Right to the initial application issued by the patent of-  fice.  After the expiration of the above time limit, or where the initial  application has been rejected, or the initial application has been with-  drawn, or  is  deemed  to  have  been  withdrawn  and the right has  not  been restored, no divisional application shall be filed in general.
with regard to the initial application to which the examiner has  issued the decision of rejection, the applicant may file a divisionalap-   plication within three months from the date that the applicant receives  the decision of rejection regardless  of whether  the  applicant  requests  for reexamination or not.  The applicant, after requesting for reexami-  nation or during the  initiation  of the  administrative  litigation  against  the reexamination decision, may also file a divisional application.
During the preliminary examination, where the filing date of adi-  visional application is not in conformity with the  said provisions, the  examinershall issue the Notification that Divisional Application Deemed  Not to Have Been Filed, and make a decision to close the case.
where an applicant files another divisional application based on an already filed divisional application, the  submission date of another divisional application shall be examined according to the initial appli- cation.  where the submission date of another divisional application is not in conformity with the above provisions, no divisional application shall be filed, however, with the exception that another divisionalap-  plication is filed by the applicant according to the office Action made  by the examiner due to a unity defect in the divisional application.  Re-  garding this exception, the applicant, when filing another divisionalap-
plication, shall submit a copy of the office Action indicating the unity  defector of the Notification to Make Divisional Application issued by the  examiner.  where the copy of the office Action or of the Notification  to Make Divisional Application in conformity with the provisions is not  submitted, the application shall not be treated as exception.  where the  copy is not in conformity with the provisions, the examinershall issue  the Notification  to  Make  Rectification  notifying  the  applicant  to  make  rectification.  where no rectification is made within the time limit, the  examinershall issue the Notification that Application Deemed to be  with-   drawn.  where the copy is still not in conformity with the provisions  after rectification, the  examinershall  issue  the  Notification  that  Divi-   sional Application Deemed Not to Have Been filed and make a decision to  close the case.
(4)Applicant and inventor of divisional application
The applicant of a divisional application shall be the same as that  of the initial application.  where this is not the case,a document certif-  ying the change of the applicantshall be submitted.  The inventor of a  divisional application shall be the inventor or part of the inventors of  the initial application.  where there is any inconformity with the provi-  sions, the examinershall issue the Notification to Make Rectification no-  tifying the  applicant to make rectification.   where  no rectification  is  made within the  time  limit, the  examinershall  issue  the  Notification  that Application Deemed to be withdrawn.
(5)submitted documents of divisional application
Besides the application documents,a copy of the application doc-   uments of the initial application and a copy of other documents rele-   vant to  the  divisional  application  in  the  initial  application  (such  as  copy of the priority document)shall also be submitted.  with regard to  the various certifying materials that have been submitted with the ini-   tial application, duplicate copies may be used.  where the international  publication of the initial application is in a language other than chi-   nese,a  copy  of such  international  publication  shall  be  submitted  to-   gether with a chinese copy of the initial application.  where any in-   conformity with the provisions exists, the examinershall issue the Noti-   fication to Make Rectification to the applicant for rectification.  Where no rectification is made within the time limit, the examinershall issue the Notification that Application Deemed to be withdrawn.

5. 1.2 Time Limit and Fees of Divisional Application
The various prescribed time limits applicable for a divisionalap- plication, such as the time limit for submitting the request for substan- tive examination,  shall  be  calculated  from  the  initial  date  of  filing.
where  the  various  time  limits  have  expired,  or  are   less  than  two months from the  submission  date  of the  divisional  application  to  the date of expiration, when the divisional application is submitted, the ap- plicant may go through the various formalities within two months from the submission date of the divisional application, or within fifteen days from the date of receipt the Notification ofAcceptance.   where the ap- plicant fails to go through any of the formalities within the time limit,
the examinershall issue the Notification that Application Deemed to  be withdrawn.
The applicantshall pay all the same fees for a divisional applica-  tion asheshall pay for a new application.  where the time limits for  paying the various fees have expired, or are less than two months from  the submission date of the divisional application to the date of expira-  tion, the applicantshall pay the fees within two months from the sub-  mission date of the divisional application, or within fifteen days from  the date  of receipt  the  Notification  ofAcceptance.   If  the  fees  are  not paid or not paid in full within the time limit, the examinershall issue  the Notification that Application Deemed to be withdrawn.

5.2 Application Relating to Biological Material

5.2. 1 Examination of Application Relating to Biological Material   
For an  application  relating  to  biological  material,  the  applicant shall, in addition to the other requirements provided for in the patent  Law and its Implementing Regulations, go through the following formalities:
(1)depositing a sample of the biological material with a deposita- ry institution designated by the state Intellectual property office before the date of filing, or, at the latest, on the date of filing (or the priority date where priority is claimed);
(2)stating, in the request and the description, the name and ad- dress of the depositary institution with which the sample of biological material was deposited, the date on which the  sample was  deposited,  the accession number of the deposit, and the scientific name of the bio- logical material(with its Latin name);
(3)giving in the application document relevant information of the characteristics of the biological material;and
(4)submitting, within four months from the date of filing, acer-  tificate of deposit and a certificate of viability of the biological materi-  al issued by the depositary institution.
In preliminary examination, where the applicant submits a certifi- cate of deposit within the prescribed time limit, the examinershall ex-  amine the following matters on the basis of the certificate:
(1)Depositary institution
The depositary institution shall bean international depositary in-  stitution designated by the state Intellectual property office for the de-  posit of the biological material samples.  If this provision is not com-  plied with,the examinershall issue the Notification that Biological Ma-  terial sample Deemed Not to Have Been Deposited.
(2)Date of deposit
The date of depositshall be before or on the date of filing (or the priority date where priority is claimed).  If this provision is not com- plied with,the examinershall issue the Notification that Biological Ma- terial sample Deemed Not to Have Been Deposited.
However, where the date of deposit indicated in the certificate of deposit is after the date of priority claimed and before the filing date,  the examinershall issue the Notification to Rectify Formalities,   and in- vite the applicant to withdraw the claim for priority or to declare that the priority of the contents of the biological material concerned in the certificate of deposit will not be claimed within the specified time lim- it.  If the applicant fails to make any response within the time limit or the correction is not in conformity with the provisions, the  examiner shall issue the Notification that Biological Material sample Deemed Not to Have Been Deposited.
(3 )consistency between the  certificate  of deposit, certificate  of viability and the request
The certificate of deposit and certificate of viability shall be con-   sistent with the items appearing in the request.  where there are any in-   consistencies, the examinershall issue the Notification to Make Rectifi-   cation inviting the applicant to make rectifications within the specified  time limit.  If the applicant fails to make rectifications within the time limit, the examinershall issue the Notification that Biological Material sample Deemed Not to Haoe Been Deposited.
In preliminary  examination,  where  the  applicant  fails  to  submit  the certificate of deposit within the prescribed time limit, the sample of  the biological materialshall be deemed not to have been deposited, and  the examinershall issue the Notification that Biological Material sample  Deemed Not to Haoe Been Deposited.   where, within four months  from  the date of filing, the applicant fails to submit the certificate of viabili-   ty of the biological material sample, and fails to give justified reasons  for its omission, the sample of the biological material will be deemed  not to have been deposited, and the examinershall issue the Notifica-  tion that Biological Material sample Deemed Not to Haoe Been Deposi-   ted.
where the sample of the biological material ceases to be viable in  the course of the transmittal of the sample to the depositary institution,   the sample of the biological material will be deemed not to have been  deposited, and the examinershall issue the Notification that Biological  Material sample Deemed Not to Haoe Been Deposited, unless the appli-  cant proves that he is  not responsible  for the  loss  of viability  of the  sample of the biological material.   where  the  applicant  submits  such  evidence, he may make a new deposit of the sample of the biological  material that is identical with the original one within four months from  the date of filing, and the initial date of depositshall be the date of de-   posit.
The applicant of a patent application relating to biological materi-  al shall, in the request and the description, indicate the scientific name  of the biological material, the name and address of the depositary insti-  tution in which the sample of biological material is deposited, the date  and the accession number of the deposit, all of which shall be consist-  ent with each other(see chapter10, section 9 . 2 . 1 of partⅡ of these  Guidelines).  where, at the time of filing, they are not indicated in the  request and the description, the applicantshall make rectification with-  in four months from the date of filing.  If the applicant fails to make  rectification within the time limit, the sample of the biological material  shall be deemed not to have been deposited.  If the indication in there-   quest is not consistent with that in the description, the applicant may  make rectification  within  the  specified  time  limit  after  receiving  the  notification of the patent office.  If no rectification is made within the time limit, the biological material sample shall be deemed not to have been deposited.

