The China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) recently issued Bulletin No. 349 (Announcement on Matters Concerning Electronic Patent Certificate and Electronic Seal for Notice of Electronic Application for Patents), stating that for the electronic application of patents with issuance publication date after March 3, 2020 (including that day), CNIPA shall issue electronic patent certificate through the patent electronic application system instead of paper patent certificate. If necessary, registered users of electronic application can file request through the patent electronic application website (http://cponline.cnipa.gov.cn) to obtain a paper patent certificate.

In addition, from February 17, 2020, the Seal of Receipt for Patent Application of CNIPA shall no longer be used on the notice of patent application in the receiving stage, but Seal of Patent Examination of CNIPA instead. Also from February 17, 2020, the Patent Office of CNIPA, patent offices at city levels and intellectual property protection centers/fast enforcement centers shall no longer provide the paper copies of notices and decisions on electronic patent applications; for the notices and decisions in the form of electronic documents issued by CNIPA and without signature & seal, if necessary, the registered users of electronic application can file requests through the patent electronic application website to download the notice and decision with the electronic seal.

Apart from the above, users can verify the electronic patent certificate as well as the electronic document of notice and decision with electronic seal through the same website.

（Accordingly, in general, SPTL will forward the electronic patent certificate issued by CNIPA to client after receiving it, without the paper patent certificate, neither the paper copy of notice and decision for electronic application, this will also save postage fees for client; if client still needs the paper copy of patent certificate, please inform us in writing, and we will file the request to CNIPA.）