5.2.2 Restoration of Deposit
After the examiner issues the Notification that Biological Material  sample Deemed Not to Have Been Deposited, if the applicant has any jus-  tified reason for objection, the applicant may request the patent office  to restore  his  right  in  accordance  with  Rule6 .  2 .   Except for  other  ones, the justified reasons in respect of the deposit of the sample of the  biological material or the viability of the sample include the following:
(1)it is the depositary institution that fails to furnish the certifi-  cate of depositor the certificate of viability of the biological material  sample within four months from the date of filing, and it has furnished  documents certifying this;and
(2)the sample of the biological material ceases to be viable in the course of the  transmittal  of  the  sample,  for  which  the  applicant  can provide evidence to prove he is not responsible.

5.3 Application Relating to Genetic Resources
where an application for patent is filed for an invention-creation  which is  developed  on  the  basis  of genetic  resources,  the  applicant  shall state the source of said genetic resources in the request, and fill in  the Registration Formfor Indicating source ofGenetic Resources, indica-  ting the  direct  source  and  original  source  of  such  genetic  resources.   where the applicant fails to state the original source, he or it shall state  the reasons thereof.  where the application is not in conformity with  the provisions, the examinershall issue the Notification to Make Rectifi-   cation,  inviting the applicant to make rectification.  where no response  is made within the time limit, the examinershall issue the Notification  that Application Deemed to be withdrawn.  where the application is still  not in conformity with the provisions after rectification, the application  shall be rejected.

6.  Examination of other Documents and Relevant Formalities

6.1 Appointment of Patent Agency

6. 1. 1 Appointment
Article19 . 1 provides that where any foreign individual, enterprise or other type of organization having no habitual residence or business office in mainland china applies for a patent, or has other patent mat-  ters to attend to, in china, or the applicant, as the first named applicant  in a patent application jointly with an applicant from mainland china,   applies for a patent and has other patent matters to attend to, he or it  shall appoint a patent agency to act as his or its agent.  In the examina-   tion of the application, if it is found that such an applicant has not ap-   pointed a patent agency, the examinershall issue the office Action to  notify the applicant to response within the specified time limit.  If the  applicant fails to make any response within the specified time limit, the  application shall be deemed to have been withdrawn.  where, after the  applicant has made his observations or rectifications, the application is  still not in conformity with the provisions of Article19 . 1, the applica-  tion shall be rejected.
Any entity or individual in mainland china may appoint a patent  agency to apply for a patent and to attend to other patent matters in the  country.  where the appointment is not in conformity with the provi-  sions, the  examinershall  issue  the  Notification  to  Make  Rectification,   and invite the patent agency to make rectification within the specified  time limit.  where the patent agency fails to make any response within  the time limit, or where the rectification is still not in conformity with  the provisions after rectification, the examinershall issue the Notifica-  tion that patent Agency Deemed Not to Haoe Been Appointed to both the  applicant and the appointed patent agency.
where any applicant of Hong kong, Macao, or Taiwan having no  habitual residence or business  office in mainland china applies  for a  patent or has other patent matters to attend to before the patent office,   or the  applicant, as  the  first  applicant  in  a  patent  application  jointly  with an applicant from mainland china, applies  for a patent and has  other patent matters to attend to, he or it shall appoint a patent agency  to act as his or its agent.  where no patent agency is appointed, the ex-  aminershall issue the office Action notifying the applicant to response  within the specified time limit.  If the applicant fails to make any re-  sponse within the specified time limit, the application shall be deemed  to haoe been withdrawn.  where, after the applicant has made his obser-  vations or rectifications, the application is still not in conformity with  the provisions, the application shall be rejected.
The parties to the appointment are the applicant and the appointed patent agency.  where there are two or more applicants, the parties are all of the applicants and the appointed patent agency.  only one patent agency shall be appointed, except otherwise prescribed in these Guide-  lines.  After accepting the appointment, the patent agency shall desig-  nate its patent agents to handle the relevant matters.   The  said  agents  so designated shall not be more than two persons.

6.1.2 Power of Attorney
Any applicant who appoints  a  patent agency  for applying  for a  patent, or for having other patent matters to attend to before the patent  office, shall submit a power of attorney.  The power of attorney shall  be in the unified form prescribed by the patent office, and shall indi-   cate the scope of the authorized power, the title of the invention-crea-   tion, the names of the patent agency and the patent agent, which shall  be the same as that appearing in the request.  where the power of at-  torney is submitted after the application number of the application is  accorded, the application numbershall also be indicated.
The power of attorney shall be signed or sealed by the applicant if the applicant is  an  individual.   where  the  applicant  is  an  entity,  the power of attorney shall be sealed by the entity, and may also be signed or sealed by its legal representative.  where there are two or more ap- plicants, the power of attorney shall be signed or sealed by all of the applicants.  In addition, the official seal of the patent agency shall be affixed on the power of attorney.
where any applicant appoints a patent agency,a general power of  attorney may be deposited with the patent office.  where a due gener-  al power of attorney is received, the patent officeshall accord a num-  ber to  it  and  notify  the  patent  agency  accordingly.   After  a  general  power of attorney has been deposited, when filing a patent application,
the applicant may submit a copy of the general power of attorney in-  stead of the  original, and indicate the title  of the  invention-creation,   names  of the patent agency and the patent agent, and the  number of  that general power of attorney accorded by the patent office.  The offi-  cial seal of the patent agency shall be affixed.
where the power of attorney is  not in conformity with there-  quirements, the examinershall issue the Notification to Make Rectifica-  tion inviting the patent agency to make rectifications within the speci-  fied time limit.  where the first applicant is an entity or individual of  mainland china, and no response is made within the time limit or the  rectification made by the applicant is  still not in conformity with the  requirements, the examinershall issue the Notification that patent Agency Deemed Not to Have Been Appointed to both parties.  where the first  applicant is a foreign individual, foreign enterprise or other type of or-  ganization, if no response is made within the time limit, the examiner  shall issue the Notification that Application Deemed to be withdrawn.  If  the requirements are still not met after rectification, the patent applica-
tion shall be rejected.  where the first applicant is an individual, enter-   prise or other organization of Hong kong, Macao or Taiwan, if no re-   sponse is made within the time limit, the examinershall issue the Noti-   fication that Application Deemed to  be  withdrawn.   If  the  requirements  are still not met after rectification, the patent application shall be rejec-   ted.

6. 1.3 Dissolution of Appointment and Resignation of Appointment
After the applicant(or patentee)appoints a patent agency, he may  dissolve the  appointment.   After  the  patent  agency  accepts  the  appli- cant, s(or patentee, s)appointment, it may resign from the appoint-  ment as well.  The provisions of section 6 . 7 . 2 . 4  of this chaptershall  apply for the formalities of going through the dissolution or resignation  of appointment.

6.2 Claiming Right of Priority
claiming the right of priority means that the applicant claims in an application filed with the patent office to enjoy a right of priority on the basis of one or more previous filed applications in accordance with Article29 .  claiming the right of priority shall be in conformity with the provisions of Articles29 and 30, Rules31 and 32, and therel- evant provisions of the paris convention.
where an  applicant  files  an  application  in  china  within  twelve  months from the date of filing his first application for invention or util-  ity model of the same subject matter in a foreign country or within six  months from the date  of filing his  first application for design of the  same subject matter in a foreign country, he may enjoy the right of pri-  ority in accordance with the agreement concluded between that county  and china or international treaties to which both countries are parties,   or under the principle of reciprocity on priority.  such right of priority  is called foreign priority.
where the applicant, within twelve months from the date of filing his first application for invention or utility model of the same subject matter in china, files an application for invention or utility model on the basis of the first filed application for invention, or files an applica-  tion for utility model or invention on the basis of the first filed applica-  tion for utility model with the patent office, he may enjoy the right of priority.  such priority is called domestic priority.
6.2.1 claiming Foreign priority

6.2.1.1 previous Application and subsequent Application claming priority
where any applicant files  a patent  application which contains  a  declaration claiming the  priority  of a  previous  application  filed  in  a  foreign country, the examinershall examine whether or not the previ-  ous application,as the basis of the right of priority, was filed in any  country party to the paris convention, or is a region application or an  international application  which  is  valid  in  that  country  party  to  the  convention.  If the application was filed in a country which is not par-  ty to the paris convention, the examinershall examine whether or not  that country recognizes the right of priority of china on the basis of  the principle of reciprocity.  The examinershall also examine whether  or not the applicant claiming the priority is entitled to the rights accor-   ded under the paris convention,i.e. , whether or nothe is a national  or resident of a country party to the convention, or examine whether  or not the applicant is a national or resident of a country recognizing  the right of priority of china on the basis of the principle of reciproci-  ty.
Furthermore, the examinershall examine whether or not the sub- sequent application claiming priority is filed within the prescribed time limit.  If this requirement is not complied with, the examinershall issue the Notification that claim to priority Deemed Not to Have Been Made.  where there are two or more previous applications, the priority period shall be  calculated  from  the  date  of  filing  of  the  first  application.
where a certain subsequent application is filed later than the specified  time limit, the examinershall issue the Notification that claim to priori-   ty Deemed Not to Have Been Made regarding the declaration of claiming  priority made later than the time limit.
In the course of the preliminary examination, the examinershall  not examine whether or not the previous application is the first appli-  cation defined by the paris convention, and whether or not the subject  matter of the subsequent application is identical with that of the previous application, unless  the  first  application  is  obviously not  in  con- formity with  the  relevant provisions  of  the  paris  convention,  or  the subject matter  of the  subsequent  application  is  obviously  not  related with that of the previous application.
The  previous  application  may  be  an  application  for  inventor,  s certificate defined in Article4 of the paris convention.
 
6.2.1.2 Declaration of Claiming Priority
where any applicant claims the right of priority, he  shall make a declaration in the request when the patent application is filed.   If the applicant fails  to  do  so,  the  claim  to  the  right  of  priority  shall  be deemed not to have been made.
The applicantshall, in his declaration, indicate the filing date and  the application number of the previous application, which is the basis  of the right of priority, and the name of the authority with which the  application was first filed.  where one or two items of the date of fil-  ing, the  filing  application  number  of  the  earlier  application  and  the  name of the  authority  with  which  the  application  was  first  filed  are  missing or incorrect in the request, and the applicant has  submitted a  copy of the previous application document within the prescribed time  limit, the examinershall issue the Notification to Rectify Formalities.  If  the applicant fails to make any response within the time limit or there-   quirements are not met after rectification, the examinershall issue the  Notification that claim to priority Deemed Not to Have Been Made.
where more priorities  are  claimed, but  one  or two  items  of the  date of filing, the filing application number of the earlier application  and the name of the authority with which the application was first filed  are missing or incorrect in the request, and the applicant has submitted  copies  of the  previous  applications  documents  within  the  prescribed  time limit, the examinershall issue the Notification to Rectify Formali-   ties.  If the applicant fails to make any response within the time limit or  the requirements are  still not met after rectification, the priority  shall  be deemed not to have  been  made, and the  examinershall  issue  the  Notification that claim to priority Deemed Not to Have Been Made.

6.2.1.3 Copy of Previous Application Documents
The copy of the previous application document, which is the basis of the right of priority, shall be provided by the authority with which the previous application was filed.   The formality of the  copy of the said application documentshall be in conformity with the international  practice.  At least, the name of the authority with which the application  was filed, the name of the applicant, the date of filing and the applica-  tion numbershall be indicated.  where the application is not in con-  formity with those requirements, the examinershall issue the Notifica-  tion to Rectify Formalities.   If the applicant fails to make any response  within the time limit, or if the rectification is not in conformity with  the said requirements, it shall be deemed that no copy of the previous  application document has been submitted, and the examinershall issue  the Notification that claim to priority Deemed Not to Have Been Made.
where multiple priorities are claimed, the copies of all therele-  vant previous  application  documents  shall  be  submitted.    If  this  re-  quirement is not met, the examinershall issue the Notification to Rectify Formalities.   If  the  applicant  fails  to  make  any  response  within  the  specified time limit or if the rectification is not in conformity with the  requirements, it shall be deemed that copies of the previous application  documents have not been submitted, and the examinershall issue the  Notification that  claim to  priority Deemed Not to Have Been Made  re-  garding the declaration claiming that right of priority of which the cop-  y  of  the  previous  application  documents  does  not  meet the require-  ments.
The copy of the previous application documentshall be submitted within three months from the filing date of the subsequent application.
If the said copy has not been submitted within the time limit, the ex- aminershall issue the Notification that claim to priority Deemed Not to Have Been Made.
where, in accordance with the agreement between the state Intellectual property office and the said authority with which the previous  application was filed, the patent office obtains a copy of the earlier application documents  through  electronic  transmission  or  in  any  other  manners, the copy of the earlier application documents certified by the  authority shall be deemed to have been submitted by the applicant.
where the copy of the previous application document which has  been submitted to the patent office is required to be submitted again,   the  chinese translation of the extract may be submitted instead, and indicates the application number of the subsequent application in the file  of which the certified copy of the previous application document is deposited.
6. 2. 1.4 Applicant of subsequent Application
The applicant(s)of the subsequent application claiming the right of priority shall be the same as the applicant, or at least one of the ap- plicants recorded in the certified copy of the previous application docu- ment.
where the applicants  of the two applications  are  entirely differ-  ent, and the right of priority of the previous application has been as-  signed to the applicant of the subsequent application,a document certi-   fying the assignment of the right of priority, signed or sealed by all of  the applicants  of  the  previous  application,  shall  be  submitted  within  three months from the filing date of the subsequent application.  where  the previous application has several applicants and the subsequent ap-  plication has several different applicants,a document certifying the as-  signment of the right of priority, signed or sealed by all of the appli-  cants of the previous application, to all of the applicants of the subse-  quent application may be submitted;or a document certifying the as-  signment of the right of priority, signed or sealed respectively by all of  the applicants of the previous application, to the applicants of the sub-   sequent application may be submitted.
where the applicant fails to submit a document certifying the as-  signment of the right of priority within the time limit or where the cer-  tifying document submitted is not in conformity with the requirements,   the examinershall issue the Notification that claim to priority Deemed  Not to Haue Been Made.

6.2.2 claiming Domestic priority

6. 2. 2. 1  previous  Application  and  subsequent  Application  clai-  ming priority
The previous application and the subsequent application claiming priority shall meet the following requirements:
(1 )the previous application shall be a patent application for in-  vention or for utility model, and it shall not be a divisional  applica-  tion, nor shall it be a patent application for design;
(2)no foreign or domestic priority has been claimed for the sub-  ject matter of the previous application, or though the foreign or domes-  tic priority has been claimed, it does not enjoy the priority;
(3)no patent right has been granted for the subject matter of the previous application;and
(4)the subsequent application which claims the right of priority has been submitted within twelve months from the filing date of the previous application.
when the requirement referred to above in item (3)is examined,  the reference timeshall be the filing date of the subsequent application claiming priority.  when the requirement referred to above in item (4)
is examined, where multiple priorities are claimed, the reference time shall be the filing date of the earliest application,i.e. , the subsequent application claiming priority shall be filed within twelve months from the filing date of the earliest application.
where any one of the above requirements is not complied with,  the examinershall, regarding the declaration claiming priority which is not in  conformity  with  the  requirements,  issue  the  Notification  that claim to priority Deemed Not to Have Been Made.
when the claim to the right of priority is examined, if it is found  that the Notification to  Grant  patent  Right  and  the  Notification  toGo  through  Formalities  of Registration  of  the  previous  application  have  been sent out by the patent office and the applicant has gone through  formalities of registration, the examinershall issue the Notification that  claim to priority Deemed Not to Have Been Made to the subsequent ap-  plication.  In the course of the preliminary examination, the examiner  shall only examine whether or not the subject matter of the subsequent  application is obviously not related to that of the previous application,   and the examinershall not examine whether or not the subject matter  of the previous application and that of the subsequent application are i-   dentical in substance.  where the subject matter of the previous appli-  cation and that of the subsequent application are obviously not related  with each other, the examinershall issue the Notification that claim to  priority Deemed Not to Have Been Made.

6.2.2.2 Declaration of Claiming Priority
Any applicant who claims the right of priority shall make a decla- ration in the request when the application is filed.  If the applicant fails  to do so, the claim to the right of priority shall be deemed not to have  been made.
The  applicant shall  indicate  the  date  of  filing,  the  application number of the previous application, which is the basis of the right of priority, and the name of the authority with which the previous application was filed (in this case, china)in the  declaration claiming the priority.  If the applicant fails to indicate or indicates wrongly one or two items of those matters, the examiner shall issue the Notification to Rectify Formalities, if the applicant fails to make any response within the time limit,or if the rectification is still not in conformity with the requirements, the  examiner shall  issue  the  Notification  that  claim  to priority Deemed Not to Haue Been Made.
where multiple priorities are claimed, if one of the written declaration fails to indicate or wrongly indicates one or two items of the filing date, application number, or the name of the authority with which  the previous application was filed of the previous application, the examinershall issue the Notification to Rectify Formalities, if the applicant fails to make any response within the time limit, or if the rectification  is still not in conformity with the requirements, the claim to the right  of priority shall be deemed not to have been made, and the examiner  shall issue the Notification that  claim  to  priority Deemed Not  to  Haue  Been Made.

6.2.2.3 Copy of Previous Application Documents
The copy of the previous application documentshall be prepared by the  patent  office  in  accordance  with  the  provisions.   where  the right of domestic priority is claimed, if the date of filing and the appli- cation number of the previous application are indicated in the request by the applicant, the copy of the previous application documents shall be deemed to have been submitted.

6.2.2.4 Applicant of subsequent Application
The applicant of the subsequent application claiming priority shall be the same as that of the previous application.  If they are different,
the applicant  of the  subsequent  application  shall  submit  a document certifying the assignment of the right of priority signed or sealed by all the applicants of the previous application within three months from the filing date of the  subsequent application.   where the applicant of the subsequent application fails to submit such a document within the time limit or the document certifying the assignment of the right of priority fails to meet the requirements, the examinershall issue the Notification that claim to priority Deemed Not to Haue Been Made.

6. 2.2. 5 procedure of previous Application Deemed to Have been Withdrawn
where the right of domestic priority is claimed, the previous ap- plication shall be  deemed  to  have  been withdrawn  from  the  date  on which the subsequent application is filed.
where any claim to the right of domestic priority made by the applicant is, after the preliminary examination, found to be in conformity  with the provisions, the examiner shall issue the Notification that Application Deemed to be withdrawn to the previous application.  where two  or more domestic priorities are claimed, if the claims are, after the preliminary examination, found to be in conformity with the provisions,   the examiner shall issue the Notification that Application Deemed to  be  withdrawn to the relevant previous applications.
Any application that is deemed to have been withdrawn in such circumstance shall not be restored by request.

6.2.3 Withdrawal of Claim to the Right of priority
The applicant may withdraw his claim to the right of priority after  claiming the priority.  where multiple priorities are claimed, the appli-  cant may withdraw his claim to one or some or all of the rights of priority.
where any applicant withdraws his claim to the right of priority,   he shall  submit  a  declaration  of  withdrawal  of  the  right  of  priority  signed or sealed by all the applicants.  If the declaration is in conformity with the provisions, the examiner shall issue the Notification of passing Examination  on  Formalities.   If  the  declaration  does  not comply  with the provisions, the examiner shall issue the Notification that Declaration Deemed Not to Have Been submitted.
where the earliest priority date of a patent application is changed  due to the withdrawal of a claim to the right of priority, and the various time limits from that priority date have not expired, these time limits shall be recalculated from the earliest priority date or the filing date  after the change.  where the request for withdrawal of the claim to the  right of priority reaches the patent office after fifteen months from the  original earliest priority date, the time limit for publication of the sub-  sequent application  shall  be  still  calculated  from  the  original  earliest  priority date.
where any applicant claims  the  right of domestic  priority, after the withdrawal of the priority, the previous application, which has been deemed to be withdrawn under Rule32 . 3, shall not be requested to be restored due to the withdrawal of the priority claim.

6.2.4 Fee for claiming Priority
where any claim to the  right  of priority  is  made, the  applicant
shall pay the fee for claiming priority when paying the filing fee.  If the fee is not paid or not paid in full within the time limit, the examin- ershall issue the Notification that claim to priority Deemed Not to Haoe Been Made.
where the claim to the right of priority is  deemed  not to have been made or is withdrawn, the fee paid for claiming priority shall not be refunded.

6.2.5 Restoration of claim to Right of Priority
where the claim to the right of priority is  deemed  not to have been made and one of the following circumstances is met, the applicant may request to restore the right of claiming priority in accordance with the provisions of Rule6:
(1)where the claim to the right of priority is deemed not to have been made because  the  applicant has  failed  to  make  any  response  to the Notification to Rectify Formalities within the specified time limit;
(2)where at least one item is  filled correctly in the  declaration claiming the priority, but the  copy  of the previous  application  docu- mentor the document certifying the assignment of the right of priority has not been submitted within the prescribed time limit;
(3)where at least one item is  filled correctly in the  declaration claiming the priority, but the fee for claiming the right of priority has not been paid or not paid in full within the prescribed time limit;or
(4)where the initial application of the divisional application has claimed the right of priority.
The provisions of chapter7, section 6 of part V of the Guidelines shall apply concerning dealing with the request for restoration of right.
Except for the  above  circumstances, the  right  of priority that is deemed not to have been made  due  to  other reasons  shall  not be  re- stored.  For example, where the claim to the right of priority is deemed not to have been made by reason that the applicant fails to make a de- claration in the request when the patent application is filed, the right of claiming priority shall not be restored.
6. 3 Non-Prejudicial Disclosures
Article24 provides that an invention-creation for which a patent is applied for does not lose its novelty if, within six months before the date of filing (or the priority date where priority is claimed),one of the following events occurred:
(1)where it was first exhibited at an international exhibition spon- sored or recognized by the chinese Government;
(2)where  it  was  first  made  public  at  a  prescribed  academic  or technological meeting;or
(3)where it was disclosed by another person without the consent of the applicant.

6.3. 1 First Exhibited at an International Exhibition sponsored or Recognized by the Chinese Government
The  international  exhibitions  sponsored  by  the  chinese  Government include those sponsored by the state councilor its departments,   or by  other  institutions  or  local  governments  approved  by the  state  council.  The international exhibitions recognized by the chinese Gov-  ernment refer to the international exhibitions that are registered with or  recognized by the International Exhibitions Bureau as stipulated by the  International Exhibitions convention.  The international exhibitions re-  fer to those at which exhibits shall be from foreign countries as well as  from the organizing country.
where an invention-creation for which a patent is applied for was first exhibited at an international exhibition sponsored or recognized by the chinese Government within six months before the date of filing, if the applicant requests the grace period concerning novelty, the  appli- cantshall make a declaration in the request while filing the applica- tion, and submit certifying materials within two months from the filing date.
The certifying  materials  of  the  international  exhibition  shall  be provided by the organizer of the exhibition.  In the certifying materials shall be indicated the date, venue, and name of the exhibition, and the exhibition date, form and contents  of the  invention-creation  with  the official seal of the organizer affixed.

6. 3.2  First Made public at a prescribed Academic or Technological Meeting
Prescribed academic or technological meetings refer to those or-  ganized or held by the competent authorities under the state councilor  national academic  organizations, excluding those held below the pro-  vincial level or with the entrustmentor in the name of the departments  under the state councilor national academic organizations.  Disclosure  at a meeting of the latter nature is prejudicial to the novelty of the con-  tent, unless  there  is  an  agreement  on confidentiality  being  concluded  on such a meeting.
where an invention-creation for which a patent is applied for was  first made  public  at  a prescribed  academic  or  technological  meeting  within six months before the date of filing, if the applicant requests the  grace period concerning novelty, the applicantshall make a declaration  in the request while filing the application, and submit certifying materi-  als within two months from the filing date.
The certifying materials  of the  academic  or  technological  meetings  shall  be  provided  by  the  competent  authority  under  the   state  councilor national academic organizations organizing the meeting.  In  the certifying materials shall be indicated the date, venue and name of  the meeting, and the publication date, form, and contents of the invention-creation with the official seal of the organizer affixed.

6. 3. 3  Disclosed  by  Another  person  Without  the  Consent  of  the Applicant
The disclosure made by any other person without the consent of the applicant includes the  disclosure  of the  contents  of an  invention- creation by another person for his failure to comply with the explicit or implicit confidentiality agreement, and disclosure caused after another person gets to know the contents of an invention-creation from the in- ventor or applicant by means of coercion, fraud or espionage.
where an invention-creation for which a patent is applied for is  disclosed by another person without the consent of the applicant within  six months before the date of filing, if the applicant knows about it before the date of filing, the applicantshall make a declaration in there-  quest while filing the application, and submit certifying materials with-  in two months from the filing date.  If the applicant knows about the  matter after the date of filing, he shall submit a declaration to request
for the grace period concerning novelty with certifying materials within  two months after he knows about it.  The examiner may, when neces-  sary, require  the  applicant  to  submit  the  relevant  certifying  materials  within the specified time limit.
In the certifying materials submitted by the applicant on the dis- closure of the application contents by another person shall be indicated  the date, manner and contents of the disclosure, which shall be signed  or sealed by an attester.
where the request for the grace period concerning novelty by the applicant is not in conformity with the above provisions, the examiner shall issue the Notification that Grace period concerning Novelty Deemed Not to Have Been claimed.

6.4 Request for substantive Examination
The procedure of substantive examination of a patent application for invention shall commence mainly at the request of the applicant for a substantive examination.

6. 4. 1 Relevant Requirements of Request for substantive Examina- tion
The  request  for  substantive  examination  shall  be  made  within three years from the date of filing (or priority date where priority is claimed)and the substantive examination feeshall be paid within the time limit.
when the applicant for a patent for invention requests substantive examination, he shall furnish pre-filing-date(or pre-priority-date where priority is claimed)reference materials concerning the invention.

6.4. 2 Examination  and Handling of Request for substantive Ex- amination
The request for substantive examination shall be examined in ac-  cordance with the following requirements:
(1)where the applicant has not submitted the request for substan-  tive examination within three months before the expiration of the time  limit, the patent officeshall issue the Notification Before Expiration of Time Limit.  
(2)where the request for substantive examination has been made and the substantive examination fee has been paid within the time lim- it, but the formalities of the request for substantive examination have not been in conformity with the requirements, the examiner may issue  the Notification that Request Deemed Not to Haoe Been submitted.  If the  Notification Before Expiration ofTime Limit has been issued, the exam-  inershall issue the Notification to Rectify Formalities to invite the appli-  cant to make rectifications within the specified time limit.  If no rectifi-   cation is made within the time limit or if the rectification is not in con-   formity with the  provisions, the  examinershall  issue  the  Notification  that Request Deemed Not to Haoe Been Made.  
(3)where the applicant fails to submit the request for substantive examination within the prescribed time limit, or if the substantive ex- amination fee is not paid or not paid in full within the prescribed time limit, the examinershall issue the Notification that Application Deemed to be withdrawn.
(4)where the formalities for substantive examination are in con- formity with the  provisions, the  examinershall  issue  the  Notification that patent Application for Inoention Entering the substantioe Examina- tion stage when the application enters the procedure of substantive ex- amination.

6.5 Request for Earlier Publication
The request for earlier publication is applicable only to patent ap- plications for invention.
where the  applicant makes  a  request  for earlier publication, the publication shall not be subject to any condition.
where any declaration of request for earlier publication is not in  conformity with the provisions, the examinershall issue the Notification  that Request Deemed Not to Haoe Been Made;otherwise the preparation  of publication shall be started promptly after the patent application pas-  ses the preliminary examination.  After the application enters the prep-  aration of publication, any request made by the applicant for revoking
the previous request for earlier publication shall be deemed not to have been made, and the  application  documents  shall  be  published  in  due course.

6.6 Declaration of Withdrawal of Patent Application
Any applicant may request to withdraw his patent application at  any time before the patent right is granted.  when withdrawing apa-  tent application, the applicantshall submit a declaration of withdrawal  of the patent application with materials signed or sealed by all the applicants certifying agreement on the withdrawal of the patent applica-  tion, or submit only a declaration of withdrawal of the patent applica-

tion signed or sealed by all the applicants. where any patent agency is
appointed, the formalities  of withdrawing the  patent  application  shall
begone through by the patent agency with materials signed or sealed  by all the applicants certifying agreement on the withdrawal of the pa- tent application, or submit only a declaration of withdrawal of the pa- tent application signed or sealed by the patent agency and all the appli- cants.
when a declaration of withdrawal of a patent application is sub- mitted, the withdrawal shall not be subject to any condition.
where the declaration of withdrawal of a patent application is not  in conformity with the provisions, the examinershall issue the Notifica-   tion that Declaration Deemed Not to Have Been submitted.  If the decla-   ration complies with the provisions, the examinershall issue the Notifi-   cation ofpassing  Examination  on  Formalities.   The  effective  date  of  withdrawal of apatent application is the date of issuance of the Notifi-   cation ofpassing Examination on Formalities.  where the patent appli-   cation for invention has  been published, the  withdrawal  shall  bean-   nounced on the patent Gazette.  The applicantshall not request to re-   voke the declaration of withdrawal of a patent application without jus-   tified reasons.   where  the  declaration  of  withdrawal  is  made  in  bad
faith by a person who unlawfully usurped the right to apply for the pa- tent, the person who has the right to apply for the patent(the valid le- gal proof shall be submitted)may request that the declaration of with-  drawal of the patent application be revoked.
where any declaration to withdraw a patent application is submit-  ted after the preparation of publication, the application documents shall  be published  or  announced  as  scheduled,  but  the  examination  proce-   duresshall come to an end.

6.7 Changes in Bibliographic Data
The bibliographic data(i.e. ,bibliographic matters)includes the application number, filing date, title of invention-creation, classification symbol,  information  relating   to  priority   (including  the  application number, the filing date, and the name of the competent authority of the earlier application), information relating to the applicant or the paten- tee(including his/its name, nationality or country/region in which it is registered, address  and postcode, organizational  code  or  number  of identification card), name of the inventor, information relating to the patent agency (including its name, its organizational code, address and postcode, name of the patent agent, his certificate number, and the tele- phone number), information relating to the contact person (including his name, address and postcode, and the telephone number),and repre- sentative, etc.
where any of the bibliographic data concerning information rela- ting to personnel(referring to information relating to the applicant or  patentee, name of the inventor, information relating to the patent agen-  cy, information relating to the  contact person  and representative)has  changed, the party concerned  shall  go  through  formalities  to make  a  change in the bibliographic data in accordance with the relevant provi-  sions.  where any other bibliographic data has changed, the patent office may make changes ex officio in the light of specific circumstances.
where the patent application right(or the patent right)is assigned or is  transferred for any  other reason, the  applicant  or  patentee  shall register it with the patent office in the form of changes in the biblio- graphic data.

6.7. 1 Formalities of Making changes in Bibliographic Data

6.7. 1. 1 statement for change in Bibliographic Data
where any change in the bibliographic data is requested, it is re-  quired to submit the statement for change in bibliographic data.  where  several items of the bibliographic data of a patent application are to be  changed at the  sametime, only  one  such  statement  is  required  to  be  submitted.  where the same item of the bibliographic data of one pa-  tent application is to be changed continuously, one statement for each  of the  changes  is  required  to be  submitted respectively.   where  the  same item of the bibliographic data of several patent applications is to  be changed, even if the contents to be changed are completely identi-  cal, one statement for each application is required to be submitted.

6.7.1.2 Handling Fee for change in Bibliographic Data
when a request for a change in the bibliographic data is submit-  ted, the handling fee  for  a  change  in  the  bibliographic  data  shall  be  paid in accordance with the relevant provisions.  The handling fee for a  change in the bibliographic data in the patent fee  schedule prescribed  by the patent office refers to the fee for each request for each change in the bibliographic data of each patent application.  In going through  the formalities of a change in bibliographic data in one patent applica-  tion (or patent), where the applicant makes a request for change in the  same item of the bibliographic data continuously, it shall be regarded  as one  change.   where  the  applicant  requests  to  change  the  inventor  and/or the  applicant(or  patentee),  200  yuan  shall  be  paid  for  a  change  in  the  bibliographic   data.   where   the  applicant  requests   to  change the patent agency and/or agent, 50  yuan  shall  be  paid  for a change in the bibliographic data.
For example,in going through the formalities of a change in bib-   liographic data, where the applicant requests to change the applicant of  a patent application from Ato B, and then from Bto C, such continu-   ous changeshall be regarded as one change in the bibliographic data of  applicant, and 200 yuan shall be paid for a change in the bibliographic  data.  If at the sametime requesting to change the name of the invent-  or, the applicant is still only required to pay 200 yuan for a change in  one item in the bibliographic data.
For another example, in going through the formalities of a change  in bibliographic data, where the applicant requests to change the appli-  cant of a patent application from Ato B, and at the sametime requests  to change the patent agency and agent, 200 yuan shall be paid for a  change in the bibliographic data of the applicant and 50 yuan shall be  paid for a change in the bibliographic data of patent agency and agent  by the applicant.

6. 7. 1.3 Time Limit for Paying Handling Fee for change in Biblio- graphic Data
unless otherwise prescribed in the provisions, the handling fee for a change in the bibliographic data shall be paid within one month from the date on which the request concerned is submitted.  If the fee is not paid or not paid in full within the time limit, the request for a change in the bibliographic data shall be deemed not to have been made.

6.7. 1. 4 Person Going through Formalities of change in Biblio- graphic Data
where no patent agency is appointed, the applicant(or patentee),  or his representativeshall go through the formalities of a change in the bibliographic data.  where any patent agency has been appointed, the formalities shall  begone  through  by  the  patent  agency.   where  the change is due to the transfer of the right, the formalities may be gone through by the new right owner or his appointed patent agency.

6.7.2 certifying Documents for change in Bibliographic Data

6.7.2.1 change of Name of Applicant(or patentee)
(1)where any person submits the request for a change due to the change  of his  name,  certifying  document provided  by the  household registration administrative authority shall be submitted.
(2)where  any  person  submits  the  request  for  a  change  due  to writing errors,a declaration signed or sealed by himself and the docu- ment certifying his identification shall be submitted.
(3)where any legal person of an enterprise  submits  the request for a change  due  to the  change  of its  name, the  certifying  document provided by  the  administrative  authority  for  industry  and  commerce shall be submitted.
(4)where any legal person of an institute or social body submits the request for a change due to the change of its name, the certifying document  provided  by  registration  administrative  authority   shall  be submitted.
(5)where any legal person of an administrative organ submits the  request for a change due to the change of its name, the certifying doc-  ument provided by the administrative authority of the next higher level  shall be submitted.
(6)where any other type of organization submits the request for a change due to the change of its name, the certifying document provid- ed by the registration administrative authority shall be submitted.
(7)where any foreign individual, enterprise, or other type of or-  ganization submits the request for a change due to the change of his/  its  name,the  corresponding  certifying  documentshall  be  submitted  with reference to the above-mentioned provisions.
(8)where any foreign individual, enterprise, or other type of or-  ganization submits the request for a change due to the  change in the  chinese translation of his/its name, the applicant, s(or patentee, s)de-  claration shall be submitted.

6.7.2.2 Transfer of Right to Apply for a patent(or patent Right)
(1)where  the request for a change  is  submitted  due  to  a  right transfer as a result of a dispute over the ownership of the right of the applicant(or patentee), the person requesting a change in the biblio-   graphic data shall submit an agreement of transfer of the right signed  or sealed by  all  the  interested  parties  if  the  dispute  has  been  settled  through negotiations;if the dispute is settled by the local intellectual  property administrative  authority through mediation, the  mediation  a-   ward of the said authority shall be submitted;or if the dispute is set-  tled by the people,s Court through mediation or judgment, the media-   tion award or judgment of the people,s  Court which has taken effect  shall be submitted.  with regard to the judgment made by a first-in-  stance court, the examinershall, after receiving the judgment, inquire  the  parties  concerned  whether  or  not   an  appeal  has  been  lodged.
where no response is made or no appeal has been lodged within the  specified time limit, the changeshall be made in accordance with the  said judgment.   If an appeal has been lodged, the interested party shall  furnish the certifying documents provided by the people,s Court of the  higher level, and the initial judgment of the people,s Courtshall no  longer have any legal effect.  where the dispute is settled by an arbi-  tration organization through mediation or arbitration, the mediation or  arbitration award shall be submitted.
(2)where the right of the applicant(or patentee)has been trans-  ferred because of assignment or gift, and a request for a change in the  bibliographic data is submitted, the contract on the assignment or gift  shall be submitted.  If such a contract is concluded by any entity, the  official seal of the entity or the seal specially used for concluding con-  tracts shall be affixed.  If the contract is concluded by any individual,   it shall be signed or sealed by the person himself.  where there are two  or more applicants(or patentees),a document certifying that all the  right owners have agreed on the assignment or giftshall be submitted.
(3)where the assignment(or gift)of the right to apply for apa-  tent(or the patent right)involves  a  foreign individual, enterprise  or  other type of organization, any request for a change in the bibliograph-  ic data shall be in conformity with the following provisions:
(i)where both the assignor and the assignee are foreign individu-  als, enterprises, or other type of organizations, the contract on the as-  signment signed or sealed by both parties shall be submitted;
(ii)for an application for patent for invention or utility model(or  patent), where the assignor is an individual or entity of mainland Chi-  na and the assignee is a foreign individual, enterprise or other type of  organization, the technology export license  or the  freely  export technology contract registration certificate issued by the competent authori-  ty for commerce under the state council, or the Freely Export Tech-  nology contract Registration certificate issued by the local competent  authority for commerce, along with the contract on assignment signed  or sealed by both parties, shall be submitted;or
(iii)where the assignor is a foreign individual, enterprise or other  type of organization and the assignee is an individual or entity of ma-  inland china, the contract on assignment signed or sealed by both par-  ties shall be submitted.
where an individual or entity in mainland china and a foreign in-  dividual, enterprise  or  other type  of organization  are joint  assignors,   and the assignee is a foreign individual, enterprise or other type of or-  ganization, the provisions of item (ii)shall apply;where an individual  or entity in mainland china and a foreign individual, enterprise oroth-  er type of organization are joint assignees, and the assignor is a foreign  individual,enterprise or other type of organization, the provisions of i-  tem (iii)shall apply.
where an individual or entity in mainland china and an individu- al, enterprise or other organization of Hong kong, Macao or Taiwan are joint assignor, and the assignee is a foreign individual, enterprise or other type  of  organization,  the  provisions  of  item  (ii)shall  apply;  where an individual or entity of mainland china and an individual, en- terprise or  other  organization  of  Hong  kong,  Macao, or  Taiwan  are joint assignee, and  the  assignor  is  a  foreign  individual,  enterprise  or other type of organization, the provisions of item (iii)shall apply.
where the assignor is an individual or entity in mainland china and the  assignee  is  an  individual,  enterprise  or  other  organization  of Hong kong, Macao or Taiwan, the provisions of item (ii)shall apply.
(4)where any applicant(or patentee), which is an entity, requests to make  a  change  in the bibliographic  data  due  to  merger, breakup,
winding-up, or changed organization form, certifying documents pro- vided by the registration administrative authority shall be submitted.
(5)where any applicant(or patentee)requests to make a change  in the bibliographic data due to succession,a document that has been  notarized certifying that the interested party is the only legitimatesuc-  cessor or the interested party has included all successors in title.   The  joint successors in titleshall inherit jointly the right to apply for apa-  tent(or the patent right)except where otherwise provided for in a law.
(6)where the request to make a change is due to auction of the right to apply for a patent(or the patent right), legally valid certifying documents shall be submitted.
(7)For the transfer of patent right in hypothecation, documents  certifying the agreement on the change from both parties of hypotheca-  tion shall be  submitted  besides required certifying documents  for the  change.

6.7.2.3 change of Inventor
(1)where the request to make a change is due to the change of the inventor,s  name, the  provisions  of  section  6 .  7 .  2 .  1  ( 1 )of  this chaptershall apply.
(2)where the request to make a change is due to failure to fill in the name of inventor or his wrong name filled in, the certifying docu- ment signed or sealed by all the applicants(or patentees)and all the inventors before the changeshall be submitted.
(3)where the request to make a change is due to the dispute over the eligibility of the inventor, the provisions of section 6 . 7 . 2 . 2 (1)of this chaptershall apply.
(4)where the request to make a change is due to the change of the chinese translation, the inventor,s declaration shall be submitted.

6.7.2.4 change of Patent Agency and Agent
(1)where  a patent agency changes  its  name  or address, it  shall  firstly request to make a change in the registration at the competent de-  partment of the state Intellectual property office.  After the change in  the registration takes  effect, the  patent  officeshall  make  changes  in  the bibliographic data of all the valid patent applications  and patents  for which  it  acts  as  the  patent agency.    The  patent  agency  shall  go  through the formalities for the change of a patent agent for each appli-  cation having such change.
(2)Before going through the formalities of dissolution or resigna-  tion of appointment, one party shall inform the other party in advance.
To dissolve the appointment, the applicant(or patentee)shall sub-  mit the request for making a change in the bibliographic data and at-  tach a dissolution signed or sealed by all the applicants(or patentees),   or shall  submit  only  the  request  for  making  a  change  in  the  biblio-  graphic data signed or sealed by all the applicants(or patentees).
To resign from the  appointment, the  patent  agency  shall  submit the request for making a change in the bibliographic data, and attach a declaration of accepting  resignation  from  the  appointment  signed  or sealed by the applicant(or patentee)or its representative, oradeclara- tion sealed by the patent agency indicating the applicant(or patentee)  has been notified.
Before the formalities of making a change take effect(i.e. , the  Notification ofpassing Examination on Formalities is issued),the agen-  cy relationship is still valid and the acts performed by the patent agen-  cy on behalf of the applicant(or patentee)shall remain valid after the  formalities of making a change take effect.  where the formalities for a  change are not in conformity with the provisions, the examinershall is-  sue the Notification that Request Deemed Not to Have Been submitted to  the party going through the formalities for a change.  where the for-  malities for a change meet the requirements, the examinershall issue  the Notification ofpassing Examination on Formalities to parties.
where the first applicant is a foreign applicant having no habitual  residence  or  business  office  in  the  mainland  china,  when  going  through the formalities of dissolving or resigning the appointment, the  applicant(or patentee)shall at the sametime appoint a new patent a-   gency, otherwise the formalities of dissolving or resigning the appoint-   ment shall not begone through, and the examinershall issue the Notifi-   cation that Request Deemed Not to Have Been Made.
where the first applicant is from Hong kong, Macao, or Taiwan  having no habitual residence or business office in the mainland china,   when going through the formalities of dissolving or resigning the ap-  pointment, the applicant(or patentee)shall at the sametime appoint a  new patent agency, otherwise the formalities of dissolving or resigning  the appointmentshall not begone through, and the examinershall is-  sue the Notification that Request Deemed Not to Have Been Made.
(3)where any applicant(or patentee)changes his patent agency,  the declaration dissolving the appointment of the initial patent agency and the power of attorney of the new appointed patent agency, signed or sealed by all the applicants(or patentees), shall be submitted.
(4)where the right to apply for a patent(or the patent right)is transferred, if the applicant(or patentee)after the  change  appoints  a new patent agency, the power of attorney signed or sealed by all the applicants(or patentees)after the changeshall be  submitted.  where the applicant(or patentee)after the change appoints the initial patent agency, the power of attorney signed or sealed by the newly added ap- plicant(or patentee)shall be submitted.

6.7.2.5 change of Nationality of Applicant(or Patentee)
where any  applicant(or patentee)changes his nationality, documents certifying  his identification shall be submitted.

6.7.2.6 Formalities Requirements for certifying Documents
(1)For any submitted certifying document, the application num- ber(or patent number), the title of invention-creation and the name of the applicant(or patentee)shall be indicated.
(2 )one certifying document corresponds to only one request to make a  change  in  the  bibliographic  data.    separate  certifying  docu- ments shall be  submitted for continuous  changes  of the  same  item in the bibliographic data.
(3)The certifying documentshall be the original.  where the cer-  tifying document is a copy, it shall be notarized or affixed with the of-  ficial seal of the competent department providing the certifying docu-  ment(except that the original document has been deposited for there-  cord in the patent office).  where the certifying document formed in a  foreign country is a copy, it shall be notarized.

6.7.3 Examination and Approval of Request for change in Bibliographic Data
The examinershall examine in accordance with the statement for  change in bibliographic data and the attached certifying document sub-  mitted by the parties involved.  where the formalities of requesting to  make a change in the bibliographic data are not in conformity with the  provisions, the Notification that Request Deemed Not to Have Been Made  shall be sent to the requesting person.  where the formalities of reques-  ting to make achange in the bibliographic data are in conformity with  the provisions, the Notification ofpassing Examination on Formalities  shall be sent to the parties concerned, informing them the state of the  bibliographic data  before  and  after  the  change.   If  the  change  is re-  quired to be announced, the requesting person  shall also be informed  of the volume number and the issue number of the patent Gazette in which the announcement is scheduled.
where the change in the bibliographic data relates to the transfer  of the relevant right, the Notification of passing Examination on Formalities shall be issued to both parties.  where one request for change  of the applicant(or patentee)involves several continuous changes, the Notification ofpassing Examination on Formalities shall be issued to the applicant(or patentee)before the change and the applicant(or paten- tee)after the last change.  The applicant(or patentee)indicated in the notification shall  be  the  applicant(or  patentee)after  the   change.
where the request for making a change concerns the change of the pa-  tent agency,the notification shall be sent to both patent agencies before  and after the change.  At the sametime, the examinershall complete  the followings:
(1)where reduction or postponement of payment of fees are in- volved:
(i)where all the applicants(or patentees)have been changed, the reduction or postponement of payment of fees will not be  granted if the new applicant(or patentee)does not request it.  The examinershall change the sign marking the reduction or postponement of payment of fees in the database and notify the applicant(or patentee);
(ii)where the number of applicants(or patentees)increases after  the change, the reduction or postponement of payment of fees will not be granted if the new added applicant(or patentee)does not request it.   The examinershall change the sign marking the reduction or postpone-  ment of payment of fees in the database and notify the applicant(or  patentee);
(iii)where the number of applicants(or patentees)decreases after the change,the proportion of reduction or postponement of payment of fees shall not be changed if the applicant(or patentee)does not request it.
The applicant(or patentee)after the change may again go through the formalities of request for reduction or postponement of payment of fees in  accordance  with  the  rules  for reduction  or postponement  of payment of fees.
(2)where the applicant(or patentee)has filled in the information of the contact person before the change, if the applicant(or patentee)  after the change does not appoint as such, the examinershall delete the information of the  contact  person  appointed  by  the  former  applicant (or patentee)in the database.
(3)where the appointment of a patent agency is involved, if the applicant(or patentee)after the change has not appointed any patent a- gency, the examinershall delete the information of the patent agency appointed by the former applicant(or patentee)in the database.
(4)where the changeshall be announced in the patent Gazette in accordance with the provisions,e. g. , the change of the patentee, etc. , the information before and after the changeshall be announced.
(5)where the name or address of a patent agency is changed, or  the  revocation  of  patent  agency  is  approved  in  accordance  with  the  Rules Governing patent Agency, the examinershall complete the fol-  lowing:
(i)as for the uniformly handling due to the group change of the patent agency in the bibliographic data and revocation of patent agen- cy, the relevant bibliographic  data in databaseshall be amended uni- formly;
(ii)where the applicant(or patentee)of the patent application (or patent)having appointed the revoked patent agency is an individual or entity in  mainland  china,  the  first  applicant(or  patentee)shall  be deemed to be the representative of the patent application from the date of the announcement of the said revocation unless otherwise declared.
The applicant(or patentee)may appoint another patent agency.

6.7.4 Taking Effect of Change in Bibliographic Data
(1)The change in the bibliographic data shall take effect from the date of issuance of Notification ofpassing Examination on Formalities by the patent office.  Transfer of the right to apply for a patent(or the patent right)shall take effect from the date of registration, which is the date of issuance  of the  above Notification ofpassing Examination on Formalities.
(2)Before the formalities of change in the bibliographic data take effect, the  notification  issued  by  the  patent  office  and  the  relevant matters under the preparation for publication or announcementshall be based upon those before the change.

7.  Examination on obvious substantive Defects

7. 1 Examination According to Article2.2
According to Article2 . 2,“invention”in the patent Law means any new technical solution relating to a product,a processor improve- ment thereof.
In the preliminary examination, where the application documents describe part of the technical features of the“invention”,the examiner may not judge  whether  or  not  the  technical  solution  is  complete,  or may not judge  whether  or  not  the  technical  solution  can  be  carried out.  However, if there are only descriptions of technical index, advan-   tages and effects but no description relating to the solution of a techni-   cal problem or even no description of technical contents, the examiner  shall issue the office Action and invite the applicant to maKeobserva-   tions or amendments within the specified time limit.  If no response is  made within the specified time limit, the examinershall issue the Noti-   fication that Application Deemed to be  withdrawn.   If the application is  still not in conformity with the provisions after the applicant has made  observations or amendments, the examiner may reject the application.

7.2 Examination According to Article5
According to Article5, no patent rightshall be granted for any in-  vention-creation that is contrary to the laws or social morality or that is  detrimental to public interest, and no patent rightshall be granted for  an invention-creation where acquisition or use of genetic resources, on  which the development of the invention-creation relies, is not consist-  ent with the requirements of the laws and administrative regulations.
In preliminary examination, the examinershall, under the provi-  sions of chapter1, section 3  of partⅡ of the  Guidelines, examine  whether  or  not  the   invention-creation  is   obviously  contrary  to  the  laws, or obviously contrary to social morality, or obviously detrimental  to public interest;where the development of the invention-creation re-   lies on the said genetic resources, the examinershall examine whether  or not the acquisition or use of genetic resources is obviously contrary  to the  relevant  laws  and  administrative  regulations.   If  the  examiner  finds that the entire contents or part of the contents of the application  fall under one  of those  aspects  mentioned  above, for  example, if the  applicant filed an application with the following or similar contents:   “AKind of drug taKing tool”,“A Kind of tool for gambling and the  method of its use”, the examinershall issue the office Action, state the  reasons, and notify the applicant to submit observations or to delete the  relevant part within the specified time limit.  If the observations  sub-  mitted by the applicant are not sufficient to justify that the relevant in-  vention does not fall under Article5, or the applicant refuses to delete  the relevant part of the invention without any fully justified reason, the  examinershall reject the application.  If the applicant has deleted the  relevant part of the invention as requested by the examiner, and added  a few  words  or  sentences  that  are  indispensable  from  the context,  it  shall be permitted.

Any invention-creation that is contrary to Article5 referred to in the above paragraph shall not include the invention-creation merely be- cause the exploitation of which is prohibited by the laws.

7.3 Examination According to Article20. 1
According to Article20 . 1, where any applicant intends to file an  application abroad for any invention developed in china, it or he shall  file it in advance with the patent office for confidentiality examina-  tion.
According to Rule8 . 1, the invention developed in china refers to an invention the substantive contents of the technical solution of which were made within the territory of china.
In preliminary examination, where the examiner finds, with justi-  fied reasons, that an application for patent has been filed in a foreign  country in violation of above provisions, the examinershall issue of-   fice Action when a patent is applied for the same invention in china.   If the observations made by the applicant fail to prove that the applica-  tion does not fall under the circumstances mentioned above, the exam-  iner may reject the application on the grounds of Article20 . 1, Article  20 . 4,and Rule44 .

7.4 Examination According to Article25
According to Article25, no patent rightshall be granted for any of the following subject matters:
(1)scientific discoveries;
(2)rules and methods for mental activities;
(3)methods for the diagnosis or for the treatment of diseases;
(4)animal and plant varieties;or
(5)substances obtained by means of nuclear transformation.
For processes used in producing products referred to in item (4)
of the preceding paragraph, patent right may be granted in accordance with the provisions of the patent Law.
In preliminary examination, the examinershall, under the provi-  sions of chapter1 , section 4 of partⅡ of these Guidelines, examine  whether or not any invention for which a patent is applied for obvious-   ly falls under any of the subject matters for which no patent rightshall  be granted in accordance with Article25 .  If it is found that the entire  contents of the  application  belong  to  one  of  the  subject  matters  de-  scribed in Article25, for example, the applicant filed an application for patent for the following or similar contents:“Anewly discovered mi-  nor planet”,“A method for diagnosing diseases of the human body”,   the examinershall issue the office Action, state the reasons, and notify  the applicant to submit observations within a specified time limit.   If  the applicant,s observations fail to prove that the subject matter of the  application is not one of the subject matters mentioned above, the ex-  aminer may make adecision of rejection.  If it is found that only apart  of the contents of the application belongs to one of the  subject matters  mentioned above, and that part is difficult to be separated from the ap-  plication, the application may be left to be handled in the substantive  examination without any handling in the preliminary examination.

7.5 Examination According to Article31. 1
According to Article31 . 1,a patent application for invention shall be limited to one invention.   Two or more inventions belonging to a single general inventive concept may be filed as one application.
In preliminary  examination,  only  when  the  application  contains  two or more  inventions  which  obviously  have  not  any  relation  with  each other, the examinershall issue the office Action and notify the  applicant to amend the application to meet the requirement of unity.  If the applicant refuses to do so without any justified reason, the applica-  tion may be rejected.

7.6 Examination According to Article33
According to Article33, an applicant may amend his patent appli- cation for invention, but the amendment to the application may not go  beyond the scope of the disclosure contained in the initial description  and claims.
In preliminary  examination,  only  when  the  examiner  issues  the  office Action, and requests the applicant to amend the application, is it  necessary to examine whether or not the amendments made by the ap-  plicant obviously go beyond the  scope  of the disclosure  contained in  the initial description and claims.  If the amendments obviously go be-  yond the scope of the initial disclosure, for example, the applicant has  amended the data or has expanded the scope of the numerical value, or  has introduced a claim of a technical solution which has not been dis-  closed in the initial description, or has added one or more pages of the  substantive contents of the invention which are not included in the ini-  tial description or claims, the examinershall issue the  office  Action and notify  the  applicant  that  the  amendments  are  not in  conformity  with the provisions of Article33 .  If the amendments are  still not in  conformity with the  requirements  after  the  applicant  makesobserva- tions or rectification, the examiner may make a decision of rejection.
In preliminary examination, where the applicant submits the text  of amendments on his own initiative in accordance with Rule51, the  examiner,besides  examining the  formalities  of the  rectification,  shall  only examine whether or not the time for submitting the said amend-  mentson the applicant,s initiative is in conformity with the provisions  of Rule51 .  If it meets the requirements, the decision that the said a-  mendments have passed the formal examination shall be made and the  said amendments shall be kept in the file.  If it does not meet there-  quirements,the decision providing reference for the substantive exami-  nation shall  be  made  and  the  said  amendments  shall  be kept in the
file.  The contents of the text of amendments  submitted by the appli- canton his own initiativeshall not be examined and shall be left to be  handled in the substantive examination.

7.7 Examination According to Rule17
The description shall not use any words or sentences that have no  relation to technology.  Nor shall it contain any commercial advertising  or any language belittling or  slandering  other persons  or products  of other persons.  However, pointing out objectively the problems existing  in the background artshall not be regarded as a belittling act.  The de-  scription shall include technical contents of the invention.  where the  description is obviously not in conformity with those requirements, the  examinershall issue the office Action, state the reasons, and invite the  applicant to  make  observations  or  rectifications  within  the  specified  time limit.  If no response is made within the specified time limit, the  examinershall issue the Notification that Application Deemed to be  with-  drawn.  If the application is still not in conformity with the provisions  after the applicant has made observations or rectifications, the examin-  er may reject the application.
In preliminary examination, if part of the technical features of the  invention are described in the description, and its form is in conformity  with the requirements of section 4 . 2 of this chapter, it is not necessa-  ry to examine other substantive issues, which shall be dealt with in the  substantive examination.

7.8 Examination According to Rule19
The claims shall describe the technical features of the invention.
The claims shall not contain any words or sentences that have no relation to the contents of the technical solution, such as“to ask for the protection of the right of production and sale under this patent”, etc.,
nor  shall  the  claims  contain  any  commercial  advertising, or any lan- guage belittling other persons or products of other persons.
In preliminary examination, where the claims are obviously not in  conformity with those requirements, the examinershall issue the office  Action, state the reasons, and invite the applicant to make observations  or rectifications within the specified time limit.  If no response is made  within the specified time limit, the examinershall issue the Notification that Application Deemed to be withdrawn.   If the application is  still not in conformity with the provisions after the applicant has made observa-  tions or rectifications, the examiner may reject the application.

8.  Amendment Made by Examiner Ex officio
According to Rule51 . 4, the examiner may make amendment ex  officio to the obvious clerical mistakes and symbol mistakes in the doc-  uments  of patent  application  for  invention  before  the  application  is  qualified to pass the preliminary examination, and notify the applicant  accordingly.  The usual circumstances of amendment ex officio include  the following:
(1)request:amend the omission, error or repetition of the names  of the province(autonomous  region, the  municipality  directly  under  the central Government), the names of the municipality, the postcode  and other information in the  address  of the  applicant  or  contact per- son;
(2)claims and description:correct the obvious clerical mistakes  and punctuation  mistakes,  amend  the  obvious  editorial  mistakes,  and  delete the  obviously  unnecessary  information.   However,  any  amend-  ment likely  to  cause  the  change  of  the  scope  of  the  disclosure  con-  tained in the initial application documents falls outside the scope of a-  mendment ex officio;and
(3)abstract:add content obviously missing, correct the obvious  clerical mistakes and punctuation mistakes, delete the obviously unnec-  essary information, and specify the figure accompanying the abstract.